I woke up in a very familiar bed… It’s almost like this same thing hasn’t happened to me 4 times already. This time, when I woke up, I felt an unfamiliar energy inside my body. It felt like the danmaku energy I had, but also fairly different.

‘Hmmm, weird, I don’t know where this energy came from or what any of its characteristics are. It feels similar to the danmaku energy I have already attained a decent level of comprehension for. Maybe this energy shares properties with that energy. I’ll have to test it.’ I theorized in my head before I sat up.

As I did, I saw a screen appear in front of me before Mio’s voice sounded in my head.

Species Augmentation Completed

Species Has Become Chireiden Chimera (One-Tailed)

Capabilities Enhanced

Gained {skill} Lesser Nuclear Manipulation

Gained {title} Spirit Seer

Skill Quiet Presence Has Been Upgraded

I clicked on each of the gains I got from the augmentation, and a small screen appeared for each of them.

Lesser Nuclear Manipulation: Allows for a small amount of control over nuclear energy, more specifically, nuclear fusion.

Spirit Seer: A title given to those who have the capability to communicate with spirits. Allows for communication and understanding with spirits.

Quiet Presence+: Makes the user harder to detect by eliminating the sounds of heartbeat and footsteps. Prevents the mind from being read. (New)

‘Interesting, so as a result of making a family bond, my Species got augmented which gave me several things. Based on the fact that this enhancement came from a family bond, I’d assume that all these things are lesser versions of the abilities that my new family has. By that logic, Spirit Seer probably came from Orin’s Power and Quiet Presence is an upgrade of the ability I derived from Koishi’s, but where did this Lesser Nuclear Manipulation come from?’ I thought about it for several moments.

‘Well, following this logic, it could only be either big sis or Okuu. I doubt that big sis had any ability related to nuclear energy, so then it could only be Okuu, but I remember that Mio said that Okuu did not have any powers, so where did this power come from? Actually, thinking about it, Okuu looked a bit different the last time I saw her. One of her feet had turned to stone and the other had two atomic models orbiting around it. She also had a giant orange cannon-like object on her arm. Could this change in appearance be related to the origins of this skill? I’ll have to ask her about this later.’ I concluded my thinking while I slowly got out of bed.

I looked down at what I was wearing and found that I was wearing some kind of white pajamas. I saw my usual white dress laying on the desk in the corner of the room. I went over to grab it and saw my reflection in the mirror that Koishi had brought when I first awoke in here that was right next to my desk.

‘Hmm, I seem to have grown a few centimeters since I last saw myself. I’m still growing! Maybe I’ll be as tall as Orin in the future! Well, I should get focused again and change my clothes. I want to see my family again!’ I quickly changed my clothes and walked out the door to the royal chambers hallway.

There, I saw all my family gathered there, engaged in a conversation while looking at a piece of paper. I stood in front of my door for a bit before Koishi noticed me.

“Hey lil sis, come join us! We were talking about an invitation we got!” Sis called out toward me.

“An invitation? What for?” I asked while slowly walking towards them.

“It’s an invitation for a party sent by the two people who defeated us.” Big sis answered.

“Why would they send an invitation to the people they had just fought a few days ago?” I asked in response to her answer.

“It seems like it’s a tradition of theirs. Apparently, they have solved a multitude of other issues that have arisen on the Surface, and each time, they have invited the perpetrator of the issue and the people close to them to a party afterward. What is weird about this is that it is apparently hosted at the Hakurei Shrine.” Big sis informed me.

‘A shrine, that is indeed an interesting place to hold a party, but I don’t understand what is so weird about it’ I thought to myself.

“What’s the problem with hosting the party at the shrine?” I asked, curious about the reason.

“Shrines are supposed to be places of worship for the gods. Youkai are normally not allowed on the premises because they would scare away the human visitors of the shrine. The main issue with this is that without human visitors and their donations, the shrine has no way to make an income naturally.” Big sis explained.

“That certainly is weird that a shrine maiden is inviting us to her shrine even though all of us are types of youkai. Could it be a trap to lure us into a disadvantageous position?” I speculated while thoughts ran rampant in my head.

‘If it is a trap, what purpose could it serve? The first reason that comes to mind is to exterminate us, but if that is the case, then why didn’t she do that when she defeated us?’ I wondered before remembering Spell Card Rules. ‘Oh wait, that’s one of the main tenets of Spell Card Rules to not kill your opponent after you have bested them in a duel of spell cards. So if that is the case, then perhaps she sent this invite to ambush us and kill us. That is the only logical reason for sending the invite.’ I thought to myself.

“H-l-o -y-ka? A-e -o- th-re?” I heard Orin’s voice in pieces, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Huh, did you say something?” I asked.

“Well, Miss Satori did, but you just had a blank look on your face while she was talking so I thought that something was wrong,” Orin told me.

“Ah, sorry about that big sis, I was lost in my thoughts.” I apologized to her while scratching my face.

“It’s fine, what were you thinking about?” Big sis asked.

“I was just speculating about the reasons why Reimu sent us this invitation, and so far the only reason I have is that she is trying to exterminate us by setting up an ambush, thereby bypassing Spell Card Rules,” I responded, feeling a bit proud at having come to that conclusion.

“That’s an interesting idea you have, but I don’t think it’s true. When I was fighting her, I did not sense any hostility in her mind, so I don’t think she particularly wants to exterminate us.” Big sis denied my idea, making me feel a bit downtrodden because the theory I had been a bit proud of was easily disproved by big sis.

“Could I read the invitation just in case?” I requested. Big sis then handed me the piece of paper she was holding and I began to read it.

Dear Residents of the Underworld,

I, Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, formally invite you to a party to celebrate the end of another incident. I have invited many of the perpetrators and their compatriots of other incidents, so you will not be the only ones there. The party will be held here in my shrine on the next full moon, exactly 25 days from now.

‘The invitation was short, but it got the point across. It didn’t really have much in it other than the fact that other people, most likely youkai, will be there and that the party will be at her shrine in the next full moon.’ I reviewed the invitation.

“So, are we planning to attend this party?” I asked big sis.

“We probably should after she has sent this formal invitation to us. Also, I would be able to read her mind and see if she holds any hostility toward us, so we should be safe.” Big sis answered while reassuring me that we would be safe if we did go.

I did feel a bit reassured after hearing big sis’s words, but I still held some doubt over the intentions of Reimu.

‘Well, I shouldn’t focus too much on that. If big sis is confident that we will be fine, then I am sure we will. Anyways, I should use the time from now to just before the party to train and prepare for my battle with Rumia. I looked at the quest again and saw that the quest still had 29 days remaining before it was counted as a failure, meaning that I had 4 days after the party to find and defeat her in a fight. As an added bonus, if I devote this time to training, I would get a bit stronger in preparation for the party. If it really turns out to be an ambush, I would at least be a bit stronger than I currently am, which means that I could put up a bit more resistance in a battle. Well, first things first, I should probably spend a few days preparing some countermeasures for Rumia. After preparing those countermeasures, I should be better off dealing with my fear of her.’ I calculated the time I had remaining before creating a basic plan for the next 25 days.

‘Let me think, what are her weaknesses? Based on what Mio told me about her, she seems to be weak to intense sunlight and heat. Wait… isn’t the skill I just got perfectly suited for this? Nuclear fusion is the main thing powering the sun. If I learn to use this power of controlling nuclear fusion, wouldn’t I be able to harness an extremely small portion of the power of the sun? If that's the case, wouldn’t I be able to create an intense light and blistering heat, the two supposed weaknesses for Rumia? But, how do I harness this power in the first place? Nuclear fusion happens when two atoms of the same element collide with each other forming a heavier element. How am I supposed to control this then?’ I pondered while still deep in thought.

“A-aka!” I heard someone calling my name, once again snapping me out of my thoughts. When I looked at the voice, I saw it was sis who called me this time.

“Yeah, sis?” I asked, wondering why she had suddenly called me again.

“Nothing! You just had that blank expression on your face again!” Sis answered with a grin on her face.

“You are getting lost in your thoughts quite a few times, is there something you are worrying about? Could you tell us what it is you are thinking about?” Big sis added.

“Well…okay then. I was thinking of how to complete the new quest I received called Overcome Trauma. The condition for success is for me to defeat Rumia, the youkai of darkness. The reason for the name is that she has traumatized me since I was young. I used to have nightmares where a sphere of darkness, which was her, chased after me trying to bite me.” I shivered in fear after retelling that nightmare before recovering my composure and continuing.

“Every time I think of that sphere of darkness, I always start trembling and I feel fear overtake my body, preventing me from forming even the smallest coherent thought. Now I am forced to face her, so I was thinking of countermeasures. I read that her main weaknesses are heavy sunlight and intense heat.” I lied about where I obtained that information.

“I was thinking about how I could take advantage of that weakness with the ability I recently gained that allows me a bit of control over nuclear fusion,” I told them.

“Ahhh, so that’s why I felt nuclear energy from your body!” Okuu yelled while pointing her finger at me.

“What?! I have nuclear energy in my body?! How do you know?!” I asked, shocked that the unfamiliar energy in my body was actually nuclear energy.

“I gained the power to completely manipulate nuclear fusion after I consumed a god that two people had given me. Having full control of nuclear fusion and having a large amount of nuclear energy myself, I am able to sense sources of nuclear energy! I sensed a bit of nuclear energy coming from you and I was wondering why you did, while no one else had even a smidge!” Okuu energetically explained to me while pointing at a large red gem embedded in her chest.

‘Ohh, that explains both the origin of the skill and the appearance change in Okuu. So I was right, the two things were related. I wonder who it was who gave the god to Okuu and how they even got that god in the first place.’ I grew curious but decided not to ask.

“What can you do with your power?” I asked Okuu to get an idea of what I could do in the future.

“My ability converts all danmaku energy that my body generates into nuclear energy. I can use nuclear energy much like all of you can use the regular danmaku energy, the main difference is that nuclear energy focuses more on power and bullet size rather than bullet patterns. My ability to manipulate fusion itself allows me to create miniature suns and weave them into my patterns. As such, many of my spell cards prominently feature a sun. However, my ability does not last forever, I cannot use my ability if there are not enough atoms to do so. These atomic models orbiting my legs act as a sort of atom generator and storage container. They allow me to actually use the power of fusion. The atoms will passively replenish, but in a battle, the replenishment rate is too slow to matter.” Okuu explained to me.

‘Interesting, so her ability to manipulate fusion allows her to create suns that she can use in her patterns. I wonder if I could do the same. Now thinking about it, it is probably impossible for me because I don’t have a way to store and generate atoms to use. If I could though, I would be able to replace the bubble bullet in my first nonspell and spell card with an actual sun rather than a replica.’ I thought to myself.

“Could you teach me how to use nuclear energy and how to create those suns?” I requested her while bowing my head.

“No need to bow your head! I’d be more than happy to teach you! First, we have to get you a generator for atoms because I assume you don’t have one yet.” She told me.

I nodded in response and started wondering where I could find one. Then I saw Okuu reaching toward the two atomic models on her legs.

“W-w-wai-” I started before I heard a popping sound coming from Okuu. She had removed one of the two atomic models that orbited her legs. She then crouched down toward my right leg before opening her hand, revealing the atomic model. In response to this, the large-sized atom in her hand vibrated a bit before flying off her hand and starting to orbit around my leg.

“B-b-but, what about you? Won’t this half the power you have.” I asked her.

“It’s fine,” She responded before closing her eyes. Moments later, I heard another popping sound. I looked at her leg again and saw that somehow there were two atoms orbiting her leg again.

“H-how?” I asked in confusion.

“It’s part of my powers,” She answered. “I am able to produce as many of these atomic models as I want, but my body can only use a maximum of 2. Any more than that and all of them would lose all their effects because of electromagnetic repulsion.”

“I see,” I replied to her explanation.

“Good, let’s move on then. Moving nuclear energy is basically the same as moving danmaku energy. Do you feel another energy inside you?”

I nodded.

“Then move that energy how you would for danmaku energy.” She instructed me.

I did as she said and began to will the nuclear energy to move around as a test. ‘Wow, this really is exactly like moving danmaku energy! I wonder if the method I use to make moving danmaku energy will be just as effective for nuclear energy.’ I thought to myself.

I then tried to take a small chunk of the nuclear energy and command it to enter and attach to my brain. Like danmaku energy, it easily formed a connection with my brain and I gained the ability to freely move it. I smiled as I realized that I had a decent handle on moving nuclear energy.

“Have you done it already?” She asked me, and I nodded in response. “Impressive! Let’s move on to the next part then! Focus your attention on the large-scale atom orbiting your leg and try to sense the presence of all the atoms stored inside.” Okuu instructed.

I followed her directions and directed my concentration on the orbiting atomic model. At first, I could not sense anything inside it, but as I continued to look at it, I started to feel the presence of something, in fact, many things. It seemed like there were tens of millions of things inside there. I once again began to smile.

Okuu then asked, “Done already? That was fast! Then let’s move on! Next, you have to send your intent to the model of the atom for it to make the atoms inside of it start colliding and begin the process of nuclear fusion.” She taught me.

I then commanded the orbiting atom model to make the atoms inside of it start colliding, thereby starting the process of fusion. After I gave this command, I simply observed what was happening to the atoms inside. The atoms had started to hit each other before fusing together creating a heavier and more complex element. The hydrogen atoms hit other hydrogen atoms before they merged together to become helium atoms.

“I finished that part,” I informed Okuu.

“Perfect, we’re almost to the last part then! Now simply send your nuclear energy to fuse with the energy generated by the fusion process that is occurring in your atomic model, after that, simply imagine what sun you want and then have the fused energy take the shape of that sun.” She instructed me.

I followed her instructions and directed the nuclear energy inside my body to move toward the atomic model orbiting my leg and to fuse with the energy generated from the fusion. When my nuclear energy entered the atomic model, it seamlessly fused with the energy from fusion that I had directed to mix with the nuclear energy. Then I started to imagine a small sun that could fit in my hands. I took a few moments to solidify my visualization of the sun I wanted. When I had the image firmly in my mind, I extended my hand and directed the fused energy in the atomic model to take the shape of what I had imagined. Seconds later, a red sun the size of a small ball appeared in front of my hand. It glowed brightly while emitting an intense heat that started to raise the temperature in the hallway. I then commanded my atomic model to cease the fusion process, causing the sun I had created to slowly fizzle out of existence.

“Congratulations!” Sis said.

“Great job.” Big sis added.

“Splendid, you did that so seamlessly!” Orin praised.

“That’s how you create a sun, well done for understanding it so quickly!” Okuu told me.

‘I had forgotten that the rest of my family was watching me the whole time. I was too focused on learning what Okuu taught me. I really need to fix this attention issue I have soon in the future…’ I lamented to myself. ‘Oh well, at least I’ve learned how to create a sun. Let’s focus on the positives!’ I tried to cheer myself up.

‘Wait…now that I know how to create a sun can’t I replace the bubble bullets from my first nonspell and spell card with an actual sun? I should go test this immediately!’ A thought popped into my mind, leading to a realization.

“I suddenly had an idea! I’m going to the Great Hall to test it! See you all later!” I informed them before quickly running through the doors before they got a chance to respond.

“Quite energetic isn’t she?” I heard big sis say, muffled through the doors.

“Yep! But that side of her is cute!” I vaguely heard sis’s reply as I was running through the Great Foyer to get to the Great Hall.

Once I got to the Great Hall, I immediately took out the paper talisman that my first nonspell pattern was saved on.

‘Hmmm, I wonder if I can edit the appearance of the danmaku pattern that has been engraved into the talisman.’

Before I tried to change the bubble bullet in the center of the pattern, I decided to start with a test to see if I could change it or not.

‘I’ll imagine a few jagged bullets on the outskirts of the pattern to represent the occasional wisp of flame that emerges out of the sun. If this works, then I’ll try to replace the bubble bullet with a sun.’

I imagined the locations of the jagged bullets before directing my danmaku energy to take the shape of the image in my head and then onto the talisman. The talisman began to glow a bright white light for a few seconds. After the light dissipated, I looked at the talisman. The pattern was exactly the same as before, except with a few jagged bullets near the sides of the image. My test had worked.

‘So I really can change the patterns by imagining any changes to the pattern then directing my energy to mold itself with that image and then transfer that energy to the talisman. Now that that test was successful, let’s move on to the one I’ve been waiting for!’

I first instructed the atomic model to start the fusion process again. When I saw that the atoms inside the model were colliding, I then commanded the nuclear energy in my body to move to the atomic model and fuse with the fusion energy. Once the two energies had fused, I formed an image in my mind before directing the fused energy to take the shape of the image. This time, instead of releasing that energy out into the open, I channeled it into the talisman containing my first nonspell. I commanded the fused energy to form a sun that replaced the bubble bullet in the pattern.

However, when the fused energy touched the talisman, it simply dissipated without doing anything to the talisman. The talisman was still completely untouched and the pattern itself was unchanged, which surprised me.

‘It failed? How? In the previous test, I learned that it is possible to edit patterns even once they have been imprinted onto a talisman, yet this time it failed.’ I thought for a while, trying to come up with possible explanations. ‘Perhaps danmaku energy and nuclear energy are incompatible with each other. Let’s try a test, I’ll try to see if I can have a bullet made of danmaku energy like a bubble bullet exist at the same time as a sun made of nuclear energy.’

I once again fused my nuclear energy with fusion energy before instructing it to take on the shape that I had imagined in my head. I condensed the energy on my right hand, ready to shoot out a sun when I wanted. Then I gathered my danmaku energy on my left hand to form a bubble bullet. I simultaneously released both types of energy from my hands, but they both fizzled out of existence when I did so.

‘Weird, so it seems like I can’t have bullets made of danmaku energy alongside bullets made of nuclear energy. I guess that means I’ll have to stick with the bubble bullets as a replacement for the sun for my first nonspell and spell card.’ I sighed. ‘Oh well, at least I have another type of bullet I can use for spell cards and nonspells.’ I paused for a moment.

‘Wait, can’t I make another nonspell and spell card using nuclear energy? I’ve wanted to increase my arsenal of danmaku for a while now, but I’ve always lacked the energy to do so. Now though, I think I can do it.’

I felt an extreme feeling of excitement at that thought and immediately began my preparations for creating a new nonspell. I grabbed another paper talisman and started to imagine a pattern I wanted. After minutes of trying, I finally decided on a visualization for how I wanted the nonspell to look.

I visualized a decently small sun in the center of the pattern, releasing two lines of bullets opposite of each other. The first line would move and spiral clockwise while the other would move and spiral counterclockwise. Naturally, due to this direction of rotation, the lines would sometimes converge. To mix up when they would overlap each other, I made the line spinning clockwise move slightly faster than the other line. I made the central sun have a very slight gravitational pull, but still stronger than that created by my Miniscule Wind Manipulation skill. There were a few gaps between bullets so that the lines of bullets could still be dodged even when they overlapped. With this image in my mind, I commanded my fused energy to replicate it, and then I infused the paper talisman with this energy. Soon the talisman brightly glowed and started to float. When the light stopped and the talisman gently floated down to the ground. I saw an image of what I had pictured in my mind on the face of the talisman.

For my second spell card, I decided to build off the idea of my nonspell. For my nonspell, the whole premise of it is that it would use up all the fusion energy in the atomic model. When it ran out, no more atoms would be colliding anymore as all the atoms would have simply disappeared. Without the presence of atoms, I forced the space within the atomic model to start to collapse on itself. This collapse would then trigger a sort of fail-safe that I added to the model. That fail-safe was to siphon atoms from the space around me at a fierce rate, causing the number of atoms to replenish rapidly. As a result, the number of atoms colliding in the model would increase, causing more energy to be generated.

Then once my second spell card started, the sun from my second nonspell would suddenly expand to a much larger size and turn into a brighter shade of red. Once it did, instead of 2 lines of bullets being shot, 4 streams of bullets spiraled out of the sun, one stream in each cardinal direction. 2 streams rotated counterclockwise around the central sun while the other 2 streams rotated clockwise. Compared to the nonspell version, each stream rotated faster, and the counterclockwise rotating streams were slightly faster than the ones rotating clockwise. Like the nonspell version, there were gaps between bullets that an opponent could slip through if they were fast enough.

I gathered the fused energy and began to mold it with this image in mind. I then moved the energy out of my body and directly into the paper talisman that I was holding. The talisman started the float, but no light appeared. I then gave the spell card a name.

“Sun Sign [Red Giant]!” I called out.

A moment later, the floating talisman glowed with such an intense light that I closed my eyes. When I reopened them, the talisman was gently drifting down from the air. I grabbed the talisman and saw the pattern I visualized on the front of the talisman.

I proudly thought to myself, ‘This is my second spell card, Sun Sign [Red Giant]!’

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