Gensoukyou:Utsuho Reiuji

Excerpt 1 from a Hell Raven's mind, Satori Reading – Beginnings:


"Grey, brown and a lukewarm orange; the first colors I remember seeing. I was perched on the rooftop of a derelict house, its design characteristic of Japan's Nara period. Before me, was a road, dimly lit by a set of torches. Many creatures were walking by, youkai of all kinds that ranged from mighty Oni to obscure Nuri-botoke.

What was I doing on that roof? What was I? It seemed as if I had a beak, wings and was covered in black feathers. Surely that must have been the avian species that was called “raven”.

I did not bother long with identifying myself. Did I really need a name? I couldn't even speak, I could only croak like a basic animal. There was some power dwelling inside me that did make me worthy of being called a youkai rather than a standard bird... but it wasn't much. In fact, my power was nothing compared to those that were passing by on the road – I was but a puny insect that they could crush at any moment.

Still perched on the rooftop, I continued to observe the scenery. What was there interesting in the sight, I can't really say, but it wasn't as if I had anything more useful to do.

My gaze slowly drifted away to the fire that was burning on one of the torches. The flickering of the flame felt so attractive to me... even the very sounds made as the fuel was slowly being consumed by the heat. This gravitation of mine towards fire, like many other things that happened during my early existence, remains unexplained to me.

At any rate, I sat there perched on the roof for a long time, a very long time... until a small uneasiness began moving about in my stomach – until I realized that I was getting hungry.

The time to scavenge for food had returned."

Excerpt 2 from a Hell Raven's mind, Satori Reading – Grazing Death:


"A decomposing corpse. I did not know who that person was, nor the circumstances of their demise, but I was feeling hungry, and that is all that mattered. Perched a meter or two above what I was considering as a future meal, I scanned the dark alley way one final time before swooping down as my hunger compelled me to wait no further.

I had been looking at that body for about fifteen minutes after all.

I landed nearby an open wound. There was a large diagonal slash that went down from the humanoid creature's left shoulder to the top of their right waist, probably the one blow that finished them. Seeing that there was blood, some good organs and fat to feast on, I plunged my head into the carcass, a bitter taste beginning to afflict my taste-buds. Taste wasn't really something that I had come to mind by that time though – I just wanted to eat, as long as it wasn't feces that I was consuming, I was alright with ingesting whatever I could put my beak on.

The wet sounds of blood-soaked organs being chewed off and consumed was all that I could hear. My sight was no different, as my head had literally been swallowed by the gaping wound, giving me a vision of mucous walls painted in red whenever I opened my eyes.

Well, not much different from any of the meals I had managed to get. The under ground city was after all a good place to find corpses loitering about – the youkai inhabitants weren't exactly the most agreeable and peaceful.

Something though would make it a bit more different though.

Pain. I was in the middle of digging in when an excruciating pain shot through my left wing. Before I knew it, I was flung about in the air, shaken around like a stray leaf during a storm. I saw the ground, the the dark “sky” of the underground, then the ground again, before catching a glimpse of what was handling me like a toy – the face of a rabid dog.

I heard something snap. Then I flew against something hard, and lost consciousness. As I fell into a coma, there was one thing that lingered: a painful emptiness in my left wing.

It hurt, it really did; even the darkness of unfeeling could not hold back that ravenous pain from devouring me..."

Excerpt 3 from a Hell Raven's mind, Satori Reading – The Cat:


"A faint growl resonated through my ears. Much like a rooster's wake up call, it caused me to open my eyes and try to move.

Two red luminous iris greeted me, like the fabled setting sun I had never seen. They eyed me as I tried to stand up and failed miserably, the pain in my left wing pinning me to the ground.

The cat meowed as it came closer. It wasn't aggressive or whatever, but I feared interactions with others – I was weak, powerless, that cat could very well eat me whenever it wanted.

Instinctively, using my other intact wing as a support, I scurried away quite catastrophically. I sadly didn't even bother looking where I was going though, seeing that I was too busy eyeing the cat. Before I had realized it, I had cut myself from all means of escape by backing up against a wall.

The cat looked at me, tilting its head and letting out another meow. I could not understand cat-speak, so I did not know what to make out of the sound, even though it didn't appear the most threatening out there. Still, what guaranteed me that it really wasn't just acting like that to wash away all my suspicions?

I had to get away, I had to--

The cat pounced. I shut my eyes. I expected teeth to sink into my neck and claws to tear apart what was left of my broken body.

Yet that wasn't what happened. No harm came to me, but instead, the warm embrace of a furry body. The cat had huddled herself against me and was licking my injured wing.

I felt many things at that point. Grateful, joyful yet confused, I could only look back at the cat as it began to comfort me, I whose mind was in an emotional turmoil. It pointed its paw to the nearby ground, and motioned me to a bit of meat, as if it had kept meal especially for me.

It was a friend, the cat was a friend; that I finally understood... and my dearest friend, it would become."

Excerpt 4 from a Hell Raven's mind, Satori Reading – Frustration:


"How many years had passed since I had met that cat? I could not recall properly, but whatever the amount of time that had lapsed, it did not matter, for all of it was made out of pure joy.

The cat was a female, just like I was. It was very kind, and helped whatever poor youkai it could whenever the opportunity presented itself. I met more small creatures that were in the same boat as me, powerless, and doing their best to survive the cruel place that was the Underworld. I came to appreciate the presence of others, something that I hadn't done since I was “born”. My primal instinct always urged to not trust strangers,

Eventually, we had become a small gang of youkai animals. While we began to become known to the Ancient Capital's populace, we only grew slowly in power, since there wasn't much room for us to develop -- we lived amidst the supernatural after all, there was no human fear or belief to feast on."

This lack of power would come to bite me eventually.

One day, I would run again into that rabid dog that had wasted me before my meeting with the cat. This time though, I had a friend: the cat herself was there to help me; yet I trembled, I sat back and trembled haplessly, overcome by the trauma that had been inflicted on me.

Very different from the coward that I was though, the cat hissed, trying to gaud the dog into a fight. It turned to me and made me know that no matter the danger, no matter the consequences, she would fight that "thing", because it was the one that hurt her friend.

Quite the crazy thing. This dog wasn't a normal dog, it was an inugami, weakened still, but it was a creature to be reckoned.

I don't know what miracle happened; I can only remember the cat and the dog jumping around and trying to slash at each other or bite their respective necks... until the cat managed to scar the dog's eye, and the latter howled in pain and fled.

What was it that I had done to help the cat? Nothing. I just sat back and watched in terror, unable to help. She was always the one to save me, to help me, to comfort me, and what could I do to repay her? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

And also, maybe that if I had actually helped on that day, she wouldn't have limped for a few weeks. That limping would haunt me like a nightmare every time I'd see her, it would feel as if a knife was being stabbed into my heart whenever I caught sight of her injured leg. It wasn't like it was a bad injury that'd remain forever... but it was by my fault. I hadn't helped when I should -- powerless, I could only cower in the back.

Yet she held no ill will against me. She just smiled.

Excerpt 5 from a Hell Raven's mind, Satori Reading – A New Home, and a Master:
 A woman came to us when the Old Capital was turned into the Hell of Blazing Fires, turning up at our hideout.

We met her at first with hostility, since we did not trust humanoids, but our interest in her was quick to be piqued as she spoke to us and somewhat could... understand us, even if she wasn't of any species that we could relate to. The woman understood everything that we were trying to express through unintelligible growls, croaks and meows; our limited way of communicating did not impede her comprehension at all -- it was if she had been one of us since the beginning.

After a chat where she comforted us, gave us some food, and asked us what we were going to do (to which we replied we had no idea); she offered to me, the Cat, and all our "family" to become her pets. As always, due to my general cowardice, I was more than unwilling to take the first step. My gaze went over to my friends and family, trying to probe their expressions to see what were their thoughts.

And while I stood there, not doing anything once again, not being helpful, the Cat decided straight away to trust the woman and jumped into her arms, purring and rubbing herself against the one that had revealed herself as Satori.

When Lady Satori held the cat in her hands, returning it the affection, she named it, the first pet of hers, and its name was "Rin Kaenbyou". When Lady Satori pronounced that name, she had a smile I still have no words to describe to this day. I was just so... beautiful.

Then, perhaps did I not want to be left behind, or perhaps had that smile won me over when I saw it. Whatever of these two it was, I accepted to become Satori-sama's pet, and that was when I was christened "Utsuho Reiuji", Hell Raven of the Old Hell of Blazing Fires.

I am glad to have chosen such fate. Oh yes, how glad am I to have chosen such fate.

Excerpt 6 from a Hell Raven's mind, Satori Reading – In the search of Power:


[TO BE CONTINUED]

Residence
Utsuho mostly resides in the Chireiden, alongside the rest of Satori's pet. She can be found there, or in the deepest parts of the Ancient Capital where she'll be maintaining the temperature of old hell's fires. Alternatively, one can sometimes find her in the Nuclear Reactor that is linked to the very bottom of Youkai Mountain, running maintenance checks and ensuring that no one is tinkering about with the equipment.

During the incident that she caused though, Utsuho caused the temperature of Old Hell to rise so much that even the locals can't bear it anymore. In this light, Satori has asked her pet to go on a "vacation" so that she may relax a bit, and at the same time, let the fires unattended so that they subside.

Said vacation means that she can be found wandering about Gensoukyou a bit.

Personality
The first thing that most people will think of when Utsuho is mentioned to them is "bird-brain", and there is a very sound reason behind such stereotyping -- whatever comes through one of the Hell Raven's ears almost always appears to come out through the other immediately; if it isn't related to science, nuclear physics, those dear to her or blasting up targets, then the subject could have as well not be spoken to her.

Utsuho used to be extremely hostile and ambitious, but this can mostly be attributed to the fact that when she received the Yatagarasu's power, she turned quite insane, being unable to fully control and bear the stress of having become a living shrine and aspect of a sun-god... that or when Kanako thought that the girl was really hollow in her mind, there was a bit of a miscalculation there, who knows.

Presently, Utsuho isn't very hostile to anyone, in fact, she can be quite friendly and be easily approached. The problem is that she will either: a) Quickly forget why she was talking to you in the first place and lose interest, or b) begin to ramble about nuclear physics and outside world facts that could be quite confusing. This doesn't mean that such a thing might happen all the time. She tends to be more "normal" to people she knows, even though, please note the usage of parenthesis there concerning the last adjective...

The "forgetting" part can also be quite troublesome, since she might even forget that you were friendly, and assume as she recollects her small thoughts that you were actually some hostile. This might land you in quite a hot situation, no pun intended, absolutely

There is a side of Utsuho that Rin, Satori and Koishi have possibly caught a glimpse of. There is a final layer behind that bird-brain facade... yes, a facade it is; an obfuscating stupidity. If one can piece together the many nonsensical and crazy bouts of the Hell Raven and analyze her comportment more attentively, there appears to be some vague cohesion behind everything that she does, and perhaps, even some intelligent plotting.

Likes:


 * Nuclear Physics
 * Calling it her favorite subject of discussion would be a serious understatement. Let's leave it to that.


 * Her "family"
 * The other pets of Chireiden and of course, her Master and the latter's sister. Utsuho loves each one of them very much, but one could say that amongst all the pets, Rin Kaenbyou is the one the Hell Raven feels most attached to. Rin has after all, acted as a sister figure to Utsuho for much of the latter's early life.


 * Being an airhead(?)
 * Some of the people that are closest to Utsuho might have noticed it, but even then, the concerned are often incredulous and maintain that falling down to such bird-brainess is impossible to anyone that has even but the smallest grain of a consciousness.
 * Still, there are times where the famed "hollow-head" happens to surprise others with... quite some wits and wisdom.

Dislikes:


 * It is rather hard to say what the Hell Raven doesn't like, since she's so... random at times. Perhaps the feeling of powerlessness though is what revolts her the most. In such a light, she might very well pity others that lack power.

Relationships
Rin Kaenbyou


 * Her dearest friend, and the closest thing that she has to a sister. Rin is arguably the one person that matters the most to Utsuho, maybe even more than Satori and Koishi. Utsuho's relationship with the Kasha has been a bit strained though since the incident that she (Utsuho) started. Utsuho, who had planned on gaining power so that she would stop being the one that was always being protected, ironically ended up being saved once again by Rin's actions -- the latter arranged for powerful people to be lured to the Ancient Capital and defeat Utsuho, snapping the Hell Raven out of her insanity before things got excessively bad.
 * Utsuho as a result has become increasingly frustrated. While she still manages to hide all of it with much success, seeming as her usual bird-brained self to everyone that talks to her, this deep frustration could eventually grow into something... dangerous.
 * Still, conforming with her wish to "not being the one protected anymore" and her love for her dear friend, she will willingly throw herself in a fight if Rin is ever involved or in danger.

Satori Komeiji


 * Utsuho's master, and the one that took her in as a pet and named her. Utsuho regards Satori very highly, and as a respectful pet, will follow whatever orders are given to her.

Koishi Komeiji


 * The sister of Utsuho's master, Koishi often plays with Utsuho whenever she drops by at Chireiden. The two's "simple, yet complex" personalities appears to mesh well with each other.

Kanako Yasaka & Sanae Kochiya


 * Utsuho "works" for them at times, being in charge of the Fusion Reactor that Kanako uses for her "scientific breakthroughs". Utsuho apparently never remembers them unless they meet face to face though, and even then, she had much trouble recalling Sanae at all when the latter accidentally intruded upon the Fusion Reactor. Or... perhaps was she just messing around to test the Shrine Maiden's mettle? Who knows.

Overview:
If there is one word that could be used to sum up Utsuho's abilities in combat, it'd be “overpowering”. The Hell Raven has a massive reserve of energy inside her, to the point that her body constantly has to vent out some of it or keep it contained via the Control Rod on her right hand. Utsuho is also very tough physically, hitting people like a truck and able to withstand quite the beating. To top it all, she's powerful in the speed department as well -- Utsuho is very fast, being able to cover long distances at fast speeds.

A nightmare in theory indeed to deal with, and that is very much the case in practice as well.

However, Utsuho has one massive flaw that prevents her from being the perfect combatant: her finesse, or to be more precise, her lack of it. Even with her control rod, Utsuho is unable to fully manipulate the boons granted to her by Yatagarasu, so overpowering the god is. As powerful and overwhelming her attacks are, if someone has the necessary mix of fearlessness, resilience of the sun, and agility, they can then take on Utsuho with much less chances of being incinerated alive. While her attacks are majestic and massive, they are very simple in nature, being just overwhelming bursts of sun-fire. There is no complexity or trick whatsoever, if one can dodge, then they can just do so, and hopefully keep up for the entire battle with the tempo she sets up.

Strengths & Weaknesses:
Strengths:
 * Is probably one of the most powerful youkai firepower-wise. Her ability to manipulate Nuclear Fusion and Fission grants her near limitless potential in terms of output.
 * She has the reserves to back up said output. Her energy endlessly comes back to her, like a true Nuclear Reactor.
 * Is physically powerful, meaning that approaching her in close quarters is a very risky choice.

Weaknesses:
 * Lacks skill and finesse to use the most out of her powers. Most visible in her spellcards, which are overwhelming, but somewhat simple.
 * While her energy is indeed endless, her body can only hold so much; she always needs some time to recover after using her more powerful and intense attacks.
 * She is fast, but she isn't agile; typical seeing her general lack of control.

Spellcards
[COMING SOON!]