The Shikigami's Sacrifice
Rikugo: In the course of touring Alberia as an enka singer, I have experienced a great many people and things.
Rikugo: And one such event involving the boys and girls of Quinbell had a brightness not unlike sunny skies after a lengthy rain...
Rikugo: Ah, but forgive my getting lost in recollection in a place like this. You all appear to be in a most critical moment, so I will make haste with my report.
Rikugo: I have conducted the secret field survey of Alberia you asked of me, Lord Seimei.
Rikugo: From large to small, I have recorded the location and condition of each and every dragon-vein spring in the area. Behold!
Seimei: You've done well, Rikugo. This should get us somewhere.
Seimei: The Mukuroshu's goal has always been to use mana from dragon-vein springs to open a gate to the Realm of the Dead.
Seimei: Doman clearly led us on a merry chase and took advantage of the opening it gave him to head for such a spring.
Kuzunoha: Now hang on just a dad-gummed minute! There's THIS many springs?!
Kuzunoha: We'd have a better chance to step clean through a pigsty than we would findin' the exact one where he's at!
Seimei: Hmph. Use your head, you stupid fox. We're talking about a spring Doman would WANT, which means it's both large and of very high quality.
Seimei: If we exclude all the smaller dragon-vein springs from our list of potentials, the number is more manageable.
Kuzunoha: Hoo-eee, but yer noggin is the biggest noggin around, Lord Seimei! Lemme take a look at that there map... Hrm...
Kuzunoha: Well, heck. There's still over a hundred of the gall-danged things!
Gozu Tenno: She's right. Even with the numbers culled, carefully searching this many springs is going to be most difficult.
Seimei: We'll lose the trail if we take much longer.
Seimei: He's been hiding in the darkness for so long...and we are now SO close.
Seimei: We are going to nail him this time— by ANY means necessary!
Rikugo: I understand your feelings, my lord, and offer up a suggestion...
Rikugo: Absorb me, and use the power as you will.
Everyone: What?!
Rikugo: I am a high-level shikigami, created by the efforts of the onmyoji at the Bureau.
Rikugo: In essence, I am a being of pure mana. If you absorb me and use it, you could easily send forth shikigami to a hundred dragon-vein springs—or even more!
Seimei: That's true, and yet...
Rikugo: You said by any means necessary. Why do you hesitate?
Seimei: ......
Seimei: (Because you're not just any shikigami to me, Rikugo...)
Seimei: (My departed grandfather's mana is also a part of you.)
Seimei: (And that makes you a memento of him.)
Rikugo: This simply isn't like you, Lord Seimei.
Rikugo: Now, I know it is not my place to insist you divulge the things that torment you or those better left unsaid...
Rikugo: But you must hold to your resolve. The Seimei I know would always do thus.
Seimei: !
Seimei: Grandfather?! What's wrong?! What in the world happened?!
Seimei's Grandfather: Seimei... Be wary... He betrayed us... for the Mukuroshu...
Seimei: No... This can't be!
Seimei: Answer me, Grandfather! Please! GRANDFATHER!
Doman: Why hello, Seimei! I owe you a good deal of thanks, for without your aiding my research into the fell onmyodo arts, none of this would have been possible.
Seimei: Tell me it's not true, Doman! Tell me you didn't use the Kodoku curse on everyone in the Bureau!
Doman: Ah, but I did EXACTLY that.
Seimei: But why?! How could you so callously steal away this many lives?!
Doman: For power. What possible problem could there be with that?
Doman: To master their arts and acquire power is the deeply held desire of any and all with even a modicum of talent.
Doman: It is because of our shared goal that you chose to wash your hands of the other Bureau onmyoji and aid my research, no?
Seimei: You twist my actions!
Doman: And now the Kodoku curse has finally been invoked, thanks to the lives of the mediocre onmyoji who now serve as its foundation!
Doman: Rejoice, Seimei! This is the spectacle we have strived after for so long!
Seimei: This hellscape is never what I wanted!
Seimei: They're all dead, and the responsibility for those deaths all come back to...
Doman: Alas, I fear the time has come for us to part, my dear Seimei.
Seimei: Doman, wait!
Doman: But I will SO be looking forward to your coming after me!
Doman: For now, each of us must bring out greater mastery of our art in the other so that one day we might settle this for good and all!
Seimei: DAMN YOU, DOMAN!
Seimei: (That day, I swore to pursue him to the ends of the earth to take my revenge for what he did to Grandfather.)
Seimei: (It was my mistake to aid his research— and as an onmyoji, I have to take responsibility for that.)
Seimei: (Which is why this must be done!)
Seimei: Very well, Rikugo. I will use your power.
Rikugo: Excellent.
Seimei: O ruler of peace and harmony! Free thy attendant from his charge and guide his power unto me. ...ONMYO!
Kuzunoha & Gozu Tenno: ......
Rikugo: Do not be sad, friends; mine has always been a transient existence.
Rikugo: As water flows between sky and earth, a thing returns to what it must be and the place it must go. That is all this is.
Rikugo: Now, spare not your smiles as you see your friend off.
Gozu Tenno: Thank you for your hard work, Rikugo.
Kuzunoha: We owe ya heaps'n heaps—but we'll make sure to catch that nasty Doman and make all this here fuss worthwhile!
Rikugo: It is an extremely delightful occasion for one to be hailed by admissions of gratitude like drops in a rainstorm...
Seimei: This... It's all the mana from the Bureau's onmyoji...
Seimei: Thank you, Rikugo. Thank you, Grandfather. I will see this power used for justice!
Seimei: O creature small of stature. Become my limbs and move with my will! ...ONMYO!
Gozu Tenno: Look at them all go!
Kuzunoha: Yee-haw! Don't make no nevermind HOW many springs there is, 'cause we'll have 'em scouted in two shakes'a my fuzzy tail!
Seimei: (Incredible... Everything the birds see is being sent directly to me...)
Seimei: (...No. This is not the one.)
Seimei: (...Doman is not here, either.)
Seimei: (Ah! There he is!)
Seimei: Move fast, you two.
Gozu Tenno: Then you have discovered him?
Seimei: Dead to rights—and this time, he's NOT getting away.
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