"Ah?!!!!"
Mya was caught in a stupor of sheer disbelief. Before she could even register Shion's movement, her centre of gravity vanished. She slipped violently toward the white gravel; her left leg had been sheared clean off at the thigh by a blindingly fast stroke.
Yet, before her torso could fully impact the ground, her severed flesh liquefied into a swarm of frantic butterflies, pulling the limb back into its socket and snapping the bone securely back into its joints.
Her crimson eyes widened in pure horror as she brought her folding fan up just in time to block a devastating follow-up strike. The sheer, raw physical power of Shion's broader male frame slammed into her defences, sending her skidding backwards across the courtyard, her high Oiran shoes carving deep ruts into the stone.
'What the, hel—?!' she thought, panic clawing at her throat.
Before she could stabilise her footing, a cluster of monstrous, pitch-black hands erupted from Shion's back like a grotesque spider. They lunged forward, their obsidian fingers clamping tightly around Mya's throat.
"Nooo! " Mya shrieked, flinching as her regal composure completely evaporated.
As she choked within the shadow grip, her perception pierced Shion's aura. Her soul shuddered. 'What's this?? There is no emotion, she is completely hollow... is she even human?' There was no warmth, no readable human essence left within her, just a cold, bottomless void of devouring darkness.
Desperate to break the hold, Mya violently waved her fan in a wide, frantic arc. Responding to her turning Reiryoku, every remaining drop of water was violently purged from the environment. Droplets ripped themselves from the wooden ruins, and the surrounding grass, shrubs, and ornamental flowers instantly withered into dry dust as the moisture was ruthlessly drained from their cells.
The massive, accumulated deluge condensed into hyper-velocity tidal pellets. The pressurised water wall slammed directly into Shion with catastrophic force, decimating her immediate position, tearing her shadow hands away from Mya's neck.
Using the concussive blast, Mya launched herself high into the air, gasping for breath as she levitated above the ruined garden.
Ba-dump.
Her heart violently skipped a beat once more. The physical world dissolved instantly, and her consciousness was ruthlessly pulled back into the depths of her suppressed memories.
She looked down at her hands. She was roughly five years old now. She stood within a sprawling, hidden courtyard surrounded by silent servants clad entirely in stark white robes, their faces tightly obscured by blank cloths.
From the shifting, oppressive shadows of the grand pavilion, the towering, silhouetted man stepped into the light once more.
"Here... take them," the master's resonant, low voice echoed through her young mind. He held out four ornate, divine helms. "Since you are born to be gods, you should each carry the mantle fitting for one."
The moment the heavy Hagoromo were placed upon their young shoulders, a burning, permanent sigil etched itself onto the flesh of each child's back. Mya looked at her sisters. She bore a vibrant Butterfly; the second, a fragile Snowflake; the third, a blazing Sun; and the final child, a rolling Cloud.
"Now go and fly," the Master's voice commanded, his smile cold and boundless. "Claim everything. For you are gods."
Mya's head jerked violently as her consciousness slammed back into reality. She gasped for air, her levitating frame trembling in the silver moonlight.
"What the hell are these memories?!" she huffed, her voice cracking with a mixture of rage and terror. "I don't want them! I don't want them!"
She roared into the night sky before suddenly forcing herself into an eerie, dead silence. Her pale hand rose to her face. In a swift, fluid motion, she dug her fingers deep into her own socket and violently ripped her left eye from its skull. The sound of tearing muscle and severing nerves was sickeningly wet.
Blood poured down her porcelain cheek, but her expression didn't change. She held the twitching, crimson orb in her hand for a fraction of a second.
Splat.
She crushed it completely, letting the fluid seep through her fingers.
"Violet Ever Garden..."
Prrrrrrr!
A high-pitched, whistling sound pierced the air, so intense it made the ears bleed. The dense Reiryoku saturating the Sanctuary began to shake violently, fracturing the environment. For a terrifying, agonising moment, reality went entirely blank; the ruins, the stone pond, and the silver moon completely vanished into a void of pure light.
Then, the world reformed, as she deployed her Kekkai.
A colossal, breathtaking garden began to aggressively sprawl across the ruined courtyard, spreading with supernatural speed. Giant, vibrant purple flowers bloomed from the stone, and bioluminescent butterflies shimmered like fallen stars through the thick air. Even small, delicate animals, spirit rabbits and glowing birds began to seamlessly manifest from clusters of aggregating butterflies, skittering through the unnatural flora.
Mya's appearance shifted along with the landscape. Her ornate Oiran kimono dissolved, replaced by an almost transparent, ethereal silk robe that drifted lightly around her. Floating silently behind her back was a hollow, glowing sigil of the butterfly, pulsing with a terrifying, absolute authority.
As the garden solidified, another fragmented memory briefly echoed through her mind, overlapping with the present.
"I found this human wandering near the outskirts of the river... what should I do with her?" her younger self had asked, dragging a weeping girl by the hair.
"What do you wish to do with it?" the Master's distant, rumbling voice had responded.
"I want to keep it. As a pet."
"Since you are a god, you may do whatever you please with it."
The memory dissolved into the purple mist. Mya looked down at Shion's hollow male form with her remaining crimson eye, her face twisted in a manic, divine ecstasy.
"Yes... I am a god," she roared, her voice echoing through the massive domain. "And I will do whatever I want!"
Splat!
A wet, sickening puncture sound instantly cut through the roaring wind, echoing with absolute clarity through the vibrant purple expanse.
"Why do you continue to lie to yourself?"
"Ahhh?!"
Mya's manic laughter died in her throat, her eyes widening in pure, unadulterated shock.
Shion had already closed the distance. Her muscular arm was driven completely through her transparent silk robes, the hand lodged deep into the centre of her chest.
"You... you wouldn't da—" Mya choked out, her voice fracturing.
Ignoring her entirely, Shion violently pulled his hand back out, tearing her core directly from her ribcage.
The heart pulsing rhythmically in Shion's grip was an ornate, spiritual-looking thing completely bound and constricted by small, highly intricate silver chains that sizzled with another Reiryoku that was not her own.
"You are no god," Shion's voice reached her ears deep, resonant, and entirely stripped of emotion. "Look at yourself deeply. For once in your existence, be honest with who you are."
Mya stared blankly at the chained, bleeding heart in Shion's hand. The purple garden around them began to tremble. From her eyes, genuine human tears slipped down her porcelain cheek.