Fine, ending it by myself.
The details aren't important, my dear.
> You are on the serpent's back, sword raised. Its many heads and tail lash at you, but the sake is starting to take hold. None hit you.
> When did you get here? There is a vague memory of the Serpent's booming threats, and your blood-red aura a single point of light under the black sky.
All that matters is that it happened.
> You are lying flat on the grass, a dull pain in your chest. Did the Serpent finally get a hit in?
> A prickling in your temples, and a beautiful porcelain doll appears out of nowhere. It is holding a tiny scroll in its hands. You cannot help but listen as it speaks in Scent-Of-Patchouli-And-Lavender's voice.
> "Hijiri wanted us to be silent about this, but, well, I have my own contract to fulfill. Nothing personal, Are, wrong place, wrong time, all that. We've deciphered the scroll."
And it is as if the entirety of Fate is arrayed against you, isn't it?
> You are skilfully running up the indestructible scales of the Serpent's tail. The doll is incessantly talking just at your right ear.
> "What the scroll is, is a perfect, beautiful and absolutely irrefutable proof..."
> When did it happen? The Serpent is collapsing underneath you, its strength finally spent.
> "With demonstrations and examples..."
Like everything has come together to focus entirely on you?
> "That your - Are of the Hieda's - life is a fabrication."
It is because it is true.
Ah, there it is. That sense of release that she felt so briefly back then. And with it, the feeling of prying eyes, of myriad hands holding countless threads, all attached to her. Now that she knows where to look, it is painfully, embarrassingly obvious. Still, she understands ritual and tradition. There is a story here to finish, and she chooses to finish it.
The scales on the Serpent's tail are incredible. Stronger and harder than any material she had ever seen, and beautifully iridescent in the sunlight that is starting to peek through the storm clouds. She eventually pries one off, eager to get to work on it.
The furnace grows hotter and brighter, yet it is still not enough to forge the scale. She briefly muses that Mo-Ko could provide her the heat needed, but quickly discards the idea. She does not need Mo-Ko any more. Nor, for that matter, anyone else. They would only serve to get her manipulated again. Calling on her power, she commands the fire to intensify, and so it does, unable to refuse her orders. Hotter and brighter yet it grows.
The metal sizzles and spits in the river's freezing waters that part in respect for the mighty blade. After an hour the energies are finally dissipated, and the sword is ready. Would it be sufficient? Would yet another coincidence in an unlikely chain of coincidences occur?
With a simple motion, she swings the sword, and cuts herself free from the threads. A second motion parts the world before her. She drops the sword into the river and steps forward into the chaos, the gap closing shut in her wake.
Daughter Zero END
Fightest's notes: I will entertain questions before threadlock. If there is still demand, I will proceed onto the second part of the Legend of Hieda, focusing on Aichi's adventures.
