○ Stage 6 Boss Shoutoku Taoist
Toyosatomimi no Miko
Species: Saint
Ability: the power to listen to ten people speaking at the same time
Born in a stable, she was recognized as a genius at an early age.
Born into a high position, she overheard many complaints when she was young.
People would let their tongues loose around her, assuming she wouldn't be able
to understand them, so she heard a lot of idle grumbling from servants and such.
However, Miko was able to understand them - and provide very specific advice
right away.
Rumors of her spread throughout the land, and she gained enormous popularity as
a holy person.
She had her own troubles as a genius.
"The earth hasn't passed on from the age of the gods, and the seas are filled
to the brim.
Why must humans be forced to accept their own death?"
She became dissatisfied with humans' fate to die one day.
Seiga, who had heard the rumours about Miko, was confident she'd found the
person she'd been looking for, and came to spread Taoism to her.
Taoism was essentially nature worship, and by becoming one with nature it
could bestow immortality on its followers.
Miko's heart danced in joy.
She also told Seiga that her faith could never lead to the subjugation
of Japan.
Seiga had no interest for national politics in order to further her own
goals, but Miko held a different view.
In that case, Seiga recommended, she should make the appearance of becoming
a Buddhist. When Miko learned Buddhism was a strict creed that forbade
murder, she determined it would be a good means to calm the nation, and
accepted it.
Miko spread Buddhism throughout Japan, in order to ensure that those
without political power would not obtain it. In the shadows, she
advanced her own experiments with Taoism.
As a result, she obtained superhuman abilities and left behind a number
of legends with which everyone is familiar.
She didn't neglect her work towards her ultimate goal of immortality.
She turned to the use of various unusual materials, such as cinnabar.
This ruined her body.
She had destroyed her health because of the very Taoism that was
meant to grant her immortality.
Thinking she'd be unable to wait long enough with the state her body
was in, Miko decided to become a shikaisen.
This was a secret technique in which she would die (or make it appear
that she'd died) and be resurrected.
However, afraid to undergo the procedure alone, she reached out to
Futo, and convinced her to go to sleep first.
Believing in Miko's power, Futo became her test subject. Once Miko
confirmed that, after death, Futo continued to sleep without decaying,
Miko went to sleep herself.
Miko had planned to awaken when the nation felt limited by its
Buddhist precepts and felt the need for a saint. However, her
calculations went awry, and the nation was controlled by Buddhism
for over a thousand years.
Because Buddhist monks continued to place seals on Miko's
mausoleum, she was unable to resurrect. Miko's plan had
been foiled.
Miko judged she had no need to rush and could resurrect herself
at any time, and so continued sleeping. Finally, the time of
her resurrection came.
The trigger was a rumor that the legends regarding her were all
fabricated. Since, in modern times, there were no more people
with superhuman powers, it wasn't surprising that tales of her
exploits were seen as simple lies.
As a result, her mausoleum ended up in Gensokyo. Since there
weren't any temples in Gensokyo at that time, she prepared for her
resurrection to proceed whenever she felt it was necessary.
At about that time, though, a new temple was built.
And, whether by plan or by chance, it was built directly over her mausoleum.
That was, of course, Myouren Temple.
Would Miko let herself be held back by a Buddhist monk once more?
Or would she fight that monk?
A fight just like the battles between Mononobe (of the old gods) and
Soga (of the Buddhists) had fought over and over so long ago?
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