Phantom Fire

Five years...has it really been so long?

It seems as though the cataclysmic events of Armageddon Day were only yesterday, to be honest.

As I stand here now, beneath the toxic might of the Ayakashi, I can see the full spread of Hakugyokuro's gardens sprawled out before me.

The Netherworld is a shadow of what it used to be...but still, I've never quite felt as comfortable anywhere else as I do here.

I still remember when this corrosive, beautiful tree behind me was still just a twisted skeleton, when these gardens were well-tended and pristine, the lights of ghosts and those awaiting judgement drifting through the hedges. Now, as if to exemplify the twisted irony of this strange new world, the Saigyou Ayakashi has risen to its full glory, while these gardens have instead fallen into ruin.

Sometimes I wonder if it's due in part to my neglect of it, as the supposed gardener of Hakugyokurou...but then I bitterly realize that no gardener, living or dead, could compete with the overwhelming sense of death and decay that permeates this land. By rights, I too should feel...something, from living in this broken down mansion, constantly overshadowed by the incarnation of death.

But then, I suppose that I too have changed from what I once was.

The flagstones click beneath my heels as I walk onwards, the cool scent of rust and dry leaves filling the air. Five years...five years since I stopped being a half phantom, since the day that Armageddon Day tore this Wonderland asunder.

I can still see it, the wall of orange and red fire that came surging towards our gates. An incorporeal mass, the chaos of that titanic event manifesting physically into this spiritual plane. So much death...it was like nothing I had seen before, and nothing I've seen since. The netherworld has seen such surges before, usually due to some terrible disaster in the Outside World, where hundreds of people are suddenly dead before they even realize it, the abrupt shock and horror of it quickly becoming rage and catalyzing most of them into...less than pleasant spirits almost immediately.

Such surges are my responsibility to deal with, as leaving them alone will only allow them to rampage unchecked throughout Hakugyokurou wreaking havoc. Roukanken's ability to cleave phantoms, and Hakurouken's ability to cut through confusion and disorder were both vital to stopping such surges, allowing me to mow them down by the dozens. For those rare occasions when I alone am not enough, my lady Yuyuko would stand beside me, her cold, crushing power over death simply snuffing them out on a whim.

But Armageddon Day...that was beyond either of us, beyond anything that could be considered 'human' or 'youkai'.

It was as though the world itself had rebelled against that sickening power, the laws of reality itself twisted and and bent by the force. What came roaring towards us on that day was not solely a mass of human or youkai souls...but rather, a little of both, caught up and struggling to survive in the midst of something much, much bigger than either of them. In the years since, I've since had the opportunity to study the phenomenon a bit more, in light of the way this world has changed following Armageddon Day, and the way magic and science now intertwine.

I believe that surge was, in a sense, the world itself.

Just like the moment when a stone is thrown into a still pool, ripples spreading outwards...so too did the sheer force of Armageddon Day send tremors through every layer of reality.

That, I believe is what the 'chaos' of A-Day was, the term colloquially used nowadays to define the mayhem that followed the initial clash. It was simply nature itself rebelling against the brutal rape of causality by forces which, to this day, I do not believe anyone truly understands. In the aftermath of that chaos, with the world reeling from the blow, the tattered shreds of reality struggling to knit themselves back together, that was when the blurring of the line between magic and science began-

I feel a smile cross my face.

Even after five years, it seems I am as easily distracted by my thoughts as ever. The cause of those events, or even what it was we faced on that day, the truth of both still escape me. At best, all I have are theories and guesses...I think of what Lady Yuyuko would say if she were to see me poring over old texts and research notebooks with such fervor...and I shake it off, the memories resurfacing.

We fought on that day, oh how we fought.

But ultimately, where my swords finally failed, not even my lady's power over death could halt what was, essentially, a force of nature.

You can't 'kill' a force of nature, any more than you can stop it.

The chaos hit us head on, surging past us and roaring through Hakugyokurou like a true tsunami, stripping the leaves from the trees, and twisting anything it touched. I don't remember much of this, even after all this time, as at the time I was doing my utmost not to black out from the pain of being exposed to...whatever that surge had been made of. As it turns out, living things do not respond very well to being immersed in the physical manifestation of distorted reality.

And then...then it reached the Saigyou Ayakashi.

At which point, we discovered that what might have been corrosive poison to living things was like raw steroids for that monster.

The seal on the Ayakashi splintered in seconds, smashed to pieces as if it wasn't even there. The deadly cherry blossoms came to life as I watched...and then, as the screaming started, I realized what it was doing.

My lady's body had lain beneath that thing for decades, serving as the physical lock on its evil. With the seal broken by the Ayakashi's power, that lock became a conduit, allowing the power of the Saigyou Ayakashi to flood out...and into my lady.

It ate her alive while I watched, corroding her away from the inside out, her own power of death turning inwards.

With no options left, and desperation running high, I did the only thing I could.

I 'cut' the link between my lady's spirit and her body, breaking the flow of power...and with it went Roukanken and my right arm.

That blade which had served my clan for centuries...and now one half of it was gone, spearing my lady straight through the heart. To this day, I have no idea what caused it, but somehow, my desperate belief in Roukanken's power had paid off...to the extent that by stabbing my lady Yuyuko, I also wounded the Ayakashi itself, forcing it back into a weakened state.

Thanks to that, however, it also saved my lady's life. A conduit runs both ways after all, and now with my splintered Roukanken acting as the bolt to bind them together, as long as one lived, the other could not die. For better or for worse, I had truly combined the two of them into one being.

A weak, wounded, and eternally hungry being, barely capable of moving, tended by a crippled swordswoman armed with half a blade and a wakizashi.

I don't like to think of those days much. They were not...pleasant.

For a moment, I remember the roars and howls, struggling to keep the monsters from breaking into Hakugyokurou and still trying to provide food for my lady's consuming hunger, all with only those weapons, the traps I could devise, and what I was able to learn in the brief respites I was granted.

I held out for four months...and in that time, I was forced to realize that my lady's condition was only worsening. What was worse, was that she realized it too.

With the Ayakashi's power continuing to leak out and poison the land, the hunger inside driving her mad...I was left alone, backed into a corner with no clear way out I could see.

I couldn't help my lady.

I couldn't help Hakugyokurou.

I couldn't even help myself.

And then, she appeared.

That troublemaking hermit...it seemed even she had not escaped Armageddon Day unscathed. A body of ceramic and bone, wielding just as much, if not more power than before the fall of the Barrier, she effortlessly exterminated the monsters in the area with an army of combat dolls, led by what...seemed to be the Seven Colored Puppeteer herself at first, but I now know to be something very different.

It seemed she had become aware of the Ayakashi herself, and had a vague suspicion of what she would find here...and from the corrosive smile that stretched across her ceramic features on seeing us, it appeared her suspicions had been right on the mark.

Knowing the dilemma I faced...she offered me a deal. Serve her as both an experimental subject and a footsoldier, and she would do her utmost to treat my lady.

A traitor and schemer she might be...but it was true that there were next to none that could claim the same prowess with medicine that the hermit did, and from where I stood, there was no guarantee that any of them had survived.

And so, I agreed.

Five years later, here I stand, alone amongst the falling leaves.

As it turned out, the hermit had been dying to get her knives into a half-phantom test subject, in the hopes of finding some clue in my bizarre physiology that would aid her in her own desperate search for the immortality that had been lost in the wrath of A-Day. Her puppeteer was not much better, but at least her twisted sense of respect for what she considered a 'pure and beautiful tapestry of meat and spirit' ensured that her...examinations were not too excruciating.

I am not certain what the knowledge they gleaned from studying me gained them...but I know what it gained me.

At long last, I am no longer 'half'.

To this day, I still cannot claim to understand the method to their madness...but my ghost half is no longer separate from me. Fused into the ruins of my right shoulder, it pulses through my veins with a warm familiarity, as though something long thought gone has returned to me.

Whatever the method...I cannot fault their results.

The fire of my phantom heritage, now an integral part of my body, is whatever I wish it to be, taking on any form I desire and moving as I will it. Mantraps, claws, binding chains, even multiple spectral hands...whatever I need, my phantom will provide.

Which is excellent, as the last four years following my pledge of service to the undead hermit having been anything but peaceful. Hakurouken and Roukanken (what is left of it) are no longer a pair of weapons...but a single, exceptionally powerful blade. I believe the hermit may have been mocking me with her choice of name for it after seeing me test it for the first time...but I like the way Kouryouken sounds, so I'm keeping it.

The eyes of the skull on my right shoulder flare, jaws opening. My phantom limb clicks the release for the combat sheath, and with a hiss of steam, I draw it, the superheated steel edge burning with an inner fire. The power of both my blades in one, the things that Kouryouken cannot cleave are...nonexistent. A quick check of the ballistic shells in the sheath impacter, as I have long since learned to be prepared for attacks at any time, and then I stab both into the earth and step back, phantom limbs disappearing into motes of spectral blue light, noting the black and white ceramic of my remaining arm.

It was inevitable, I suppose, that after so much extensive experimentation my body would not remain as it once was. Time, and the hermit's techniques, have made me just as unliving as she is...but when faced with the irony that my newfound inhumanity is coming along with the ever increasing health of my lady, I feel it is a small price to pay.

True to her word, the hermit saved her life, and treated her as best she could. But not even the biochemical might of Sei Rei can truly cure her, only to pause the inevitable. Stable now, she sleeps in a coma, her connection to the Ayakashi a vital source of study for the greedy hermit and her vicious puppeteer. They know better than to subject her to the cruelty I endured, and so they stay their hands...for the most part.

As long as I need the knowledge of that undead schemer to save my lady, I will wipe out anything in my path, and she knows that as long as she holds that promise over me, I will serve her as my honor dictates.

And so, I find myself here, the lord of an empty Netherworld and a gothic, crumbled garden, awaiting the order for another mission...or considering whether I should simply go out for a stroll once more.

In five years, I have learned much of the world, and with that experience has come a certain level of...relaxation for codes and rules I previously adhered rigidly to. I do not thrive on combat...but I find I rather enjoy it, for the challenge it presents.

There's a low growling sound, and from here, I can see the misshapen eyes of the monsters opening in the sunset shadows around me.

I could always simply abandon this place, I know. It is at best a glorious, tragic ruin of a former Eastern mansion and garden...and the eerie beauty of the Ayakashi has never particularly appealed to me either.

But it is my home.

And until the day my alliance with Sei Rei is finally over, I will make it my own, so that on that day...I can once more welcome my lady Yuyuko home.

The flames of my shoulder skull roar to life, and i set my feet firmly on the ground.

Koryouken is already within range of my phantom limbs, as is the sheath, when I finally fix the trespassing beasts with a mocking smile.

"SHOW ME A GOOD TIME, WON'T YOU?"

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A/N: LET'S BE REAL DID I EVEN NEED TO LINK THE THEME

I AM LIKE ALMOST CERTAIN EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU WHO'S BEEN ASKING ABOUT CCC YOUMU IMMEDIATELY WENT STRAIGHT FOR THE REVENGEANCE OST ONCE THIS CAME OUT

CHRIST

Still, I'm quite proud of her.

In terms of detailing and color, yeah, she's easily among my favorite designs thus far, and that's not just cuz of the amazing new texture trick I found to be able to do kimono patterns. (okay yeah it kind of is 8D )

Honestly I'm not completely pleased with how this writeup went down, as it went WAYYYYYYYYYYYY longer than I planned. But you know what, I kind of still like the flow of it. A big thing we had when designing CCC Youmu was the thought that she has all that training and talent in canon...but honestly all she lacks is real battle experience. You give her that, push her through the hell of Armageddon Day...and the result, assuming she survives, is what I consider a very definite example of a 'cool beauty'.

She's grown up, essentially, and she's not just a little girl anymore.

She's seen some shit, she's fought some shit, and most importantly, she's learned some shit.

And while yes, it's not necessarily a good job she has, as being the right hand enforcer of Sei Rei (who is a bitch...admittedly one with really nice legs) kinda implies she's a villain...but hey, she does what she has to in order to keep Yuyuko safe, treated and alive. And also so she can make sure they don't get too close to the Ayakashi, because let's face it, THAT'S why Sei Rei got involved at all.

Basically...I think that Youmu, as far as CCC goes, may honestly just be one of the more positive character stories we've got. I think if Yuyuko wasn't like, half dead/comatose, and could see Youmu now, she'd honestly be proud of her.

Als for the love of god I made up so much shit about the Ayakashi and souls and the chaos and the connection to Yuyuko

If there are major discrepancies, they may be adjusted later.

Or yknow, we could just say screw that noise it's CCC-verse specific

8D

As a final note, the design inspirations here were Guilty Gear's Baiken, Metal Gear Revengeance's JETSTREAM SAM (obviously)...and Phantasy Star Online 2's Rengokuto Ensa katana which is literally the most expensive piece of shit I own in game god damn it that was like 10 million bucks why

(Also there was a really bad moment when I realized I was going with a dark green/royal purple color scheme

88D

NO GET THE HELL OFF MY KEYBOARD YOU

D88

SHOO

ANYWAY

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PATIENCE  AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE NEWEST ADDITION TO THE WONDERFUL CRAZINESS THAT IS CCC

(Also sadly this does indeed confirm that Sei Rei faction is truly the legs faction. I mean god dayum Youmu you grew up NICE)

P.S. also all the kanji written on her outfit is legit and has a translation. GOOD LUCK

SEE YOU ALL!

Clockwork Corpse Carnival material may be found here and the prologue can be found here!

CCC design team: and of course, myself.