Saigyou Ayakashi

A youkai sealed within the very middle of the Netherworld's Hakugyokurou Manor, the Saigyou Ayakashi is a terror of ancient times that has been kept in check by a certain powerful seal. Those who know of the seals' true identity as Yuyuko Saigyouji's very own body are few. The youkai has been peacefully slumbering under the seal, enjoying the stillness within the magical bounds imposed upon it for quite some time. However, since the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom, the old creature has perhaps found a way to get out, seeing that the seal has maybe begun to weaken after Yuyuko's somewhat careless attempt into making the dead tree bloom and resurrect the body buried below it.

Far Side: A Fundamental's Memory


This isn't my memory. No, far from that, it is instead the vague recalling of another being who was born to fail; someone that was created as an absurdity, a cruel product of what we could call thoughtless fate. It's name? The Fundamental of stillness, the very result of Lingbao's, the Purity of Stillness' existence. Created from the concepts that came forth once Yin was solidified and properly embodied, the Fundamental of Stillness could be considered in some way a “child” of Lingbao.

But what a child it was. Every being that emerges from a womb has a purpose, has an anchorage within the world; a meaning that solidifies its existence. What irony is it when one exists because of something nonexistent? By its very nature and the concept it represented, the Fundamental of Stillness fled the presence of the others that made it, for their very movement was something it despised. It did not want life, it did not want movement, chaos – all that it wanted was pure undiluted peace, a true space of stillness.

For aeons, the Fundamental wandered across the Cosmos, searching for that one utopia it had in mind. It found many things, planets, stars, cosmic events which were a magnificence to behold and thriving civilizations of other worlds... yet these were all things it rejected. Change, advancement, evolution; all these events linked with the concept of movement were unwanted to it. The Fundamental could search as long as it wanted... it never became able to find that one place of true stillness that it thought existed -- the laws of physics did not allow for such luxury. Everything had to remain in constant movement, affected by the bare minimum, time.

The Fundamental refused to surrender to this reality though and kept searching through the cosmos for endless aeons, making its presence unknown to all the worlds that it visited. It searched for a vindication of its existence, something to show that it wasn't born solely for the reason of being the opposite of the ever present “movement”... that it wasn't just a convenient lie. As it scoured, scoured and scoured though... its sanity began snapping. Every new galaxy, every new planet it found held the hopes of having some natural occurring stillness, or perhaps, traces of a stillness that had since long gone away... but these hopes were as hollow and meaningless as the Fundamental.

“Stillness” was nothing more than less chaos. It had no proper representation in the world, not a single rock would remain still, not a single atom would be unmoving or undecaying from the effects of nature. At the end of its Aeons of searching, the Fundamental finally understood that it was nothing more than a “dream”. A convenient dream. Flustered, enraged, maddened, it flew into a fit of “violent” stillness and began turning every world it would come upon into what it envisioned would be “natural” stillness – a state where everything was frozen into an eternal stasis. Entire galaxies would be “stilled” and left as such, causing much turmoil within the cosmic balance.

At one point though, there would be a great disturbance that would scream throughout the cosmos – the creation of a certain void by the Fundamental of Perspectives. The strange nature of that place, withdrawn from any existing concept, even the most basic ones, would soothe the Fundamental of Stillness' rage and cause it to wander towards its location. Drifting towards the void that had been created by Xiangdeng Tiandao (who did not have such a name yet), the Fundamental of Stillness was very much eager to reach its destination, seeing that there was a strange conceptual aura was being emanated from that void, one very similar to Stillness itself.

The meeting between the two fundamental was... a very strange one. The Fundamental of Perspective had immersed itself in a form not unlike Stillness' so much that the latter did not mind its presence. They did not exchange a word, they did not exchange even a simple smile or a nod – they just remained utterly still and enjoyed the peace within that void.

Thousands of years lapsed, until one of the Three Purities came to the void, in search of Tiandao. The Fundamental of Stillness seemingly was the first to react to this, since it awoke from its nirvana and set out to intercept the Grand Purity Daode, wary that the latter might have come to disturb the peace that it had finally found. Stillness had become very edgy, and although it briefly exchanged words with Daode, the fact that the Purity voiced its disappointment at Stillness deserting Lingbao from its birth quickly turned the mood sour. The Fundamental assaulted Daode without waiting for long.

A long battle of a hundred years began, where the Grand Purity tested out and tried to figure what the Fundamental of Stillness had done and become. Seeing the sorrow that filled Stillness' heart, it eventually began to understood why Stillness acted as such, and thought that it would perhaps need to reconsider the latter's fate. In fact, Daode had not come only to ask for Tiandao to come back with him – the Grand Purity was also here on a mission to stop the rampaging Fundamental and either dispose of it or bring it back to sanity. Daode chose a third option though, which was to beat up the Fundamental but keep it alive, then drag the being back to the Celestial Bureaucracy for a fair trial. And that, it succeeded into doing... after much effort. While Daode was an almighty force, being the most gentle of all three purities and not exactly aiming to kill here made the job rather hard for it.

The Fundamental of Stillness was, after its defeat, brought to the Celestial Bureaucracy. The acts it had done required a tremendous amount of investment and hassle to undo which led the Gods presiding over Stillness' sentence to condemn it for millenniums of imprisonment. However, The Purity of Stillness, Lingbao suggested that the sealing be done in very specific purposes as so that Stillness would actually stand no chance to escape the prison. No one expected the prison barriers as elaborate as they were, to hold forever against a Fundamental; but Linbao actually thought of throwing the Fundamental of Stillness into what it exactly sought: a zone of “true stillness”.

Content with its fate and simply meditating for further more millions of years, it served its sentence, content with having found a new place to rest. However, there was something that bothered the fundamental – what it stood in was no natural stillness, it wasn't anything “natural”, but rather, an artificial creation upheld by the Celestial Bureaucracy to satisfy its desires. No matter how still that place was, it still voided the meaning of its existence.

Coincidence would have that on the day Tiandao would leave the Celestial Bureaucracy and head over to the solar system, the Fundamental of Stillness would also be released from its punishment. Feeling a strange urge to follow that person which had created the Void, the fundamental oddly pledged itself to follow Tiandao, perhaps as a way to thank it for having created that void within which they peacefully rested for so many years. The Yaoguai of Perspectives seemed rather amused at gaining someone to follow it, and even though it didn't really need a companion, Tiandao accepted the presence of the fellow fundamental. While Stillness still had a long way to go in regards of learning from the living because of its natural apprehension towards that which moved, its personality, which had turned back into one as imperturbable as the foundations of the cosmos, proved to be sometimes rather insightful and useful, perhaps even comedic to the Yaoguai of Perspectives.

Stillness was given the name Ning Hong (宁弘) by its new-found Master, a name which meant “Peaceful Magnificence”. Following Tiandao to Titan, Ning Hong watched as Tiandao formed an ecosystem, trying to understand what was so beautiful in these concepts that it opposed. For the first time ever, the Fundamental of Stillness was able to watch the creation of a world and how every living beings would become animate on it. Tiandao strangely asked Ning Hong from time to time of what kind of beat it liked, how it thought they should proceed further, even though the latter had no comprehension of how to build a proper world... well, that is what it thought. Ning Hong, because of its predisposition towards stillness, innately knew how to make a world “stable”. Stability wasn't stillness, but both were related, hence why the Fundamental of Stillness showed innate skill at creating a world as stable as possible.

And with this, Ning Hong had a hand in creating the eternal and ever peaceful land that Huànxiǎngmiàoshì would become. Funny that unlike any other land, it has so far yet to see one rebellion; of course, that is all because Ning Hong understood too well that once a living being reached a certain level of intellect, the seeds of revolt and chaos would be implanted within their brain, ticking like a time bomb. That is why the beasts of Titan's fantasy land are for the most, cunning, but lack much in terms of being able to unite and form a cohesive system.

As time passed and Tiandao decided to go meet Bai Ze, Ning Hong accompanied the Fundamental of Perspectives. Per its master's wishes, Ning Hong simply stood by the sidelines, watching on as the two great supernatural beings met and immediately clashed, creating a zone of stillness so that no one would interfere into this conflict. By the end of the hundred years though, the fight would relent, and both parties would strangely come to an agreement. Bai Ze swore itself to become Tiandao's shikigami, much like how Ning Hong had done so earlier when it pledged its service to the Fundamental of Perspectives.

The trio had a strange way to work together. Bai Ze, even though it was a shikigami, rose to a strange position where it would turn into something that was more than a mere servant. It seemed as if Bai Ze had become an equal rather than being one that was under Tiandao's orders. This made Ning Hong wonder what was so special about Bai Ze, without any real feelings of jealousy though; in fact, it even looked up to the one the Youkai of comprehension, marveling at its infinite wisdom and knowledge.

When Tiandao established itself as Anu in the Summerian Pantheon, Bai Ze and Ning Hong followed suite. The Fundamental of Stillness took the guise of Ereshkigal, Goddess of Death, since the concept of unlife was actually the closes to true stillness. From that point, Ereshkigal served faithfully for many years... until its old habits began returning. Due to it having built a realm of stillness and keeping all the souls that came down into its domain, freezing them into absolute stasis, Ereshkigal began slowly to regress into what it once was. However, with its loyalty towards Tiandao and the fact that it couldn't disregard the new “wonders” it had discovered, the Fundamental of Stillness managed to avert the worst, and used means other than “stilling souls” as catharsis. One such way was to create artifacts that held a fraction of its power, and sneaking them amidst the humans. Many artifacts that are related to stopping time or even, having some sort of “movement-killing” effect can be said to have been created by it.

One fateful day, during a meeting between the Sumerian deities, Bai Ze and Ning Hong would exchange a few words that would eventually push the latter into finally making a decision – to decide to discard that personality which no matter what happened, kept pursuing a vindication to its existence as the embodiment of an “absent” concept. The Bai Ze's bluntness and not beating around the bush probably had a lot to do with this.

And so, surprising everyone, The Fundamental of Stillness asked Tiandao to “kill” it... and to add surprise on surprise, Tiandao simply smiled and complied. Perhaps had it been aware of all that had transpired, perhaps had it read through Ning Hong's conflicted self since the beginning. Or was this just one of these many things that should happen to fulfill that mysterious plan it had designed, spanning over million of years?

The last memory that I can see is that one smile... not evil nor gentle. What name is there to describe it? It feels... eerie. I would certainly feel freaked out if this was the last thing that I saw before being obliterated into thousands of pieces.

Near Side: Saigyou's Cherry Blossom


What happens when a fundamental “dies”? Well, most of the time, it is shattered into countless fragments that represent the collapsed concept it used to embody; this usually means its death, but since fundamentals are for the greater part, incredibly resilient and powerful, they can usually just re-assemble themselves from the broken shards and re-gain most of their wholeness.

But what was the goal of Ning Hong? Did it desire to break itself so that it could expunge these fragments that kept them desiring to vindicate the lie behind their existence? Perhaps that it was all a ploy to get rid of that one annoyance which it had seen as “useless”, and eventually re-form itself into a body free of such an obsession. Was this what happened though, I have no idea – this is where the story breaks off, this is where my story begins – the tale of the Saigyou Ayakashi.

When Tiandao broke the Fundamental of Stillness, one rather consequent fragment of its power was flung so far across the earth that it ended up in a land on the opposite of the planet: Japan. Crashing at the top of a deserted mound where no one was present to observe, it would just lay there for a bunch of months, without proper form, without proper will; a fundamental fragment that was too stupid to die off on its own. It gave a strange aura of stillness to its surroundings, one that would turn even the most rabid carnivore into a peaceful, docile pet. Since it was far away from roads and civilizations, it remained undiscovered, and when people came by, they would only feel its power and not realize that there actually was a source to this abnormal stillness. Not before long, the Crystallized fragment of the Fundamental had become swallowed by the sands of time, buried under the grass, earth and... a strange cherry blossom tree beginning to grow over it.

Of course, that tree was me, in a pre-youkai state. I had no sense of self by then, not a single way of realizing that I even “existed”. Even when two hundred came to pass, nothing special had come to happen. I remained just that, a large cherry blossom tree. The fragment of power that I had encroached my roots around was the reason why I was spared from being turned into some abnormal youkai – the stillness that it emanated warded away enraged spirits, sickness and even, humans who thought that I was some sort of special “thing”. I was left still and untouched for centuries, growing larger by the years... until the meeting that would begin my road down the path of the Ayakashi happened.

It was somewhere during the 12th century that a man who went by the name of Saigyou wandered nearby the mound. Due to my incredible age, I was the one sight that had come to stand out the most into the scenery, my size dwarfing anything else nearby. Under the blessings of spring, I was blossoming fully, probably a sight beyond equal to mortal minds... or at least, Saigyou thought so when he lay his eyes upon my figure.

The beginning was no different from my interactions with the other humans that had come before. The man came and sat under my shadow, enjoying the stillness that permeated the air. However, unlike the many humans that had done so before, he wasn't a traveler seeking a simple refuge from the world's harshness, nor was he someone running after the peaceful solitude that my shade could grant -- no, he was a poet, and one that had become obsessed with the ephemeral beauty of flowers. He remained for long periods of times sitting there below my shade under both sunlight and moonlight, writing, writing, and writing.

The melancholy that permeated through each one of his breaths, the sadness that literally poured into every character he would write upon his parchments... did they seep into me too? Something probably resonated at that stage, both with Saigyou, the fragment that rested beneath my roots, and I myself. That resonance would only grow stronger as the poet returned time and time again to visit me. It wasn't like I was in an easily accessible location on top of that, since I was in the northern-most parts of Honshu, someplace that not a lot of people usually went to.

That is when you could say, that I began to have my first “feeling”, and that was one of attachment to this man... or was it to his writing? Whichever it was, I grew further and further in awareness and personality as I imbibed his thoughts, theories and his philosophy.

What shock it was, when Saigyou stopped coming suddenly. I was used to the long intervals he somewhat put me through, since being human and a monk traveler, I understood that it took him long to reach me... however, there came a time when the wait for Saigyou's next visit appeared to drag on and on... until he came – to be buried beneath my roots that is. A tragic moment, yes, most tragic... yet also so significant. In the turmoil though which I was submerged, the fragment that resided below me, still having a will of its own (or perhaps, me giving a will to it, who knows...) decided to merge with me. Did it not want to show itself to the humans who finally had a purpose to unearth the ground below me, or did I not want to cede the item so important into shaping what I had become by that day? Here is another point that I still remain uncertain of even in the very present.

Whatever the true reason though, I was able to utter my first sentence as a sentient being once I fused with that source of power, and the words that I said were the very same ones which Saigyou had inscribed into my mind – that one verse that would become one of his most famous: “let me die in spring, under the blossoming trees, under the full moon of Kisaragi.” Those who had brought Saigyou under my blooming branches heard me and thought that it was his very ghost that had spoken. These humans showed no fear at the hearing of my voice, since fittingly, it was sort of ethereal I suppose; they paid instead fell into an even deeper stance of respect, eventually departing after a great silence, without feeling that anything had gone wrong.

I was left to contemplate all that had happened and couldn't think about anything else other than the question “what now”? What would I do? No matter how much I tried to figure out what my intentions were though... Saigyou's iconic phrase kept returning into the foreground of my thoughts, echoing endlessly.

That is when I found my purpose, and perhaps, gave one to the fundamental shard that had merged with me – I would make sure that this one sentence would be fulfilled not only for Saigyou, but for the rest of Japan, and perhaps, if possible, for the rest of the planet. A commitment of the highest degree, the “reason” as to why I'd become a proper youkai. This sea of stillness that had “protected” me during all these years from the effects of change and such... it would turn into my ultimate weapon.

The gathering began slowly, as powered by the fragment of a fundamental, I began luring people to come rest by my shade. I became able to understand the Fundamental of Stillness, able to comprehend how it felt when it wished for the world to turn like itself, when it swallowed its surroundings into the essence of stillness that composed it -- I was no different, thirsting for more to come and be submerged by that very same stillness, a power which was now in my hands.

My ability as a youkai was to Manipulate Restraint. Just like my youkaification though, it was possible only because of the metaphysical battery of power which I had come to merge with. Combining it with the Fundamental's control over stillness, I was able to proceed with my plan by building “trails” of stillness that expanded outwards from my tree-body to reach nearby settlements. This all came under the form of sakura petals that I shed and sent to bring my power to these people; following these “baits”, they would come to rest under my shade, their mental restraints broken by my manipulation, and their mind fazed by the incredible stillness I generated to the point that they'd simply fall near-dead under my bark. I would then pluck away their souls by breaking the restraints that linked their soul to their body, absorbing them into my core so that they'd enjoy the eternal stillness the Fundamental Ning Hong always wanted to share.

After all, if everyone was in such a peaceful, still place, how would they suffer? How would they even complain? It was like reaching true nirvana...

But of course, when one affects too much and has too much of an ambitioun, people tend to gather and conspire into putting a stop to their plans. That is what happened when I began to lure people from all over Japan to die beneath the still shadows of my cherry blossoms. Many gods and leading figures were concerned of the threat that I posed, that I would eventually drain Japan itself of living beings. Even youkai and some spirits had been lured to eternal rest by me, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that I came to being the center of so much “attention”.

They tried to destroy me, to blow me apart, yet all of their attacks were immediately “stilled”. I had grown absurdly powerful by then, the fragment of the fundamental empowering me, my youkai powers reaching their peak, and the energy of countless that I had absorbed adding to my pool of power. Eventually, these fools figured out that they had to take the fight up to me, that they had to make use of the fact that they were beings of Yin that would be able to resist my stillness... yet none wanted to risk their selves. If they had all come at me at the same time, perhaps would they have managed to get rid of me, but as everyone involved in the case was heavily individualistic, no agreement could be found. One of the main driving reasons why they couldn't come to a consensus though, was that each of them had by then realized that there was great power which dwelled in me, and none wanted to share it if they ever acquired it.

In the end, it was not a god but a human that came forward. How ironic was it, that she was also a descendant of Saigyou? The image of her walking amidst the sea of stillness littered with cherry blossoms, covering the entire mound on which I stood, every step and every breath of hers making an otherworldly resonance with the core of my soul... it was unforgettable; so unforgettable, that I let her stroll up to me with a knife in her hands, not moving a single inch to swat away the human soul residing within her.

She leaned against my bark and talked to me. Yuyuko was her name, and she spoke of me as a something that had done horrible things. A monstrosity that stole the life of countless, a horror that could not be allowed to live because of the threat it paused to humanity. I had to laugh, because well, how more cliché could the words of a human be towards a youkai? Self-preservation, wasn't it? It seemed as if she misunderstood me, that she wasn't aware that all those that I absorbed within me would reach the ultimate form of enlightenment, of absolute stillness. But then, she told me that I was like a mirror – that she was the same as I. She then began to talk about how she could feel the nostalgia and sorrow embedded within Saigyou's poems, seeping out from my very being in supreme beauty; and perhaps was I seeing this description more fit for her?

Rather than swat away the human's life right away, I conversed with the girl, intrigued by her. She was special after all, she was the daughter of the one that had stirred my youkai self to awaken. I spoke with this Yuyuko about the many things of her life, asking her what is it that brought her to say such things to me, and to lower herself to the level of a youkai like me.

Suddenly though with a trembling smile, this young lady brought the knife to her throat and just... pierced it, as sudden as she had appeared. I had no idea what was going on, for one moment, I had been having a nice chat with a random human, and on then next, said human had run a blade through her jugular vein and died in a matter of seconds, spilling all of her blood against my bark... and that is then that I understood why she alone was sent.

A sacrificial lamb to both distract me and be the center of an incredibly complex seal that would seal me away for aeons... but well, at least I had a new soul to add to my collection. I didn't mind if I had to wait for an eternity to break out of this, since knowing life and humans, it would only be a question of time before eventually, some fool would set me free. Yet there was also a certain sense of completeness and... sadness that filled me the moment I took in the soul of this “Yuyuko”. I began to see whatever she had experienced in her lifetime, and what strange power she had... one where she could coax the soul of people out of their body. Such a strange ability for a human to possess, but since that young woman was still somewhat a subject of trance and curiosity for me... I decided to do a little something. Before the seal was complete, I would let a portion of her soul escape, the one containing that very power of hers which could take away life from any body. Keeping her memories with me, I'd give her a reason to eternally feel attracted, yet repulsed to me... until curiosity would get the better of her and she'd try to open the seal, just to realize that it was really her body that was the seal of that “tree” in her garden (although unmentioned, I was moved to the netherworld so that no fool would stumble upon me and accidentally break the seal which held me contained).

Appearance
The Saigyou Ayakashi's Manifestation has an appearance matching with its country of origin. It seems to enjoy appearing female, but never refers to itself as male, nor female. For conveniences' sake though, we'll call it “she”. She wears a beautiful pink Kimono ornate with silver and gold, a regal and graceful air surrounding her tall stature. The manifestation has long black hair that falls down to her ankle, and two strange horn-like protrusions from the back sides of her head that resemble large branches, a testimony to her true form as a Sakura Tree. The black hair is tied in a half-bun sort of fashion around the tree protrusions. Her skin is rather pale with a bit of a pink tint, and she has deep violet eyes. Ayakashi can also disperse itself into thousand of sakura petals and travel into such form to blend with the environment, although... Sakura petals by the winter does seem strange. Her hands are most of the time hidden in her puffy sleeves, and she also usually carries an ornate fan named chizakura.

Personality
The first thing that comes off when one exchanges words with Ayakashi is that it does not seem to communicate emotions at all when it speaks – bland, blank, with the same indifferent intonation, it is hard to say whenever Ayakashi really cares about whatever matter, or even, if it really is involved in a discussion or just riding along for the fun of it. It seems to have a tendency calling things including itself “idiots”. The youkai can appear quite the absent-minded one at times, dreamily staring at the sky or if the latter isn't available, at a random element of the scenery; it could even go into a strange philosophical rant by merely appreciating the details of a rock. When it isn't busy rambling though, it will either laze around or talk about menial things such as having tasted a nice cup of sake, or how it had a nice chat with a random human.

Then it might switch the topic to how it enjoyed making someone die in the most painful of ways just to have them understand what heaven the stillness it offered was. This bipolarity is hard to explain, but it might be because of the fact that Ayakashi isn't really one being, it is the combination of a tree youkai and the fragment of a fundamental... and then, of a sea of souls. This makes it hard to mark down which one of these elements is the defining factor in what it is thinking.

It isn't someone that speaks a lot, and prefers to convey its opinions and ideas into blunt, short sentences. There are times where it might beat around the bush before delivering the true intent of its message, but these are rare. Also, if Ayakashi does begin to get emotional, that means that there is something wrong with it... usually that it's getting unusually angry.


 * [Likes]:
 * Flowers, beauty, stillness, calm, clear weather


 * [Dislikes]:
 * Troublemakers... and nothing else in particular?

Relationships
[ Yuyuko Saigyouji ]:

Yuyuko is the one that sealed the Saigyou Ayakashi, and theoretically the one that should be watching over its seal. Of course, she didn't exactly do as told when she tried to unseal it during the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom, although if that was all part of the Ayakashi's plan, remains to be seen. Yuyuko is deathly scared of the tree, which amuses it. It doesn't feel ill will at all towards Yuyuko and rather, thinks that she fulfilled Saigyou's wish perfectly – just like him, the young woman “died in spring, under the blossoming flowers, under Kisaragi's Full Moon.”

[ Youmu Konpaku ]:

The gardener that often checks up on it, Ayakashi has never had any proper interaction with the half-ghost half-human. It is probably interested to a certain degree with the girl though, since she is a gardener and one that is rather easily influenced by others.

[ Xiangdeng Tiandao & Bai Ze ]:

Ayakashi hasn't met them personally, but knows a bit of their schemes and what they've done through the knowledge it gained via absorbing Ning Hong's Fragment. It probably respects them, and perhaps, would look forward to meeting them some day. It is a bit wary of them though, seeing that they're plotting superpowers.

Summary
Graceful and elegant, yet majestically overpowering, Ayakashi is a sight to behold whenever it fights. Combining both of its abilities with the incredible physical strength it possesses, the youkai can easily dominate a majority of its foes with incredible raw power. To add to this already deadly combination of great conceptual abilities and intense youkai force, Ayakashi is also very dexterous, reflecting its graceful demeanor. In one clean motion, it can slice a body in two with its tessen, Chizakura. Rounding up the youkai's dangerous arsenal, is the incredible spiritual pressure it possesses, hidden by the aura of stillness that surrounds it, but terrifying to witness whenever roused. By merely flaring off its chi, the youkai can push away weaker attacks.

However, to somewhat reflect the elegance and gracefulness that it radiates, Ayakashi never, never hurries. it is rather slow and floaty, not unlike some ghost that it is related to... if that is intentional or accidental, none knows. The youkai also notably has a lack of experience in proper magic. While it can fire off its chi, the creature lacks a developed sense of magecraft, causing it to be unable to cast attacks that bypass the law of equivalent exchanges.

[ Strengths ]
 * Incredible Physical strength and Resistance
 * Massive amount of Spiritual Energies
 * Has very deadly abilities
 * Skilled at fighting up close

[ Weaknesses ]
 * Isn't exactly the fastest out there mobility-wise
 * Lacking in terms of magical aptitude. While it has great stamina and spiritual energy, the youkai only knows basic magic.

Main Abilities – Manipulation of Restraints and Partial Control over Stillness
[ Manipulation of Restraints ]

Restraints are naturally, certain elements that prevent things from happening. Most of the time, restraints are links which anchor things together, preventing them from splitting up through force. By being able to manipulate restraints, one can break many things apart... or perhaps, loosen the limits that one has. Ayakashi's manipulation of Restraints isn't absolute since it never really had a large opportunity to hone it. The main way it does manage to make use of this deadly potential though, is through three distinct ways:

1) Manipulating the restraints that hold a soul to its body. The Ayakashi can effectively severe the restraints preventing the soul from drifting apart of its container. This is an extremely frightful ability, since it means that most creatures that have a soul are at the youkai's mercy. However, the more powerful creatures are though, the stronger the attachment of the soul to the body. While Ayakashi can easily break the restraints of an average human's soul or of a normal youkai, the tougher they get, the more time / spiritual dexterity is required for Ayakashi to successfully destroy the restraints attaching soul to body.

2) Manipulating the restraints that hold a being together. The greatest example of this way of usage if when Ayakashi activates Okuzakura Kagura, removing all the restraints that hold itself together and spreading into millions of Sakura petals. In this way, Ayakashi can be present at thousand of places at the same time, being many but one simultaneously. Ayakashi can also exert this onto targets other than itself and cause them to crumble to pieces. However, if they have a will and a certain degree of spiritual awareness, when Ayakashi relents its "Restraint Break", the target will turn back into its whole form.

3) Manipulating the mental restraints imposed on the mind. A certain form of mind control, albeit a convoluted variant, toying with the restraints of individuals' minds can allow Ayakashi to goad people into doing what it wills... to a certain extent. Most living beings have a set of inhibitors in their mentality, "walls" that prevent them from turning into dangerous maverick murderers, or instead, help them into becoming impassible stones. Able to modify these factors with its ability, Ayakashi can basically cause someone to grow increasingly hesitant and fearful, or instead, follow their desires/ravenous nature. This is notably how it attracted so many people to it -- by combining this ability with its Partial Manipulation of Stillness, Ayakashi lured people that were entranced by the relaxing and peaceful aura it spread.

[ Partial Manipulation of Stillness ]

A power provided by the Fundamental Shard it merged with, the Manipulation of Stillness is equally as fearsome as Ayakashi's primary power, even though it isn't on par to the original Fundamental's level. Ayakashi can exert a certain degree of control over that power, but can't be too specific or precise about its applications -- this has lead to the youkai developing two notable uses where it can comfortably use the power:

1) An "Aura of Stillness" which permanently surrounds Ayakashi, people nearby it will naturally feel at ease, everything appearing to be most calm and peaceful. The lack of movement, the lack of life, the lack of change and the lack of chaos... it all culminates into what one could call "the ultimate nirvana". To be within a few meters of Ayakashi is like experiencing the mirth of Vairocana itself. Even the most violent of individual would suddenly feel a sudden state of stasis if they ever were to touch the Youkai. Ayakashi can actively augment the influence of the aura to the point that everything seems to stop around it. A rock flung at it would just stop in midair, free from the effects of gravity and such. The aura can increase and decrease in area of effect, and as a general rule of thumb, the smaller it is, the more powerful. Inversely, the larger it gets, the less intense the effect. An overwhelming amount of exterior chaos though could possibly temporarily break the aura, such as a swarm of powerful danmaku.

2) "Pulses of Stillness", an event where Ayakashi releases a large amount of spiritual energy embedded with its essence of stillness. It is basically a short outburst of the aura, with a means much more suited to act for a small moment -- it is much more overpowering than the aura, but its effects do not last as long. When hit by this "pulse" which covers all directions and quickly expands outwards from Ayakashi, everything suddenly stops as it is swarmed in absolute stillness. The being will be frozen for a few seconds, or perhaps longer. It all depends on how spiritually powerful the being is, and most importantly, if they have a good control of their Yin. Their movement will slowly come back over the course of the next moments, slowly going from slowed down until it eventually reached "back to normal". When Ayakashi fires off a pulse, it is left without essence of stillness for some time, leaving it a bit more vulnerable.

Other Powers:
[Chizakura (血桜)] A strange weapon wielded by Ayakashi, it is an extremely durable folding tessen made out of some strange youkai wood - the same that makes up her horns. It has been seen having properties similar, if not superior to steel in slashing and stabbing actions. The fan is blood-pink and ornate with sakura petals, as its name implies (bloodied cherry blossom). It is actually a double fan and can be separated in two for dual wielding, but Ayakashi usually keeps it as a single accessory. Chizakura is also used by Ayakashi as a catalyst for its powers.

[Tessenjutsu (鉄扇術)] The art of wielding the tessen, Ayakashi is very proficient in this skill, allowing it to fight off opponents that try to get into close range thinking that it is mostly harmless there. Of course, Tessenjutsu is the first surprise -- it isn’t the only skill that Ayakashi has when it comes to close combat. It has been seen catching blades and projectiles with pure skill, and also, executing pinpoint slashes able to slice a man in two with ease.

[Body Modification ~ Cursed Wood] Ayakashi’s limbs are concealed in its puffy kimono not only for aesthetic purposes, but because it is able to morph most if not all of its humanoids parts into tree-like appendages, resembling branches and roots that can extend to rather impressive lengths. The wood is fairly tough due to its youkai nature and being infused with Ayakashi’s huge spiritual energy reserves; arguably, it could clash with steel and come off undented. Ayakashi can root itself into the ground, stab foes, constrict them to death, and do all kinds of creative things with these special appendages, even making up a shield by stacking layers of wood over each other.

[Body Modification ~ Okuzakura Kagura] The technique’s name means “vibrant dance of a million cherry blossoms”, fitting since Ayakashi breaks its body into countless magical cherry blossoms. This can be used as a defensive move, turning Ayakashi becomes immune to melee attacks, or it can be also used as a devastating assault where Ayakashi overcharges each of the petals and rains down onto the enemy like a deluge of destruction.

[Sea of Tranquility ~ Soul Mass] Ayakashi has ended up absorbing and conserving a massive amount of souls, preserving them in the eternal stillness that it embodies. As such, Ayakashi can use them if needed, turning them into projectiles. Of course, it will rarely do so, much preferring to let them "live" in eternal stillness since that is what it is -- the savior who brings stillness to all.

Spellcards
Ayakashi has no proper spellcard, but might come up with one or two since its ambitions will inevitably cause it to clash with the Shrine Maiden of the Hakurei Barrier.

Gallery
[WORK IN PROGRESS~]