Chapter Text
Though her time on Earth was relatively short in comparison to her time in Heaven, it cannot be said that Iesua needed to be taught how varied Humanity really was. Even if she spent her mortal life mostly in Judea, the centuries of meeting humans who have ascended over the many centuries widened her perspectives. Case in point, the land called ‘Nippon’ was home to not an insignificant number of her followers, albeit in the form of a Church she had no role in founding. One of the biggest issues actually for new souls ascending to Heaven was the mismatched expectations many had, her appearance as a little girl and not an older man with long, flowing hair with a beard chief among them. It seemed that her appearance in the eyes of man had been altered drastically in the many years since her time below.
Looking at a portion of Heaven’s walls resting on top of the ‘Youkai Mountain’ that Byakuren told her about, Iesua was beginning to feel a little guilty about causing all of this. Make no mistake, the forces of heaven were here for her, and though they had good intentions, the locals did not take too kindly to their sudden appearance. Then there was this supposed prophecy Sama-Chan swore was happening right now, a series of very unfortunate coincidences.
“Hey, uh, Squirt? I don’t know if you have a plan on how to deal with this, but I can guarantee you that every heavy-hitter in Gensokyo right now is at the fort. Not that fighting isn’t my forte, but I hope you do have a plan for when we get there.”
“If it hasn’t changed, Michaela is probably leading Heaven’s forces, we should go and find her first. Iesua?” Sariel replied to Samael, before turning to Iesua for confirmation. The three of them were blasting through the air right now, making a beeline for the shining city, they were right above a large sunflower field Byakuren also told her about, this time being a warning to never harm even a single flower.
“Michaela’s objective is to find me, once we find her, she’ll call off Heaven’s forces.”
The only reason they were even deployed was due to Gensokyo’s barrier, if she appeared in the outside, regular world a more discreet deployment would have been used so as to not disrupt the mortal world. Still, doing something like this was bound to attract the attention of the native gods here, so Iesua had to get back before the conflict escalated further-
“Um, I haven’t seen Michaela in a while, but is that who I think she is?”
On the edge of the sunflower field, there was a large boulder. However that was not the important part, rather, it was the Archangel sticking out of it, and half of her body was impaled into the stone. Her pure-white wings were still visible, flapping violently as she tried to dislodge herself.
Landing right behind her, it was evident to the three as to who she was.
“It’s dark! Someone help! I just touched one of those sunflowers! Why was that the wrong thing to do?!”
Sariel had a blank expression on her face as she turned to her older sister.
“Alright, you take the right leg, I’ll take the left-”
Iesua had a better idea. Hopping past Sama-chan, she reared back her fist and struck the boulder, shattering it instantly.
“...Or you can do that as well…”
Crouching down, Iesua knelt behind Michaela, now sitting upright and hacking out bits of stone, she offered a comforting pat behind the angel she was most familiar with in Heaven.
“Oh! I thank you, kind passerby-IESUA!” Just as she finished hacking out the last bits of rock, Iesua was tackled by Michaela, dressed in full battle armour, slightly singed and dinged up in a few places.
“I got you now! Finally, we can head home after so long! Did you know how long you were gone for?! You made everyone in Heaven worried sick!”
“I know-”
“Oh, everything’s going to be fine now. Let’s head home and forget about all this Earth apostle nonsense-”
“Wow, she really hasn’t changed a single bit from before, huh Sariel?”
Michaela stopped hugging Iesua as tightly, slowly turning around to see the other two archangels she ignored entirely.
“Samael…Sariel…I should not be surprised to see you two here.”
“Aw, gee, thanks for the warm greeting. It’s only been what, fifteen hundred years since we last saw each other?” Sariel nudged Samael’s rib before she could continue on digging into each other. Iesua was the youngest out of the four of them there, only being roughly two millennia old, while the others were considered to be primordials, being already present when the Keystone was pulled from the Earth, creating the many Heavenly realms.
“I would be greeting you better if you at least decided to visit every few decades, or better yet, actually show up for reunions. Even Azazel shows up now, you have no excuse to not at least make it to the dinner-”
Sensing where this conversation was about to go into, Iesua pre-emptively stood in front of them, “Halt, we must recall Heaven’s forces, remember? I know there were…are…misgivings between the two of you, but can we at least stop them for now and work for the good people of Gensokyo?”
She made sure to look at them intently, with her one good eye of course. Michaela folded almost instantly, as per usual, while Samael took a bit longer, but huffed in affirmation in the end.
“Fine.”
“...damn it, one of these days I swear…”
“How many from Heaven have you brought, Michaela?” The blonde archangel hummed in thought, before giving an answer.
“About one legion, but we were in the midst of our annual celebration from the mortal world so that number is roughly half honestly speaking.”
Ah, the festival imported into Heaven that was meant to honour her birthday? She wasn’t even born on Christmas, but that apparently did not stop her followers from going ahead with it anyways. Some centuries ago it just caught on with Heaven in general, and due to her Father’s general lax attitude about a lot of things, the ‘festival’ became something everyone there looked forward to, whether Angel or just a regular soul. Iesua did find it odd most of the time, but she could not deny the festive atmosphere it brought. Perhaps the alcohol should have been moderated, however.
“Oh yeah, Gadreel told me about those…so that should be fine, right? We walk in, tell everyone to come back and you get outta here?”
Michaela narrowed her eyes at Samael, clearly wanting to say something else but refrained from doing so. “Yes…that was our plan, I have left my second in command of the fort, once we get back up there we can send a recall signal.”
Iesua knew d’Arc well, the saint nearly fainted in Heaven when they first met, though that was a few centuries ago now. Still, the fact that she was here meant that their retreat could be done quickly, and smoothly. Not that Michaela couldn’t handle it, but there was a reason why Gabriel was chosen to handle internal affairs over her, with her official title being the commander of Heaven’s armies. What was the new term she learned in Gensokyo? Michaela could probably best be described as that, an ‘airhead’ most of the time.
Taking up to the skies again, the four of them, probably for the first time in two millennia, travelled together as one. As they flew higher and higher, they began to see signs of battle all over, from scorched grounds to massive craters, the locals, who have proven to be incredibly resilient so far were assumed to be the origin for them.
“Why did you land right on top of their mountain again? Wouldn’t it have been better to land in some random forest instead?” Sariel asked Michaela, who made an ‘ah’ face before looking away, her ears redder by the second. An airhead indeed, it seemed.
Making great speed, they were not far from the main gate of the fort when they came upon an extremely odd sight, the walls of Heaven were breached, something which had never happened before. Landing just in front of it, Michaela crouched down in front of a defeated d’Arc, gold-coloured rubble haphazardly all around them.
“Jeanne! What happened here?! By Heaven’s grace, who could have done something like thi-”
“Oho~there they are! I knew there were more stragglers~da-ze!”
Ah, there was her newest disciple, but who were the odd and colourful-looking people behind her?
“Aaaaaand fifty-three! I think that’s about all of them, not sure about those already outside, but shouldn’t we find their leader or whatever?”
Usually when it came to incidents, fighting through a certain area and progressing further resulted in more people coming out to fight, this time however nothing of that sort happened. Fighting through the very shiny city, all they came across were basically small-fry, with a majority of them too drunk to mount any serious defence. Oh well, Marisa thought, at least this incident wasn’t going to be anything complicated, a good old-fashioned brawl, just like the Scarlet Devil Mansion incident.
Ah, the good old days.
Reimu finished up whacking a pair of charging angels with her Yin-Yang orbs before turning to Marisa, also having racked up dozens of defeats. “Usually they come to us, so why bother flying around and looking for them?”
Despite the lazy answer she gave, Reimu was right, in that it was weird how there wasn’t anyone coming out to fight, even the Lunar Capital resulted in them fighting a bunch of people in succession. Placing a hand under her chin in thought, she noticed the group from the outside world, just a few people who included those weirdos Sumireko went on constantly about forming a group or whatever standing off to the side, trying their best to act like gawking statues. Well, except for the flying man in metal, he was unleashing a torrent of Danmaku she was pretty sure was illegal, no one in Gensokyo was able to dodge something like that.
“...remind me afterwards to review his spellcards.” Reimu commented after a particularly bright attack in the sky, in the shape of his own metal face for some reason.
“Wait a minute, I hear some people at the wall, might be some stragglers!” Sanae called out from her end, right next to a destroyed statue that was vaguely familiar, honestly having a big resemblance to Iesua with that outfit.
“Oh! They’re mine, you guys take the other ends!” Taking advantage of her superior broom speed, Marisa made it back to the breached wall in no time. While seeing the middle-aged man with glasses transform into a hulking green monster was a sight the witch never wanted to see again, she couldn’t deny that the Doctor Banner did a damn fine job at wrecking the wall. Surprisingly, he calmed down and returned to normal soon after with the help of that redhead, though his current state of dress was a random robe they found on the floor; a side-effect of those powers apparently.
“Oho~there they are! I knew there were more stragglers~da-ze!”
Landing in front of the breach, she found a group of four, two people she was familiar with, and two others she was not.
“Oya? There you two are, thanks for ditching me back there by the way! Leaving me to deal with Shinki on my own…some teacher you are!” Jabbing a finger at Iesua, the one-eyed girl did not react to it, instead adopting a sagely expression.
“Your sacrifice was noble, and done for a worthy cause.” A spirit attached to her back for some reason nodded intensely at her words, causing a vein to bulge on Marisa’s forehead.
“You-oh whatever, who are those two with ya? Didn’t see them before so they’re probably new.”
One was vaguely familiar, she had heard of a minor Kami with a small shrine managed by her which dealt in evil deeds of some kind, described as having red hair and bat-like wings. The other one honestly looked like those angels they just fought, though even from where she stood Marisa could sense the power she radiated.
“Hah! Foolish mortal, I am Amatsu-” Before the red-haired one could continue anymore, Sariel pulled on her air while speaking on behalf of all of them.
“Apologies for my idiot sister, she’s in her rebellious phase. I don’t know if you have, but do you know who breached Heaven’s walls? We would like to make sure there aren’t any misunderstandings, in fact, they were actually just about to leave-”
“Wait a minute, this whole shining city is yours?! ”
“Indeed.”
“A section of it, yes.”
“Well, hasn’t been mine for like a couple of millennia…”
“Is that what mortals call Heaven’s Capital these days…?”
A realization suddenly hit her. The Angels from earlier were all drunkenly asking people about finding someone, the Holy Father’s daughter or something…which Ieusa herself mentioned a couple of times to Marisa already. Putting two and two together wasn’t difficult, and she turned to her with an incredulous expression.
“All this time…they were trying to find you?! You’re a runaway kid this whole time?!”
Iesua turned away, her cheeks adopting a faint red hue. Right on the money, it seemed.
“I am Millennia old, saying that I am a child-”
“You sure don’t act like one…”
Well, Suika was also Millennia-old but would she be best described as a responsible adult? Probably not, therefore, Iesua was also just a kid. Eirin was an adult, no just because of her looks, but also how she generally acted.
“In any case, now that we have been reunited, I believe we can clear up the misunderstanding between us. Call thy companions here, and we shall make peace.”
Marisa cringed, ‘making peace’ was probably not very high up on Reimu’s list of things to do right now, considering how annoyed she was at the whole thing.
“Urghh…well, it’s gonna be a bit awkward, but if it resolves the incident I’m sure Reimu and the others might agree to stop.”
“I see, then they are gentlefolk, are they not?” Gentle didn’t apply to most of them, but okay, sure, Marisa just nodded.
“There they are now, here’s to hoping they don’t attack on sight, the mess is gonna be worse than the sacking of Rome.” The red-haired demon? Angel? Commented as Reimu, Sanae and Alice landed, along with the middle-aged guy Marisa couldn’t quite remember the name of.
“Marisa! There you are, who are they? More of those weirdos?!” Reimu, as expected, landed expecting a fight, a collection of talismans ready to be used on her hands. Stepping right in front of her, Marisa got between them before anything could happen.
“WAIT! I know them, they’re with me!”
“...explain, now.”
Oh boy, where should she begin? “Uhhh…long story short, I took someone to Makai in return for something, and as it turns out, she,” Marisa pointed at Iesua, who had her hands clasped together, “was the reason for those Angels coming down from wherever they were in. But! Everything’s sorted now, so no need for slinging spellcards at each other now.”
Reimu was obviously and understandably very suspicious, narrowing her eyes at each of them, going from left to right, until stopping at Sariel, who was making her best ghost impression. “Hey…haven’t we met before?”
“N-no, no, you’re mistaken…”
Wait a minute, didn’t Reimu mention having been to Makai before?
“Oh…I remember you! Just right before fighting Shinki, you were the one guarding the throne room! I knew it, Makai was planning something after all! No wonder it was so quiet after that incident!”
Her Gohei, somehow longer than the one she was using just now, was thrust into their direction. “You’re not getting away this time! I’m gonna get all the answers I need outta you, DIVINE SPIRIT: DREAM SEAL!”
And thus, the spellcards were flung, and Danmaku filled the air between them.
“Eat it you Angelic trespassers! This ain’t even your holy land!”
Coming across the third group of patrolling angels, whom Sumireko promptly dealt with, she found herself taking stock of the situation. There was some crazy Danmaku being slung off into the distance, specifically right above what she assumed was the Shining City, some she recognized belonged to Reimu and Marisa, while the others were different. It was something only a lunatic would dream of ever fighting, and Sumireko was not one at all, no sir, madam, or whatever chief Abrahamic God was apparently real could say.
Though to be fair, if most of the Eastern religions turned out to be real, why couldn’t any of the Western ones? Hecatia was admittedly from there, albeit from a pantheon consigned to myth and legend, not being actively worshipped. Oh well, it seemed like the usual incident solvers were already dealing with it, so she could relax, nice and easy, while also evading the difficult questions from Officer Hazama and that Vatican guy.
Such was the life of a Superhero-
“Oh, shouldn’t you be helping them?”
“Huh?! Oh, Mokou! I didn’t notice ya there, on the way to Eientei?” So, she did get back to Gensokyo already, meaning that Sanae was probably among those fighting at the summit of Youkai mountain right now.
“Yes, but it seems a lot quieter now than before, did something happen?”
“Hm? Oh yeah, ran into Reisen not long ago, they’ve pretty much got the whole forest locked down, not that it wasn’t hard to begin with.” There was a reason why Mokou was the guide for the forest among the human village, and the Angels were learning that the hard way.
“Pah, guess I wasn’t really needed at all…you think they’d mind if one more person goes and joins the fight?” An impressive wall of Danmaku in the shape of an Angel’s halo cleaved through the clouds, causing Sumireko to deadpan at her close friend.
“Really? You want to join that?”
“I don’t mind, but, I think I have another thing to do first.” Held in her hands was a bundled-up newspaper, just by reading the few words on the front page Sumireko could guess what that was about.
“Are you really…?”
“Yes, yes I am. We didn’t go through all that trouble for nothing, did we?”
She wanted to pinch the top of her nose, there were a few ways it could go, some ugly, some not. Oh well, she wasn’t the one with a personal connection to Kaguya Hourisan, so what place did she have to say otherwise?
“Ah screw it, I’m gonna go join the fray, by the way, if you see two people from the outside world somehow manage to make their way into the bamboo forest direct them away from me.”
“What?”
“Okay thanks bye, gonna go be a superhero now!”
Shooting up into the air, Sumireko held her hat steady as it fluttered from the wind. Fighting the head honcho of whoever was there couldn’t be worse than dealing with Hazama again, right?
“New Theory, Thin Ice of The Sea of Galilee”
“Spirit Sign: Dream Orb!”
“Comet: Blazing Star!”
“Curse Sign: Shanghai Doll”
For every attack Iesua could throw at them, a counter could be shot back. Of course, she was not using her full powers, that was the point of Gensokyo. No fighter was using their full abilities whatsoever, and that was the point. She knew this part of Gensokyo before first breaching the barrier, having done her research based on the somewhat limited information Heaven had, Byakuren actually helped her create many of the ‘spellcards’ she was using right now. It was a novel way of fighting and solving disputes, one that so far had not resulted in any death or seriously lasting injuries; something that she greatly appreciated.
Was it weakening her? Of course, but it forced her to work within those constraints, thus actually pushing her to take the fight seriously. The previous encounters had strong fighters, but those fighting her right now? They deserved the title of Gensokyo’s protectors, Sariel was indeed correct.
“You, Doll-maker, carry the scent of Demons, and yet you live among humans…”
Dodging a series of homing crosses, the Doll-maker responded with a frustrated groan. “Don’t even-It’s just from my mother! I have nothing against humans!”
“Oh my~Lady Lilith will be very pleased to hear that you have acknowledged her!”
“Shut up Sariel! Don’t even think about mentioning this to her!” A fresh wave of Danmaku was launched at Sariel from the now irate Doll-maker, so she was Lilith’s child after all.
The four of them were separated into two groups, Michaela and Samael, while Iesua was with Sariel. The former was fighting another Eastern priestess and a man in metal she saw on the human device called a ‘television’ a few months ago, while she and Sariel were fighting Hakurei priestess, the child of Lilith and most annoyingly, her newest disciple.
“What an unruly disciple you are, fighting your own teacher? Even Martha was not this rowdy when she followed me millennia ago.”
“You didn’t even ask if I wanted to become your student!”
“It worked for most of my previous students…” To this day neither she nor her disciples in Heaven could say for certain how it happened. For many, it sort of just did, and for some reason later humans only recorded twelve of her students when she had many others as well.
“No matter, I’ll beat some sense into you just as I did for Toma.”
In his case, Iesua remembered being quite literal in doing that, there was no better way to test the buildings he built than by punching them after all.
“Relic: Iron Crown of The Holy Emperor.”
“Oh, come on! Love Sign: Master Spark!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to steal something from your religion!”
“You’re giving me very mixed signals right now, what did you even steal?!”
As it turned out, apologizing for copying the move of a saint from a foreign religion while unleashing a torrent of Danmaku at a representative of said foreign religion was ripe for miscommunication. This, Sanae was aware of, but did the blonde archangel know about it on her end? No, probably not.
“Ignore her, help with this guy instead! How are those attacks even legal in Gensokyo?! Even I had to make sure mine were legal, there is no way those are!” Sanae’s other opponent, whom she recognized as Amatsu-Mikaboshi, actually ran into her a couple of months ago foraging for mushrooms, shouted to the archangel. Her opponent was Mister Stark, and despite her best attempts at tweaking his spellcards to make them ‘legal’, his insistence on skirting the absolute limits of the rules turned out to be helping them right now. While Reimu, Marisa and Alice were dealing with the other two, she was stuck with only his help.
Just because a computer-generated pattern existed in his attacks, it didn’t exactly mean his spellcards were legal, she was sure most of his attacks were going to be neutered not long after this incident was over.
“I dunno kid, I’m having a lot of fun right now! By the way, am I fighting Satan right now?” Mister Stark’s voice came through in the earpiece he gave her prior to the fight, he evidently was having a lot more fun than any of them were.
“Why do you mortals insist on calling me Satan?! It is something you invented!” Just for that, a wave of fiery Danmaku was launched at Mister Stark, who barely managed to dodge them in time.
The battle was tedious, with Sanae’s opponent, who Mikaboshi-sama called ‘Michaela’ being particularly tough for her to deal with. Her traits did not have an especially effective impact on her, and the Angel she was fighting clearly had more experience than she did. This could not continue for much longer, she needed one big attack, big enough to make sure both of them could be knocked out of the fight…
“Hey Sanae!”
“Sumireko?!” Not expecting to find her of all times, the familiar Esper weaved in between various Danmaku to fly in formation next to her.
“Heard you got a little angel trouble! Do you mind if I help?”
“You bet! Listen, I need you to immobilize the two of them, can you do that?”
“Yeah! I’ll show you what my Esper training has amounted to recently!”
Flying high up into the air, the rubble around them, made from the aftermath of stray Danmaku shots to the city below trembled as Sumireko concentrated on them. Amounting to several tons of debris, of stone, steel and other parts of once pristine buildings, they began flying up, directly at the two heavenly beings.
“Dream Rubble Sign: Wool Coloured Psychokinesis!”
“What the-get off me!”
“That’s what I should be saying you immature brat!”
The two were literally squished together, held in place by tons of stone and Sumireko’s telekinesis. Now was a good a time as any, activating the ear piece on her ear, Sanae called out to Mister Stark.
“Mister Stark! Use your core!” She saw it being tested a week ago at his facility in Malibu, albeit at a greatly reduced scale, now however, he had free reign to use it at full strength.
“Seriously? No backsies! Lemme think of something cool to say-ah screw it, Core Sign: Double Power Repulsor!”
“This is all your fault, Michaela!”
“You’re the one who got us into this mess in the first place-!”
Sanae never heard the end of whatever they were saying, for they were engulfed in a bright, orange beam from Mister Stark’s suit. Now then, how were the others doing?
Iesua turned away from the distant beam in front of her and turned to Sariel. “Sama-chan and Michaela have been defeated. I am removing my bandage.”
“If we were in the outside world, I would have advised against it. However…we are not, bring our Father’s light to this land, Iesua.” With Sariel’s permission, she unwrapped the bandage covering her right eye. When she was put onto the cross by the Romans, the wounds she suffered, because of her forsaking Yahweh right before her death and subsequent stealing of her body by Judah, had remained on her mortal body. In heaven, which was the eternal paradise and utopia, she did not have these wounds, but ever since returning back to Earth, they had reappeared again. No amount of divine power could have healed them, regardless however, she bore them in her long journey throughout the world she knew millennia later without much issue, just another tribulation she would have to endure.
The cross on her back, so far having been used as a shield, glowed brightly, as bright as the sunrise in heaven.
“The One Coming At The End Of The World.”
No one but her father knew when the end times would arrive, but that did not mean she couldn’t make preparations beforehand. The sky above parted, pushing away the orange-red sky and instead revealing a silver sky, a piece of heaven, just a small inconsequential piece was brought into Gensokyo.
She was pushing the absolute boundary of the barrier now, if it were any weaker the native Gods of this land would have definitely noticed her presence. Iesua disliked fighting, true, she hated the violence that inevitably followed it, all the bloodshed in her name centuries after her passing, told to her from new arrivals into heaven often too much to bear. Yet, fighting in Gensokyo, where she was free to use her abilities to the fullest…the feeling was exhilarating. For the first time, she wanted to ‘win’, in a competitive sense, much like seeing the other children play a game of tag in Nazareth, where she grew up. Now, she finally understood why they played it.
“Holy Lance of Gaius Cassius”
A divine lance, the same one that pierced her flesh in Jerusalem all those years ago appeared in the sky above her. Thousands of them, ready to strike on her command.
“Come, show thy strength against the full might of my Heaven, show me the extent of your faith.”
The lances released, coming directly down for the gathered group of foes below them, and just as Iesua expected, they did not go quietly into the night.
“Great Barrier: Hakurei Danmaku Barrier!”
Her lances crashed into a barrier from a shrine maiden, attempting to pierce it to no avail.
“Darkness Sign: Foggy London Dolls.”
Puppets shot out from the barrier, releasing a thick fog to the point where it obscured her vision of them entirely.
“Please forgive me! Sea Opening: The Day the sea split!”
“Why are you apologizing again?! Psychokinesis: Telekinesis: Illegal Dumping!”
Her barrage of lances at the barrier suddenly split, exactly like how Mosheh described the parting of the sea in a conversation with her in Heaven. Then, massive boulders from the mountain below suddenly slammed into her sides, held in place by what she recognized as a mental force. The attacks came too quickly, and by the time she recognized it as a coordinated attack, it was too late, the man in iron and her newest unruly disciple were already in position below her.
“Sorry Iesua! I’ll make it up to ya later da~ze! Magicannon: Final Master Spark!”
“Core is at a hundred fifty! Hit it Jarvis! Technology Sign: Badassium Blast!”
BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A ‘X’ shaped attack was launched at her, with her stuck in place, she was hit at the epicentre of the attack, taking both of them at the same time. Despite her gritting her teeth and holding on with whatever divinity remained within her, she was, afterall, in a land where she held no believers. Thus, her eyes began to droop, as she could not hold on for much longer.
‘Congratulations, humans of a foreign land, you won this day…’ Judah clung onto her chest for dear life, as they began a rapid descent into the ground. Just before the last vestiges of consciousness slipped from her however, she noticed a figure in a pointed hat speeding right towards her. Iesua allowed her lips to tug upwards, before finally drifting away.
‘You’re not so bad after all…I’ll not lecture you so much after this…”
“Teacher.”
“Yes, Judah? Are you worried about our expenses again?”
“No, no, it’s just, it seems that you’re needlessly doing this much…I worry that we will antagonize the elders.”
“That is not unfounded, but alas, why don’t you let me worry about them? You just make sure we are able to continue to feed ourselves next week.”
“You jest…but, have you ever considered…doing something else? I don’t mean stopping your teachings, just do…regular things in between them, as the other disciples have done.”
“You know that is not possible, Judah.”
“But have you ever-”
“Maybe, in the future, when our work is not so critical right now. I have…always wanted to bake my own bread, instead of having it fall out of the sky. Won’t you join me in doing that in the future?”
“Of course, teacher, I swear on Heaven above we’ll do it someday.”
Iesua slowly fluttered her eyes open. Instead of the orange sky, she was greeted with the familiar sight of Gensokyo. Blue, somewhat cloudy, and most importantly, clear of any supernatural influence. It was as clear as it could be, in the metaphorical sense.
“Hey, hey! Wake up already?”
She was sleeping on something soft, and fluffy. “...five…more minutes…”
“Oh, come on! You’ve been out for like an hour, my thigh is starting to get numb!”
Stupid disciple, can’t even bear it for a whole day…she had heard of entire orders of priests dedicated to harming themselves for her. Of course, she found disgust in the action, but could respect their tenacity for doing so, however misguided it may have been.
Slowly getting up, she rubbed her right eye, followed by her left, before realizing that she now had vision in both eyes again. Visually inspecting her hands, it also no longer bore the wounds from the crucifixion, instead being as pristine as before.
“How…”
“Don’t ask me, Eirin over there gave you an ointment or something. Can’t say I miss your bandaged look, though we haven’t exactly been acquainted for long.” Marisa pointed to another divine being, a Lunarian by her senses, with the man in Iron, now out of his armour and others she didn’t recognize. So, there were regular humans down there, she sensed their presence, however small it may have been and directed the fight away from Heaven’s fort. She was glad they were unharmed, but where were the others…?
“Oh, Sariel is with Reimu, trying to make her not charge into Makai right now. The other two with you back there are with Sanae, I think they’re trying to clear something up? Sumireko is…somewhere…and so, I’m left with you. Hey, you put up a damn good fight, you probably are a pretty high-ranking God wherever you’re from, right?”
Slowly getting up, Judah’s soul still being hugged to her chest, she gave a non-commital shrug. Actually, now that she took a closer look, they were still in the City, specifically in the main square, part of it anyways. It seemed that Heaven’s forces had been recalled, but instead of there just being Angels present, Gensokyo’s local denizens had also made their way up here. Regular humans, Vampires, Fairies, Dragons, Tengu and even werewolves were now present, probably curious as to what caused the whole incident. The fact that the fighting stopped now was a good sign, there was enough destruction for a day, after all.
“I suppose that isn’t…incorrect from Gensokyo’s point of view. I have never acknowledged myself as one, nor will I be doing so anytime soon. Now is the time where you want some answers, no?”
“You betcha! We haven’t had an incident like this involving all of Gensokyo since like…oh I don’t remember, but probably a long time ago. So, what’s your story? Why did you come to Gensokyo?”
Her story was not one that made for particularly light-hearted talking, and it was long too. Perhaps this wasn’t the best place to talk about it-
“Our Christmas party got ruined…and now we gotta clean up before we head back up there, Michaela’s orders.” Iesua overheard a nearby Angel lament aloud, she did interrupt their yearly party, didn’t she?
Looking at the various grumpy faces around her, all due to her simply going down from heaven…it left a sour taste in her mouth.
“My disciple, how does Gensokyo resolve incidents? After the fighting, I mean.”
“Resolve? Eh…usually we talk it out after the battles…though it’s often followed by a party of some kind, y’know, the ones where the booze flows freely! Haven’t had those in a good while, I think.”
Oh, in that case…
Getting up, she ignored Marisa for now and headed right towards the still-flowing fountain in the main square where everyone was gathered. Heaven was a realm where miracles happened daily, and Iesua, embodying aspects of it for the mortal world, only used them sparingly out of humility. Today, however, one more exception to her rules wouldn’t hurt. With a single flick of her wrist, all the water in the fountain turned into a reddish-purple liquid, it was Judean wine, produced from the finest grapes grown in the region.
She realized the square’s attention was now focusing on her, and a few murmurs from those who knew what had happened began to break out.
“I…seem to have interrupted a party because of my actions today. However, I have been told it is a Gensokyo tradition to have alcohol after an incident…this fountain will flow with wine until I say so…please, enjoy to your hearts content, on this happiest of days.”
No one said anything for a moment, letting the realization sink in until…
“EVERYONE! FREE BOOZE!”
The cheer that followed then, was deafening.
AN:
Eirin is at least millions of years old, so I’m assuming many gods are also around that age, thus making Iesua one of the younger members of the whole Abrahamic group.
Next chapter should be an epilogue for this arc, took me forever to get this out, huh? But, with this out of the way, we can finally move on to the funner stuff.
Thanks to everyone who continued commenting on this fic during the long wait, they really help my in remembering this fic exists lol.
