wasteland, baby! [fushiguro megumi]

32: ghost

10:45pm

inokashira line, shibuya station – avenue gate

third person pov

keiko never fully believed in the stories about gods and their all-loving, omnibenevolent virtues; she claimed it to be too controversial – the helpless human on their knees offering a futile prayer for their god to mock them behind divinity's so called 'omnipotence' – what a joke. and yet keiko has been nothing but a walking controversy since the day of her birth, and maybe even before.

the last descendant of kazuyahime, the god that started it all, sought kindness in humans and put her blind trust in them along with her gift of life. keiko's fate written in ichor to bear the burden of being the people's protector, to defend and to sacrifice, and it is one that will follow her from the cradle to her grave. and when the blood of a cursed spirit is added to the mix, keiko drowns in a maelstrom of sin and liability.

the ones who've been kind enough to embrace keiko as she is, an innocent child forced to play the hand of violence, are afflicted when they can't stop her from making choices that are influenced by the heavy weight on her fragile shoulders.

yet the calamity brewing within the girl has only fueled her own bloodlust, and gone is the girl who had painstakingly refused to allow herself to be anything but an apotheosis.

a purgatory erupts within dagon's domain, an earthquake rumbling beneath that could challenge the series of treacherous tsunamis around the sorcerers. a parameter outlined by torii gates made out of dragon skeletons, the air turns hot and it sickles on damp skin. the crystalised core of cursed energy had materialised from the force field that keiko once held, and keiko fuses into it with the likes of a blazing butterfly, escaping wary eyes.

it didn't take long for the other sorcerers to notice the faint trails of cursed energy following this rogue butterfly from their own bodies, along with their own depleting strength. her domain isn't complete after all, she made her choice to consume power at the expense of her comrades'. anything that had been marked with dagon's residuals would now incite her rampage.

the only thing stopping her comrades from going against her was their blind trust and miniscule hope that this wildcard would be a strategic move in their play.

before naobito could ascend into the air for another hit, keiko had already positioned herself behind the octopus, resuming back into her real body and plunging her fist straight into the centre of its chest, her hand on the other side going off in flames as she pulled her arm back out through its slimy body. dagon was quick to summon more shikigamis the second it felt the strain from its chest, but keiko had beat dagon to it when she switched out to a butterfly and back into herself repeatedly, cutting across the front of dagon's body with the dagger she morphed.

and it happened again, where she blinked out and right back in before anyone could take their next breath, making up for the lack of strength in her attacks with her speed. with every slash, the crimson fury in her eyes glistened with the reflection of the vast ocean they stood upon.

in the midst of her frenzy, dagon had already summoned a shikigami to destroy the crystalised core of energy flickering in the air, certain that that was the ultimate source of her sudden burst of power. but what dagon hadn't imagined, was a third domain bracing itself to hold out for the next few minutes, a move that keiko had sensed coming ever since a certain raven entered the field with residuals that she would never miss.

"domain expansion: chimera shadow garden!"

a pool of shadows falters from the point of entry along with megumi who was quick to call out for maki, sending her the special grade cursed tool – playful cloud – through his shadows.