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Sierra Kereson LAST TIME

The culprit behind the emergence of the underground geyser and the earth spirits has finally been identified by the master of the Palace of the Earth Spirits: A 'hell raven' who allegedly ate a god and gained immense power as a result.

NOW

OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quf0efpDuGk

The trek down to the hole in the palace's courtyard is a fairly uneventful one. Some fairies and wisps harass the Elites coming down as per the region's preferred method of greeting, but they're beaten back easily enough through direct force. That, or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting withering stares from the locals who already tested the Elites' strength in past visits.

Really, the worst part is just going back into the hole at all. Everything is still fire. The walls are fire. The ground isn't quite magma, but getting close. The wind is less of a relief and more just a way to wick away sweat with more hot air. The only bit of humidity that comes through is the massive geyser that has yet to stop churning and causing the problems that kickstarted this entire event in the first place.

"I'm going to turn into a fried shrine maiden before we ever find that bird."
"If I don't shrivel up before you, can I have your stuff?"

Reimu and Marisa look particularly miserable in the heat. They're not wearing their winter outfits like last time, at least, but that's of little comfort here.

<<"This heat's just the start. This kind of power's supposed to make it even hotter the closer you get.">> Nitori (the kappa) speaks through a doll that seems to be melting as it floats along. <<"It should get hotter once you reach source, so be careful!">>

All that's left is finding the 'hell raven' and-

"I found you! You're the weirdos from the surface that everyone's been talking about, right?"

She's just floating right there in front of everyone, clad in a white shirt and green skirt with a massive red eye smack dab in the middle of her torso. The most raven-y part of her appearance would be her hair and her wings, both a deep shade of black with the latter partially covered by a cape hanging over it that looks like there's a constellation on the inside of it that seems to be moving on its own. Her right leg is encased in concrete, her right arm has a strange rod covering most of it, and her left leg has a shiny thing orbiting it.

There's a lot going on visually here.

"I heard about you from Orin. She said a bunch of you were coming to see how awesome my power is." Utsuho beams as she throws her arms out to each side, gesturing at the massive flame hole surrounding the conveniently large area that she's shown up in. "What do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?"
Shining Tiger Shining Tiger was not here last time, for reasons unknown. He is definitely here now, though, as he goes down the hole with the group, gets past the locals (waving at any he had fought before), and ends up in the fiery boss arena.

"Oh, hey, you must be our opponent! Name's Shining Tiger, practitioner of the Radiant Heart Style. Nice job with the flame wall!"

And then, he stances up. "Is this a you go first or a we go first type situation? Either way, let's finish this up, shut down all the bad stuff, get paid, and have a good fight. Right?"

A gesture to his allies. Shining Tiger has one thing on his mind.
Tamamo     Moving into more of a dry heat, even with hotter temperatures, seems to suit Tamamo better. Being underground and out of the light is its own problem, but there's still a wind and wide open spaces, so, it's really just the lack of proper lighting. When it gets that much hotter, she pulls out a canteen on a leather strap, which remains in sight once removed from her sleeves of holding. Even if she's the Sun, hydration is still important. So important, it would seem, that she brought more than the one canteen, offering another to Bercilak with a "Naturally," and to whomever else might ask.

    Did she come down here to see Utsuho's power? She pauses to think for a moment, finger to her chin. "That is not wholly wrong, I might say, though it misses the most prominent point. Perhaps you might explain these mysteries? 'From where does the geyser spring' and 'what manner of god did you encounter?'" She looks side to side, before saying, "My apologies, but what is it we look upon?"
Muramasa         Last Time:

        "DORYAAAAAH!"
        B O N K ! ! ! ! !

        The Conclusion....

Muramasa has foregone his haori some time ago, leaving him bare chested besides the holy shroud worn upon one arm. The heat, as they continued on once concluding their bussiness with That Damn Cat -- Rin, he recalls -- only got worse and worse. He was used to it by now, considering his choice of vocation. "So it's only gonna' get ten times worse from here, eh? Figures, considering our luck down here so far," he grouses to the dolls. Fried Reimu ... Fried Rice? Ah, that'd be good over eggs, right about now.

"Look at it this way, you two. At least now you'll /really/ enjoy that onsen if Bercilak decides to open it back up for you."

Luckily they don't have to venture too much farther before the 'hell raven' seeks them out for herself. Yes, there is a lot going on there, visually.

"What the hell's wrong with your dress sense?"
"Are you supposed to be a raven? A demon? Something from the stars? .... A construction worker? I don't get it ..."

But, enough of that. It's time to move on. "Yeah yeah it's very impressive," he motions with his hand in a placating manner, "But you're actually being kind of a nuisance to the people up top."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      Bercilak's taste in clothing will not be on display today--he appears fully armored, axe slung over his right shoulder. The sweltering heat affects him, certainly, his armor designed more for protection than comfort. But the lack of comfort, the sweat and toil of crossing through this place, doesn't bother him at all. His cloak of helleria grass and helleborne flowers smokes and burns at the edges, but the flames are kept constantly at bay from spreading further.

     Is he one of the weirdos? "Verily! Gretinges," says Bercilak cheerfully, with a wave of his free hand. Did they come to see her power? He shrugs--perhaps that's true. "I ilike thy mauntelet," he conversationally adds, pointing at her cape and the constellations contained within.

Tamamo wishes to trade with you.
You received Canteen from Tamamo.

     Sip.

Shining Tiger: Either way, let's finish this up, shut down all the bad stuff, get paid, and have a good fight. Right?
Tamamo: Perhaps you might explain these mysteries? 'From where does the geyser spring' and 'what manner of god did you encounter?'

     "Yea--so als, wherefore dost thou forsend thine felaues aboveforth to make batail with Reimu and *her* felaues?" He chuckles. It *is* a manner of greeting, around here... "Art thou mereli behavinge frendsomli?" It's also usually what you have to do for answers, so... "Glathe wouldst I be to ifighte thee for thy swaringe."

Muramasa: What the hell's wrong with your dress sense?

     Bercilak turns his back on the raven and wags a finger at Muramasa. "Besmeringe an other's apparement bicomes thee not, king."
Sierra Kereson LAST TIME:

Rin's still not over that. Stupid blacksmith. She'll get one over on him eventually! Probably. Maybe. Doubtful.

NOW:

"Hehe... Right? It's the power of god, and it's the power to invade the surface!" Utsuho laughs boisterously as she points the strange rod on her arm upwards for emphasis, then strokes her chin with her free hand at Shining Tiger's question. "First? Uh. You know..."

She closes her eyes, deep in thought. "... No other humans have made it down here to ask that. Even the youkai stay away from here, so... Yeah, I'll go first. Then you can call it self-defense or whatever in the afterlife." She nods slowly, satisfied with her own problem-solving skills before turning to Tamamo.

"Curious about that, are you? Alright, since I'll just be burning you all to a crisp and eating you up later, anyway... This! Is the power of nuclear fusion!" Utsuho raises her control rod once again, and fire bursts from the walls as if punctuating that sentence. "The geyser's a byproduct of my power. Before Yatagarasu appeared, I was just taking care of things with Orin, but after I ate the Black Sun..." Another excited swing of her rod, another burst of lava. "Now I have the power of the sun! Fusion energy! And..."

She sniffs the air lightly, peering at the fox goddess a bit more closely. "... I wonder what kind of power I'd get if I ate you up."

Nitori: <<"Nuclear fusion creates such high temperatures, it's supposed to be hard to control. But... This raven's doing it!">>

Marisa strokes her chin lightly while peering at Utsuho, her eyes figuratively and literally glinting in the light. "The same power as the sun, huh? I want it, too!"

Nitori: <<"Right? So make sure you take her alive!">>
Marisa: "... Wait, are you serious?! She controls nuclear energy, you know!"

Noticing that apprehension, Utsuho laughs confidently as she rests one hand on her hip, the other not quite bending so well due to the strange rod making bending that arm all but impossible at the moment. She still tries, but to no avail. "Each person who could would control fusion energy differently. What would you do with it? Create the ultimate vehicle? The ultimate weapon? Maybe, the ultimate magic?"

"Hot spring." Reimu answers bluntly with an approving nod at Muramasa, drawing a long stare from Utsuho followed by a brief flap of her wings.
"... That sounds pretty nice, too." Utsuho nods slowly in agreement, even calming down for a brief moment, but that ends quickly at his commentary on her wardrobe. "Why not both? Well, no. Construction's not really part of it, but the rest looks cool, doesn't it? And with this power... Yeah, I could even make it to the stars, couldn't I?"

He gave her a bad idea, it seems. "The people up top... They'll be fine once I burn it all to a crisp, anyway. So many corpses, so many souls... They'll keep the Hell of Blazing Fires going forever!"

She flaps her wings again as a massive ball of fire crackling with miniature sunspots appears behind her. At Bercilak's question, though, she just stares. As if on cue, a familiar voice speaks through a doll!

Alice: <<"'How come you're sending your friends above to fight Reimu and her friends? Are you just being neighborly?'">>

"Oh. What? I'm not sending anyone. Handling the vengeful spirits is Orin's domain."

The look on her face and the mildly confused tone is a pretty good sign that she's not lying. "... Anyway. First things first, I'll take you all out, and then I'll melt it all with my atomic fire! Are you strong enough to fight this power of nuclear fusion?!"

OST CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utQ-0huqGzI

And thus, Utsuho goes on the attack. The miniature sun behind her pulses rapidly as it starts spewing steady waves of terrible flames at the gathered Elites. Rather than aimming at anyone in particular, they just churn outwards haphazardly, thretening to immolate whatever they touch!
Rubi-Kan Vagrants Utsuho: Oh. What? I'm not sending anyone. Handling the vengeful spirits is Orin's domain.

     Bercilak frowns, his expression hidden behind that black t-shaped visor on his horned helmet. Then on his way out, he'll have to speak with the cat again. What he says to her will depend largely on Reimu's conduct here. He sighs, that huge metal harness over his armor heaving beneath his broad chest. She is... at least honest, about wanting that damnable hot spring back. He'll grant her that.

Utsuho: I'll take you all out, and then I'll melt it all with my atomic fire! Are you strong enough to fight this power of nuclear fusion?!

     Bercilak throws his arms wide open, inviting her attack with no care for his own safety. "The questioun thou shouldst ofaxe is whither nuclere desponsacioun is strengthi ynogh to ifighte ME! BAHAHA!"

     After the first few haphazard blasts strike his armor, his cloak goes up in flames. Shrouded in fire and smoke, the Green Knight's scorched armor rapidly mends itself. He advances at a full sprint, swinging his axe with the glowing green blade facing the earth, rather than Utsuho.

     Why? Because the broad cheek of the enormous weapon, coupled with his immense strength, creates broad gusts of air before him that buffet and disperse the flames. "THOU SHALT IETE ONLI AS WERT THOU CHARGED BY THEIM THAT MADE THEE!"

     Leaping into the air, he makes a surprisingly agile frontflip as the last of his cloak burns away. The blunt end of the head is brought crashing down from overhead. Whipped into a frenzy, he quickly pulls back for another blow, this time a thrust with the blunt eye of the weapon. Another, and another, driven with all of his strength, aimed for her chest.

     The weapon is expertly twirled to facilitate a change of grip. Stepping forward, a left knee. A right shoulder. A whip of the haft aimed at her cheek.
Tamamo     "Oh, my, the power of the Sun, is it? For a mere crow to attempt to harness such, regretfully, this should not be allowed. But then, what was it I had said, the time before? It is purely futile to argue with cats, and no better can be said of the minds of birds. Perhaps I shall need to have a small talk with your master, after all of this." Even though she's smiling, and her tone is light, there's an edge to Tamamo's voice that is hardly usual. "Let us begin with the disciplin--pardon me, with the 'greetings.'"

    Flames. Nuclear flames, born by a miniature sun. There could be no *less* effective means of striking at Amaterasu-omikami, though against Tamamo no Mae, there is some noticeable effect. When they've passed, Tamamo is sporting her own, the normally brightly-colored fur of her tails and ears replaced with brighter, ghostly flames. It comes together with what, for the more mystically sensitive, is like the dropping of a disguise, though her overall form doesn't dramatically change. It's the little things that distinguish a 'human' appearance from the uncanny, whether monstrous or divine.

    She steps forward, to the side, and back again, her tall geta trailing lines on the ground. There's no immediate effect of harm, but with a turn of her wrists, crook of her arm, and a flash from her eyes, she begins the process of wresting away the control of this 'domain' from its present owner, the hell raven, to herself.
Shining Tiger Tiger is barely paying attention- he mostly wants to fight. "Alright!" And so, when the nuclear fire comes at him, sunfire, he channels that silver ki, builds an aura around himself...

And dashes into it. The flames are mitigated by the aura, but still do burning damage, as he points out a hand and tries to feel Utsuho's heart. He wants to know why she fights, and what she fights for. Is it selfish or selfless?

And then, Tiger starts yelling. A kiai. A massive fist appears above Utsuho, and comes down at rapid speed, trying to splatter her against the ground! It's very hard to dodge, with how wide it is.
Muramasa A hot spring is a good use for such a power. But, the revelation of its source was troubling to say the least. "So that power is a recent acquisition .. "

And it was going to be misused terribly. First that psychic had brought that memory forth and now here was the source of the Shrine's problems, proclaiming that she'd spread that kind of suffering to everything and everyone in the world above. Bercilak was right, it was unbecoming to insult someone's appearance.

But that went double when there were far more serious issues he had to take with them. Pausing his reach for the mirror sword he'd forged previously, he instead holds his hands out and takes a deep breath. "Trace On."

His magic circuits blazing to life along his body, he projects a bow. Perhaps a familiar one to some.

It was a pitch black bow with a large hand-guard favored by a certain Archer. His skills were typically constrained to blades, but, his previous life gave him a connection to the art of the bow. He'd been an excellent kyuudouka after all.

More emphatically, because Archer was capable of masterful Archery, by recreating that skill and extrapolating it, he was also just as capable. The mirror sword begins to transform as he performs Alteration magecraft on it to re-shape it into an arrow. He could only imagine the smug look on his face, if he could see Muramasa taking a brief page out of his book for once.

Drawing the bowstring, it glows a bright myriad of colors as he fills it with his magical energy and fires it into the oncoming wave of atomic flames. "Spill into the spiral."

The projectile explodes into a twisting myriad of color that tries to suck Utsuho into it, releasing everything that had been trapped inside the mirror in one great flash.
Sierra Kereson "... Hey. Are you calling me stupid?" That strikes a nerve for the raven, especially when Reimu and Marisa both vocalize their agreement with Tamamo in tandem. "Even if I was dumb, it doesn't mean I can't flash fry you in an instant." Her vaguely maniacal grin only grows when she sees the sun goddess' transformation, the red eye on her chest glowing brighter by the second. " I'll just have to be  careful not to burn you too much, or I won't be able to eat you up after!"

Even with her boasts, however, she doesn't quite seem too concerned about Tamamo. Perhaps it really is a testament to her birdly nature, but she doesn't even seem to realize that the fires surrounding them are already flickering as her dominion over the nuclear flames are being contended with.

"That's some tough armor you've got on. But if you're not careful, it'll just be a big pot for you to burn up in!" Meeting Bercilak's bravado with her own, Utsuho engages the green knight at close range, her control rod literally glowing as she uses it to strike back at his various axe swings. It's clear almost immediately that her skill with the strange shaft is nowhere near that of a seasoned fencer, duelist, or... Well.

Anyone with any sense of skill. She's relying entirely on instinct and trying to overwhelm the knight's defenses with raw offense and a whole lot of fire, taking multiple strikes to her midsection and her face in the process with only her natural sturdiness and stubbornness keeping her from giving in. Her fixation on the knight opens her up to that giant fist from above, too, and it's not until the last moment that she even realizes that it's slamming down onto her.

"Didn't I see this before...? Hah! Alright, let's see who's power is...!" She's struggling a bit already as the giant fist pushes her down further, and keeping it from crushing her into the fiery stone floor means only being able to watch as Muramasa's mirror arrow explodes into a burst of color aimed right at her. The raven is engulfed completely in that shower of colors, joined by what looks like a giant yin-yang ball and a laser covered in stars.

"Tough crowd, tough crowd... But this is perfect! Who said the conquest of earth had to be easy?!" Utsuho's voice rings out with another confident laugh as her hand emerges from the smoke, pointed upwards at the miniature sun splitting into two and moving to opposite sides of the massive arena. The mini-mini suns begin to churn out rings of flame in tandem, swirling with only the smallest of gaps visible to try and catch the Elites in a pincer attack!
Sierra Kereson Shining Tiger's investigation of Utsuho's mind and motive behind all of this, meanwhile, reveals something potentially distressing: She's doing it entirely because it sounds cool. She's completely convinced that this fight is a good idea to advance a barely-thought out plan of world domination that starts and ends with 'melt the surface', that eating the three-legged crow was one of the best things that could have happened to her, and... That's it.

Her thoughts really don't go that far.
Tamamo     "Why, no, I am reasonably certain that you are no worse than any other common fowl," Tamamo says to Utsuho, neglecting taxonomy. Her tone keeps the intent largely ambiguous.

    The gaps in the flames are small, or look small as they approach, and it shouldn't be possible to merely dance through them while keeping to an elegant rhythm. A closer look may reveal that Tamamo is cheating; the flames curl away from her, the pattern distorting as she progresses her takeover of the arena's sunpower. This may not be a fair matchup, with Tamamo's available power building merely by retrieving (or stealing) it from her opponent. That that is what she's doing becomes more obvious when her raised hands grasp and twist, calling on one of the two mini-mini-suns to forsake its present master, and come under her control.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      Bercilak bellows with delight--not because Utsuho is hard-pressed to deflect his attacks, but because she's bold enough to try matching her skill to his.

Utsuho: That's some tough armor you've got on. But if you're not careful, it'll just be a big pot for you to burn up in!

     "If I am scorched aded in kepinge thee from ietinge al iman-kinne, thanne an honourable deth it shalt be! AT THY GUARDE, DEVEL!" The synthetic fabric to which his armor plates are affixed smolders and crusts over as it's burnt, but still, he keeps his assault up, sparks flying where the blade of his axe meets her rod-arm. He pushes one last counter-attack aside, her arm sliding down and scorcing his armored fingers to a blackened crisp before he makes a retreat. Why a retreat?

     Because of the giant fist and the exploding arrow. The shockwave caused by Tiger's enormous fist is weathered by Bercilak with a hearty laugh as his stance falters slightly, armor buffeted by debris which cracks and breaks against those thick green plates. Then, there's the explosion from Muramasa' arrow, unleashing all of that absorbed energy. By virtue of his closeness to Utsuho, he, too, is dragged, though digging his heels in and slamming the haft of his axe into the floor of the sweltering cave, he manages to stop himself, just short of one of Tamamo's glowing fault-lines.

     He traces that glowing line, following its path all the way to her. Strange... she looks different, no? Maybe this is the true form, the most accurate expression of what she called herself earlier... "Bihowing! I hath espied nau a 'spirit godcund!'" A divine spirit.

Rings of fire move to try and trap him, Tamamo, and Muramasa in a pincer. His nanites swirl outwards, mending the wounds his allies suffer, disinfecting burned flesh and stimulating anew its growth. He himself proves remarkably nimble in getting back into melee range, leaping up and rolling through those flames. He taunts her midway through, taking on damage for a bit of showboating, twirling the axe around, beating a fist against his harness in a 'come-at-me' kind of gesture. His helmet is blackened, the Green Knight almost thrown from his feet by a blast which clips the pauldron of that huge harness. Scoring from the unyielding stone of the cave, burnt and sizzling fabric, and, finally, scorch-marks, all gradually vanish as he closes in for another attack.

     He makes a false swipe, a feint from the right with the blade of the axe. Instead of striking Utsuho, Bercilak drives the haft into the cave floor. A huge cypress knee, as thick around as the man himself, erupts from the cave, creating a solid surface behind her. He promptly attempts to trap her in a wall-combo, starting with a micro-thruster assisted rising knee to her chin, following up with a vicious headbutt, and slipping the haft of the axe behind her to trap her against his chest. Why? So that he can turn around, with the huge cypress knee as support, and force her to facetank Tamamo's stolen suns.
Muramasa Muramasa breathes out, the bow dissipating into motes of light. "You're determined to do all that awful stuff, huh."

Tamamo's shift moments earlier at least appears to have an effect on the flames. But that's to be expected, she is the incarnation of the goddess who holds authority of the sun itself, visibly, she was calling upon that divine might which, he infers is some kind of struggle between the two given the previous mention of this power originating from some kind of 'Black Sun'.

Fleet of foot, he attempts to out-maneuver the half-orb closing in on his side of the cavern, but he ultimately finds himself cornered and with no choice but to brace for the blazing inferno that engulfs him in an explosion of sweltering heat.

        "Uooooooh!!!"

The burning is terrible. It leaves his skin with many black patches as the smoke begins to clear around him, even the holy shroud singed from the assault. Being scorched half-to-death by the sun's glare wasn't something many took well to.

    "Ha ha ... huah .. "

He stands back as Shining Tiger and Bercilak assail her, needing the time to recover. But when he does regain enough of a second wind, he holds his hands. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deep and slowly lights his body up with his magical circuits.

First, he uses Structural Analysis on himself. And then, he pours magical energy into the imperfections, wounds, and crevices. Reinforcement.

A full body reinforcement for human mages was incredibly dangerous. When reinforcing the eyes, for example, over-filling even a tiny little fraction would blind them, if not worse.

It was one of his specialties, however, and he endeavored not to repeat his earlier mistake. He'd need the increased performance for what came next, as he brought the Washing Pole back to his hands via Projection.

Kicking off into a reasonable range of engagement, he turns and pulls the sword perpendicular to the ground, drawing the technique of its owner into his mind and engraving it into his own body.

"Fine then. You're no swallow, but I'm sure a raven works for his sword just as well."

        "Hiken."
    S W A L L O W R E V E R S A L
        "Tsubame Gaeshi!"

Turning his body, he swings the sword in an upward thrust. It isn't an ability so much as it is a technique, one that his body as is would not be suited for. He had to increase his speed, his perception, and his strength to a greater degree in order to make up the difference between himself and Sasaki Kojirou. Although he strikes once, through some form of physics breaking skill, that one strike is transformed into three slashes that, as the story goes, caged and cut apart a bird that had caught Kojirou's ire.

In this instance, she was the same as that swallow, trapped by a three-pronged attack.
Shining Tiger The fist smashes down. It disappears afterwards, as the sun splits in to two and starts shooting rings of flame, with only tiny gaps. Tiger's response...

Is to jump towards one of the gaps, hand planting against the ground for leverage, and cartwheel right through it, being missed by the fire entirely, before landing in a crouch. And then, he turns towards Utsuho.

"I see your heart! You're nothing but an idiot, aren't you?! Just fighting for the sake of it, doing this because it's cool and fun and sounded great. Well...I like that! So, I'll kick your ass here, and then show you that melting the surface is a bad idea. You want to know why?!"

His fist is pulled back, charging up with silvery ki energy, as he breathes in, and then blinks forward. He moves so fast he blurs, as he moves to plant the fist straight in Utsuho's gut, with enough force to send her flying straight backwards.

"Because all the ice cream will melt!" The language of idiots. The only thing that might get through to her.
Sierra Kereson "Heh... Now you're getting it. I'm the strongest hell raven there is, so of course all the others are worse than me!" It seems that Tamamo's statement was actually taken favorably by the bird, not withstanding any hidden meaning in those words. What Utsuho does catch onto, however, is Tamamo's scheme to steal away one of the suns as she finally notices it when one of her own sun's flames actually scorch her instead of just passing harmlessly over her.

"I was waiting for you to get fired up, sun god! Now we'll see if my sun or yours burns hotter!" Raising her control rod once more, she aims it at Tamamo only for Bercilak to draw her fire with his showboating and coming right at her head on once more.

"Growing plants in a place like this... Are you trying to become fertilizer or something?" Taunting him a bit herself, Utsuho brings her fist down at his axe in attempt to stop it with yet more raw force (and fire). The feint works as expected, catching her off guard at just the right time for the follow up strikes to land square on the everything and slam her against the tree, then against the knight himself to maximize the impact of the sun bursts.

"Hehe... Hah! You people really aren't afraid of anything, huh? That's fine... Strong souls like yours' are perfect for fueling these flames, anyway!" Even as she's burnt repeatedly by the very flames she had created, Utsuho's spirit remains strong. It's also entirely possible she's getting more and more dazed from the repeated head injuries, but that's a matter to worry about later.

Right now, she's more worried about trying to get out of that hold. That grip makes it considerably harder just to defend against Muramasa's single slash turned into three, each one leaving a sizable gash across Utsuho's midsection and creating fierce orange sparks from the surface of that giant red eye on her chest. "Geh... A swallow?  Don't mistake me for a dinky little housepet!"

Never mind the fact that she's literally a housepet.

"Of course fighting's cool! The strongest fighters don't become that just by winning by default when everyone else runs away. They prove it by being the strongest!" She laughs through the pain as she follows that circular logic, interrupted mostly by Shining Tiger ramming his fist right into her stomach.  She goes flying back, just barely managing to squirm out of Bercilak's hold in the process to resume floating once more.

"Geh... But even I'm not that stupid. My flames'll burn up the surface, but they're not going to be burning up the ice cream if it's all underground first!"

With her immaculate logic undisturbed or... Something, Utsuho bursts into flames with a mighty shout. The flames burn hot enough that some of them are even turning white and blue before they start descending upon the Elites, and there seems to be a slight attempt to make things trickier for them as the waves of flames come in a circular zig-zagging pattern!

It's actually kind of obvious where the blind spots are, but the flames come so quickly that knowing where to go might not be enough. Unlike before, however, the waves of fire actually stop after a few moments, and the raven herself seems to be getting somewhat winded with even the fires starting to slow down. How much control does she even have left over this domain and her powers?
Shining Tiger As Utsuho replies, Tiger just blinks, and shrugs. Guess that won't work. But the white and blue flames graze him, even as he tries to dodge out of the way, singing through his aura and onto his skin. "Ow, ow, hot!"

With a sigh, he ramps up for another big hit. That silver aura is brought to max power, as he claps both fists together, and then rushes in. There's an absolute flurry of blows on Utsuho, trying to briefly knock her into the air, before he leaps up, and...

Moves to kick straight into her head, trying to ram it into the ground strong enough to create a crater!
Rubi-Kan Vagrants Utsuho: Growing plants in a place like this... Are you trying to become fertilizer or something?

     "I alredi am." Residual damage from Tamamo's stolen suns, and from the Swallow Reversal inevitably bleeds through to him. Tightening his grip, forcing the hard, uncompromising haft of the axe against her to try and crush the fight out of her, "Thurgh mine labourage, the spirits of al theim aboute me art fraisted, and in the fraistinge greu mo strengthi. Swich is whi I am strengthi als... and whi thou'rt MIGHTLES!" As Shining Tiger's attack forces her from his hold, that last bit is bellowed. But he keeps shouting, to make sure that Reimu hears. "BICAUSE THOU ITHINKE ONLI OF THYSELF!" He makes a swipe at her as she wriggles free, but she's too quick. He then turns to begin his pursuit anew, slapping the haft into his waiting palm like a headsman about his work.

     Again, he makes use of that defensive tactic--of using his incredible strength to blow the flames out with the cheek of the axe, slowly marching through. But the flames are too hot to fully counteract. Green plates blacken and deform, streaks of molten metal running down the synthetic fiber, which smolders and smokes. His cloak, constantly trying and failing to regrow, only serves to cloak him in a menacing cloud of acrid smoke.

     Marching through all of that nuclear fire, shavings from roasted fabric fall off of him. Part of that helmet is melted away, one horn falling off. The heavy harness is completely darkened by scorch marks and soot, melted and welded to the rest of the armor. One single, wild red eye is visible through the hole in his helmet, amidst a patch of burned, rapidly healing green skin. It is alive with defiance and fire of the inner kind.

     Bercilak lifts his axe high, despite the fact that he's not within striking range of her--he'd have to march another couple of feet even if he were to ease up all the way to the butt of the haft. But as the melted armor mends itself and becomes 'merely' scorched black rather than deformed AND scorched, he nevertheless drives the axe into the ground. All around Utsuho, dry, dead bushes spring up, filling the crater created by Tiger. Tumbleweeds--genetically engineered to be even more flammable than their mundane cousins, such to the point that they actively explode should her flames make contact with them.

     Another strike of the axe creates a bridge of cypress knees, rising up like stepping stones for Muramasa to pass safely over, that he might get within striking range again without falling into the explosion crater.
Shining Tiger As all of this is happening, Tiger shines brightly. "And now, I've learned a new technique, thanks to you!" There's a glow as he observes her fight. He's gained a new power.
Muramasa With the incredibly long longsword disappearing in a burst of light, he's left with nothing in hand after nearly carving her up like a thanksgiving turkey. "You're just as annoying as one, though." he dryly returns, hopping backwards. Another volley of flaming projectiles come his way, which Muramasa ducks and weaves between -- but his tired body being assailed by all these formations and patterns of projectiles, it just wasn't in his cards to dodge them all, as he finds himself getting pelted every now and then until the repeated attacks ease up. She herself seems winded, and so ...

She'd get a taste of her own medicine, as he prepares to return with his special brand of danmaku. "Trace on."

Shining Tiger rushes forward with a colossal flurry of attacks, forcing her away from Bercilak as Muramasa holds it in, consolidating his magical energy into dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of those dozens of bladed weapon schematics in his head, transferring them to reality. With Tamamo no Mae's gracious donation to his reserves, it wasn't a problem to generate this many common swords, spears, knives, and other such utensils and armaments for his use.

    "Sword Barrel Open Up!"

At his command, an obnoxiously large hail of weaponry is fired at her like a barrage of artillery, assaulting her with extreme prejudice as he takes the high ground over the bridge of greenery, leaping up into the air and resorting to his tried and true tactic.

An attack that has never, ever failed him, especially when faced with annoying little girls.

        "DORYAAAAAH!"
        B O N K ! ! ! ! !
Tamamo     "Oh, very good, sir knight," Tamamo approves, using her commandeered flames to immediate effect. But she isn't just stopping there. The design of clearly magical lines over the floor has spread out far beyond her own steps, now, a slowly encroaching zone that wears away at the control anyone else would have laid over this area of blazing hell. The next series of flames better catch her, producing hissing through the fox's teeth, not quite distorting quickly enough to avoid reaching her at that speed, but even her clothing mends itself afterward, hiding the more slowly healing wounds below the navy blue. It's not nearly enough to take her down, and any attempt against her must race against her own attempts to sieze the field.

    "Saber," she calls to Muramasa, politely addressed for mixed company, "are these repeated techniques not draining? Though I cannot fault your enthusiasm, being only quieter than the Green Knight's, not weaker, please do take care."

    Despite the provocation, it's not the strength of sun on sun, stellar bodies colliding, that Tamamo gives Utsuho. It's back to the subtlety of a curse, draining away the abundantly burning energy. Nuclear fusion, to her, is as a beating heart, a power of life and motion no harder to steal away and put to other ends, such as empowering a flagging ally, or feeding into the growing geomancy below her feet.

    On the other hand...

    "Is that all? Please, if you should call yourself the greatest, can you not do more? The surface is yet far from your sight, you have nowhere to keep your frozen desserts, and your power stumbles. Can you not do more, or is this all? Have you finished playing?" Tamamo flatly ignores the fire still smoldering on her outfit. "There must be more than this. Did you truly eat a god, or was that a daydream's fantasy? I shall make it easy, if you wish. I can stand alone upon this spot, and you can show us all your greatest work." Her own taunting just doesn't stop, once it starts. The tone is less ambiguous, now.
Sierra Kereson Utsuho finds some of her inner fire returning as Shining Tiger complains of the heat, and she even dives towards him with her body encased in flames during his approach. "Come on! Let's see how much more you can take of this, fight idiot!"

Despite the insults, she actually sounds like she's enjoying this. Before she can intercept Shining Tiger's blow, however, the raven herself is interrupted by Muramasa's rain of weapons, bringing her control rod up and blasting fires into the wave to keep herself from getting skewered. That gives Shining Tiger the opening to smash her upwards, knocking the wind out of Utsuho before his and Muramasa's blunt force trauma combination slams her right back to the ground with a massive crash into the stony ground below.

Panting lightly, it's clear that Utsuho is on her last legs. She nearly buckles over as she pushes herself back up, but she stops herself from faceplanting with a mighty stomp of her concrete-encased leg. "You people really are something. I haven't gotten pushed like this since...!" She starts getting hyped up, but that dies down as she can't quite figure out a point of reference to use for that comparison.

Either one never happened, or she just forgot. It's probably the latter.

"... But no, I'm not finished yet. I got plenty more in store for you!" Laughing again, Tamamo's taunting certainly seems to be getting the raven right where she wants her, but Utsuho doesn't even seem to notice or care.

It's probably the former. "let's see if you can take my ultimate attack. The biggest one I've got in store!" Drawing the control rod over both of her legs in a wide circle, Utsuho points the rod upwards as it draws in power from her surroundings (at least, the power that hasn't already been usurped by Tamamo), collecting it within herself as she starts to burn white with an intense heat. The fire grows outwards until Utsuho herself creates one more miniature sun, shouting like some kind of spiky-haired anime protagonist. Unlike the mini-suns from earlier, however...

This one is sucking things in. People, debris, Bercilak's explosive bushes, a screaming cat, everything around the nuclear raven starts getting drawn in as though there's a gravity field around her, even pulling fires from their surroundings in a last ditch attempt to incincerate everyone present. "This is the power of nuclear energy right here... It'll take more than a bunch of shriveled little plants to-"

The plants start exploding. With more power behind her artificial sun creation, Utsuho could probably just shrug it off. All htose blows and the constant drain on her energy and surroundings, however, proves to be too much for Utsuho, and the sun fizzles out abruptly after the first few waves. There's a puff of hot air as she floats to the ground, staggers slightly, then faceplants right on the spot.
Shining Tiger The final attack comes in, burning through Tiger's defenses and causing him to stagger backwards. But it's only a glancing blow, as he prepares to strike again and dig Utsuho deeper into the crater...

And she faceplants. Oh.

Tiger slides forward towards Utsuho, walks over, and crouches. He offers her his hand. "Come on, get up. If the fight's over, well, I think you were great! But, really, I'll want to fight you again. For now, why don't we get ice cream, and next time you try to melt the earth, I'll teach you some fighting pointers? Maybe you can succeed!" It's meant to be encouraging. He doesn't *want* her to melt the Earth, but he likes her energy, so...yeah!
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      Bercilak is drawn in, pulled off of his feet. His helmet begins to mend, a patch of green interwoven with the blackened, melted remainder. One horn grows to replace what was lost. All over his armor, as he tumbles through the air towards the pull of that sun, patches of green appear. He is battered as his towering frame crashes against the ground. He is dashed against, and plows through, the sturdy cypress knee, the force of the impact splintering it and hewing a crack in that harness, shearing it from his body.

     As he draws closer, the heat begins to melt those plates anew, and it is only through a last-minute swing of his axe that he manages to keep from getting sucked in. The edge cuts a deep gouge into the floor of the sweltering, fiery cavern, embedded deep into the rock before his flight is halted. He claws his way up the haft, buries a fist in the ground... and then drops, as the sun which threatened to pull him in fizzles out.

     Why did that happen? He takes a moment to survey the destruction. The crater, made by Tiger's attack, blown wider for the exploding tumbleweed pulled into the sun. Countless impact points from Muramasa's swords. Yet... it seemed as though she still had spirit enough for that final attack. So why is she now face-down?

     Getting to his feet, he wrenches the axe from the earth. The melted plates forge themselves anew. Black marks on the armor fade away. The harness, cleaved in two, disappears, deconstructed and stored as a pattern within the memory of his nanite cloud. He foregoes willing its reconstruction. Indeed, the armor, mid-repair, disappears, consumed by encroaching waves of blue energy. In his unarmored form, he shoulders the axe, the haft resting between two spikes on his leather vest.

     Perhaps it was Tamamo? No... he's certain of it, somehow, watching her standing there steadfastly. The Green Knight grins, nodding her way. It had to have been her, right?

     Turning his attention back to Utsuho, he marches forward, one hand in his pocket as Tiger urges her up. Healing nanites move to mend her wounds, and, indeed, tend to a concussion if there is one. He was throwing a lot of blows to the head, after all. "Thy 'finable assailinge' shalt be non mo thanne a ferte, as long as thou ifighte onli for subjugacioun. Ifighte in stede for thy frends, for frenesse, for love, oth pureli for the joi of ifightinge... but ne'er to rule oe'r otheres--for treu strength comen from thy herte, and to lest for dominacioun o'er otheres is in monge the most sothli signs of a feble herte."

     With his piece said to her, he turns his back on Utsuho and heads... to Reimu. The time has come for his judgment. To see if she's capable of thinking of people other than herself, of things other than her own comfort. Without a word, he turns on Marisa. The witch isn't truly in danger from him--but he really knows how to make it look convincing, attacking her with expertly made swipes of his axe which just barely miss. The intent is to see if Reimu will intervene--and if she does, the moment she does, he stops his attack.
Tamamo     True to her word, Tamamo doesn't move from the spot she's chosen. The reverse of gravity causes momentary havoc upon her efforts, but she adjusts, reinforces, and shines from toe to ear with true sunlight. She resists the mass of gravity by asserting herself as too great to move, a sun's mass no less affected by another body, but taking all the greater force to lift. In the end, it's her own efforts that win out. She'd drained more than Utsuho had realized, though this isn't Utsuho's fault, just this once. It would have taken someone exceptionally perceptive to see through everything. It really wasn't a fair match-up, at all.

    But now, it's over. Tamamo's shine fades back down in intensity, though the flames forming her tall ears remain, for now. Drawing the guise back over herself isn't so quickly done. Or, perhaps, she does not so much care to, having already revealed that much to all here.

    "No, no, melting the world is simply no good." Her clothing has recovered, and her wounds will, likewise, ere long. Healing is well within the power of blessings, even if she focused throughout these battles on more aggressive and less comforting uses of mystical energies. Her supplies of talismans... they will have taken a hit, but such is true in most every case. It would be helpful if others could manufacture them to her standards, but this tends not to be the case.

    Tamamo sighs. She actually sighs aloud. This is hardly polite. "I hold still to my earlier declaration, that to argue with animals is time spent without merit. Though they may be trained, this is not my business, here. For the sake of others and their safety, I shall speak to the raven's master, that she might see to their discipline on her own time, for the both of them." She doesn't explain why it's 'both,' but it definitely is.

    Glancing up toward the shrine maiden and the witch, Tamamo asks, "Does this resolve matters?" She looks for any surviving dolls, in the same moment.
Tamamo     At around that moment, Bercilak strikes. Tamamo chokes out a shocked, "Sir knight?!" while being too taken aback to immediately intervene. He's an awful lot of armor and axe, and she lightly dressed, for her to rush recklessly between them.
Muramasa Muramasa kips back after having cleanly struck her upside her noggin alongside the powerful blow from Shining Tiger. And only moments later, she returns the favor with another pattern of flaming projectiles aimed to pepper all of them as they get sucked into the Black Sun. But, Muramasa shows off a display of grit and footwork, narrowly weaving through the patterns of projectiles and giving just enough ground to maneuver, but not so much that he finds himself sucked inside, utilizing oversized and unwieldy projections as platforms and anchors.

And finally, the battle reaches its conclusion. "Whew ... " he murmurs, wiping the sweat from his brow. After he'd groused at Shining Tiger, he found himself caught too off guard to do anything about Bercilak's sudden display of aggression!

It didn't make sense for the Green Knight to become so adversarial in the first place, unless ... ah, that's why. Cheating in its own way, by reading a weapon and its accumulated history, he also can determine the intentions of its wielder, in limited scope.

This is to say that by tracing the axe within his mind, he is able to understand that Bercilak's swings are not meant to land, and then infer the rest from there.

The tension bleeds from his form as he relaxed his stance.
Sierra Kereson OST CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf8wcOYctqA

There's a guttural noise at first from Utsuho as Tiger approaches her, and for a few moments, it sounds like she might be angry about something. It's not until she flips over that it's clearer that she's still in a daze, possibly owing to the many concussions and getting so much energy drained/using so much energy in such a short timespan.

"Seriously? You're encouraging her to try that /again/?" Reimu sounds incredulous as she floats down herself, brushing off some burnt parts of her garb before crossing her arms over her chest. "Didn't she cause enough trouble already?"

The shrine maiden looks around slowly as the fires start to settle down... Somewhat. It's still incredibly hot, but not searingly so, and even the geyser settles down enough that it's just lingering below the surface rather than blasting through the hole full force.

"Ghn. Ice cream? Fighting pointers?" Utsuho finally utters, the healing magic working to get her back into a more conversational state even if she still looks winded and drained from that earlier fight. "That would be cool. Maybe I could even turn the ice cream into... Into..."

No bright ideas there, sadly. As she keeps trying to figure something out, she looks up and over as Bercilak speaks. Somehow, it actually looks like she's getting it, even nodding slowly while Reimu just continues looking bewildered by all of it.

"... Right. Uh. Well, it's probably fine if she's not going to cause any more trouble. Wouldn't be the first time we've let youkai go after a beating." Reimu admits with a weary sigh, Marisa nodding moments later with an affirming nod. The dolls, too, make a variety of affirming noises, the one controlled by Yukari (poofy hat) even laughing after a moment.

<<"How many times is this now?">>

"Too many." Reimu mutters with another sigh, rubbing her head again while Utsuho actually freezes up when Tamamo brings up the topic of mentioning all this to her master. "Gh...! I was just doing my job! Besides, what's Orin got to do with this?" She actually sounds somewhat defensive about that and just a smidge confused. "She said she talked to you all some, so what was that all about?" She looks at Muramasa in particular, almost as if expecting him to be some kind of neutral voice in all of this.

Reimu, upon glancing over just as Bercilak makes his move on Marisa, goes right on the offensive once more. Although she doesn't know what it is he has planned, she's quick to react with a flurry of talismans hurled to try and seal his movements along with a running dropkick moments later!

Clearly, the best plan of action when Bercilak is directly between herself and Marisa.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      Tamamo gets, just as those talismans strike him... a grin? His swings all seem to... just... barely... miss, yet come so frighteningly close that it's hard for anyone on the receiving end to take comfort in his skill. He makes it look quite good--but from the moment the first talisman hits him, and his swing slows, he lowers the axe completely. Just in time to get dropkicked, and accidentally pec-check Marisa on his way towards falling over.

     He laughs raucously, and the axe is tossed aside, the Green Knight careful not to make that shove into a full-on tackle. He throws himself clear of the witch with the remainder of his momentum. It ends up awkwardly bashing his head against a rock, but despite that seemingly grievous injury, he waves a dismissive hand, first at Tamamo, then at Reimu. The universal gesture for 'okay, you're good.'

     As the wound heals, he grins widely. "So thou *art* bihowen of theim othere thanne thineself, Reimu. Forthy shalt I requite thee." Bercilak's motorcycle boots thud against the rocky earth as he moves to retrieve the axe. The haft is tapped gently against the ground. Aboveground, the mass of roots and grasses which covered the spring fade and recede. Moreover, trees, their trunks hard and petrified like stone, bearing no leaves, grow within this cavern, further serving to strengthen the tunnels against the tremors of the geyser. "Enjoi thy springe, but foryet not thy felaues art mo thanne mereli gests--elles that, I trow thou wouldst not hath smited me thusly."

     "Marisa was endaungered not bi me," says Bercilak to Tamamo. He gives Muramasa a knowing, thankful nod. "Not treuli. But I couldst not fraist Reimu's herte mo treuli thanne bi mine axe." He takes a deep, satisfied breath.

     "Wel, that was sportli, nay? Bahaha."
Tamamo     Tamamo takes a deep breath, putting a hand to her chest. "My, but that did surprise me. I see now why this land does so well agree with you, at least in some ways, sir Bercilak, though glad I am that it is not likewise agreeable in every vice."

    Gathering herself, Tamamo answers Utsuho. "Conquering the surface world surely cannot be 'your job.' Whether it is or not, your master will know, I have little doubt. We shall how reasonable she may be on these matters. As for the cat, you said so yourself, did you not? It is her responsibility to deal with the spirits. Are those not the same spirits that did escape with the geysers? Then she shares blame in these matters. As to how a cat may be effectively disciplined, I have not the faintest idea, but this shall complete my business here."

    She leaves all her geomantic work as-is, though it'll cause some trouble to anyone trying to use the fires here until they completely undo it. Most likely, she just hasn't thought of doing otherwise. She may have forgotten about the promise of rewards for dealing with the incident, too.
Sierra Kereson "Was that a...? What is wrong with you people?" Reimu shakes her head as she finally realizes what it was Bercilak was aiming at while Marisa, completely clueless to it all, just picks herself up off the floor following the pec-check. Somehow, the shrine maiden seems more bothered by that than the witch, if the former's incredulous sigh and the latter rubbing her face in more of a 'huh, cool' rather than a 'ow' way are any indication.

"Still, if the spring's open, then I'm not gonna say no to that. I think I deserve a /real/ break for once after..." She gestures around at the volcanic-ish hellhole they're still in, shaking her head again afterwards.

"Well.. No, my job's to manage the fires here. But that god from the mountain said I'd have the power to change the world after eating that god." Utsuho replies to Tamamo while pursing her lips, still looking somewhat anxious each time Satori (the master) is brought up. "Hm... Yeah, Orin's in charge of those. Were they really escaping? But... Nah, that doesn't make sense. Why would Orin do anything like that?"

That's certainly something that'll have to be brought up once Satori's informed of it all.
Sierra Kereson EVENTUALLY ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf8wcOYctqA )

With the underground geyser situation finally resolved, peace returns to Gensokyo for the time being. Reimu, Marisa, and the youkai on the surface are able to finally enjoy the hot spring now that the vengeful spirits aren't escaping, although the Hakurei shrine still doesn't get nearly as many donations or visitors as other nearby shrines. There's also a cat loitering there every now and then, although it doesn't bother them as much as the corpses that go missing every now and then.

The youkai in the underground city continue their lives as normal, if with considerably less sweat and humidity. Some of the vendors even start selling crude figures of the Elites that came by, although their market is somewhat limited due to most people on the surface not really knowing what happened.

Satori, having been notified of Utsuho's and especially Rin's role in the incident, disciplines her pets thoroughly. Upon further investigation, it's revealed that Rin had ushered the spirits to the surface in the hopes of drawing attention to Utsuho's growing power and indirectly solving the problem without their master realizing what happened. Clearly, this didn't work out as planned, but Satori is still lenient with her punishment. It may be due in part to Rin's plot resulting in the peach tree she's come to favor since the incident was resolved.

Utsuho and Rin still perform their duties in the Hell of Blazing Fires admirably, if with a bit more difficulty for a while until they (mostly Utsuho) finally gets through the leftover geomantic modifications with a great deal of confusion and just powering through them over time. The energy Utsuho produces with the corpses Rin brings keep the Hell of Blazing Fires going at a healthy level, and the resulting geyser keeps the hot spring aboveground well stocked with hot water so long as the pair don't disappear from their posts.

They do. Not all the time, but they do.