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Chapter Text

EPISODE 1: Fantastic Night Parade Scroll ~ Mystic Flier

FOREST OF MAGIC

[PRE-STAGE DIALOGUE]

[ BGM: The Mound Where the Flowers Reflect ]

August 10th 2014, Gensokyo was enshrouded by a blood scarlet mist, which blocked both the sky and the sun. Because of this phenomena happening, the shrine maiden, Chikara and her witches friend, Thalassa Kirisame take action on solving this incident for the first time. The heroines take the North, which would led them to the Forest of Magic.

[Chikara]:

This is our first time dealing with an incident, I am so excited~!!!

[Thalassa]:

(*sigh*) Come on Chika-chan, take this seriously~.

[Chikara]:

I know I know, sorry about that, hehehehe~. 

But this mist does look really, really bad! So we have to find the culprit!

[Thalassa]: 

Then let go, Chika-chan!

They both fly in the Forest of Magic, where darkness would take over them.

[ BGM: Eastern Strange Discourse]

The Forest of Magic is dark, like really dark that both of them cannot even see a thing, doesn’t help with the fact that the enemy suddenly attacks in all different directions. Luckily Thalassa has a trick up her sleeve, as she uses magic to create a sphere of water that glows in the dark, which helps fend off the enemy in their way.

The fairies, for some reason, are more aggressive as they normally just mind their own business and don’t really harm people a lot, but it seems like the incident somehow makes them more aggressive.

Despite feeling bad about hurting them, luckily they are immortal and are capable of coming back to life, though they will not remember after being blown up by the heroines.

[Chikara]:

I can’t see anything through this darkness! 

I even bump my head into a tree and

I'm not sure where to go. 

[Thalassa]:

Yeah, it was quite difficult to see through anything here…

[Chikara]:

But thank to Thal-chan’s magic, she ma~naged to make 

it so easy to see through here~, heheheh~♪

[Thalassa]:

(*blushes*) Awww~, thank you Chika-chan.

[Chikara]:

Ahaha~! You’re totally welcome, after all you’re my 

super cool awesome best friend~!

[Rumia ENTERS]

[???]:

Hmmm~? Seem like the two human are talking to each other

while flying in the middle of the darkness I made? 

What a strange bunch!

[Chikara]:

Um, who are you? 

[Thalassa]:

I believe that was the youkai that we bumped into about a minute ago…

 Youkai of the Dusk

Rumia

[Rumia]:

Thank you ♪, thank you ♪

At least you remember, unlike the red and white dummy.

(Rumia is my name, by the way.)

[Chikara]:

The hell did you say, you little runt?!

You wanna pick a fight with me?!

[Thalassa]:

Oh dear, oh dear…she got mad.

[Rumia]:

Nihihihi, 

so amuse so amuse!

[Chikara]:

Rrrrrghh! Stop making light out of me, that's it!

I, Chikara Hakurei, challenge you into a duel!

[ BGM: Alternative Melanin in Black ~ Colt Snake]

[Rumia]:

Is that sooooooo…?

Then I wouldn’t mind to taste both you and pointy’s flesh.

[Thalassa]:

I don’t like the sound of it…

[Chikara]:

Ever heard of the saying

"good medicine tastes bad"?

[Chikara]:

Because we’re certainly not tasty at all!

[Rumia]:

Then I will make sure to make you both tasty.

[Rumia]:

Because I’m gonna butcher both of you. ♪

[BATTLE START]

Rumia begins the attack by concealed herself inside a pitch-black sphere, bouncing around the surroundings like basketballs and shooting out black spike-type danmaku in different directions upon impact.

The bullets are moderately fast, though it is easy enough for both heroines to dodge from getting hit (or stabbed). Thalassa would use her water missiles to shoot at the pitch-black sphere, which the sphere clumsily dodge, but one of the missiles ended up hit on it, causing it to pop like a balloon, exposing Rumia.

[Rumia]: Ah! Now that is not nice~!

Chikara leaped over Rumia, and fired a series of amulets shot at her. Rumia couldn’t turn around in time, only to get hit by them and she was knocked back, hitting her head against a tree.

[Rumia]: Ow! Ow! Come on now~, let me tender you up so you two will be tastier~. 

[Chikara]: Sorry, but I prefer not to be on the menu!

[Rumia]: It will be soon~.

Rumia pulls out her spell card and activates it.

Moon Sign "Moonlight Ray"

Rumia’s initial spell card was rather plain. The darkness youkai formed rings of danmaku which moved away from her, then fired two wide lasers that closed in on Chikara and Thalassa.

The pattern was very predictable and the two were able to easily avoid being hit.

[Chikara]: Too easy~, too easy~.

Rumia childishly giggled.

[Rumia]: Is that so~? Then I will just make it hard for you!

[Thalassa]: I think you jinx it, Chika-chan…

[Chikara]: I’m sure this little runt next move won’t be that bad anyway!

Rumia spawned a sequence of five black spheres, homing in on both the heroines. Noticing the line, they both quickly move away until the spheres started shooting black lasers. Rumia also fired off two additional green bullet lines as a secondary pattern.

It was an easy pattern to dodge, but the laser is definitely unexpected to say the least…

[Chikara]: That was unexpected!

[Thalassa]: I told you Chika-chan…

Thalassa shaking head side to side with a sweat dropped on her forehead and let out a soft sigh. Then Thalassa let out a yelp as she dodge another black laser.

[Rumia]: Hold stiiiiiiiiil~! I cannot tender you if you keep dodging~.

Rumia then got shot in the forehead by a single needle from Chikara, which made her cry out in pain.

[Rumia]: Ow! Ow! Ow! Oooow! It hurt so bad!

A single tear shed on the corner of Rumia's eyes as she tried to remove the needle from her forehead. Chikara saw this and smirked, she then taunted her

[Chikara]: You should pay attention more often, dumbass!

[Thalassa]: That just means, you know…

Thalassa crossed her arm, and a joyful laugh escaped from Chikara as she scratched the back of her head. Rumia finally removed the needle from her forehead, rubbing her forehead to ease up the pain.

She looked at the heroines, especially Chikara, as she expressed anger on her face.

[Rumia]: Now I’m reeeeally mad!!

Rumia brandished her second spell card.

Darkness Sign "Demarcation"

Initiating the spell card, Rumia formed a ring of blue, green and red danmaku which had a tendency to abruptly turn at sharp angles, which resulted in the circle of bullets expanding in sync with each turn. The heroines dodged the pattern. Rumia followed up by firing a clump of bullets at both of them, which Chikara and Thalassa also narrowly avoided.

Chikara and Thalassa then fired a series of amulet shot and water missiles at Rumia, hitting the darkness youkai relentlessly. At first, Rumia would try her best to keep herself upright, while still being bombarded by their attacks.

But unfortunately, Rumia's attack would be futile in the end, as the heroine's attack proved to be overwhelming. Rumia would eventually get knocked down, hitting the ground. The darkness youkai no longer had the energy to continue fighting anymore, ending the battle for good.

[Rumia DEFEATED]

Rumia tries her best to get back up, but she fall on her knees, finally she breaks down sobbing with tears in both her eyes.

[Rumia]:

That is so unfaaaaaair…~!

Two on one is just too muuuuch… (*sobs sobs*)

[Chikara]:

That's what you get for pissing me off, little runt!

[Thalassa]:

I kinda feel bad for her…

[Rumia]:

Uuuuuuu…

With that, the heroines moved on to the North West, leaving Rumia whimpering for herself on the ground. After they left, Rumia would stop her crying all the sudden, as she let out a creepy giggling and formed a sinister smile.

Chapter Text

EPISODE 2: Nixie on the Lake ~ Water Magus

MISTY LAKE

[PRE-STAGE DIALOGUE]

[ BGM: The Mound Where the Flowers Reflect ]

They both made out from the forest, and crossed the Misty Lake, just as its name suggests, there was a lot of mist looming through the lake. The air is extremely cold and brisk, which anyone shivering from just getting too close.

[Chikara]:

BRrrrrRrrr…it's so freaking cold here!

I don’t remember the misty lake being this very cold before…

[Thalassa]:

Me either (*achoo!*)

[Chikara]:

Bless you~.

Hey, I can see something from the distance.

[Thalassa]:

Is that a mansion…?

Then it must be the source of the mist!

[Chikara]:

In that case, let's do this!

[ BGM: Mist Lake ]

As the heroines traversed the Misty Lake, a swarm of fairies would come into their view and immediately attack with a burst of danmaku. Some of the fairies would emerge from beneath the surface of the lake with cannons that resembled yin-yang orbs to attack the duo. It was an ambush made for them—a well-made one at that. 

Unfortunately, the fairies are no match for the heroine's firepower, and they would be taken down with complete ease.

[Chikara]:

These fairies are 2000 years early 

to be able to beat me!

[Thalassa]:

They were just protecting their home…

We are basically intruders after all.

[Chikara]:

Yeah that make sense…but it more fun~,

when they attack us, so that I can beat the crap out of them!

[Thalassa]:

Oh Chika-chan, you shouldn’t always pick a fight 

with anyone you came across!

[Thalassa]:

You would end up getting in big trouble!

[???]:

Stop right there, humans!

[Chikara]:

Seems like you jinx yourself~.

[Thalassa]:

Damnit!! Me and my mouth…

[Cirno ENTERS]

Explosive Righteous of Blizzard

Cirno

[Cirno]:

This lake is off limits! Nobody is allowed to be here!

Leave…before I use my bazooka to ice you up!

[Thalassa]:

Eh…? Why not? 

[Cirno]:

Because this lake is the domain of me and the fellow fairies here!

Now beat it before I shoot you up!

[Thalassa]:

You know that's unfair right~?

I mean there are other youkai that live around here, you know?

[Cirno]:

It hardly matters to me anyway! I’m the strongest fairy 

around here, so the lake is off limits because I say so!

[Chikara]:

The strongest fairy? You?

I find that hard to believe~.

[Cirno]:

HAH?!

What DO you mean by that?!

[Chikara]:

I mean you called yourself the strongest fairy~?

I don’t know about you, but you don’t look that 

pretty strong to me~.

[ BGM: Cadaveromancer ~ Dream of an Empty Husk]

[Cirno]:

Grrrrr…I will make you pay for insulting me like that!

Prepare yourself, humans!! Because I, Cirno, the strongest

and most powerful fairy will take you down! Mark my words!

[Chikara]:

You’re getting pretty annoying…

come on Thal-chan, let's beat up this fairy!

[Thalassa]:

Got it, let's do this Chika-chan!

[Cirno]:

Prepare to get bashed! Humans!

Because I, Cirno, the strongest and 

most powerful-

[Chikara & Thalassa]:

Shut up!

[Cirno]:

Hey rude! I didn't finish my sentence!

[BATTLE START]

[Cirno]: Take this human!

Cirno quickly makes her first attack on the duo by swiftly shooting 5 ice balls, which explode into a burst of ice-shaped bullets in a random direction. Chikara and Thalassa dodged the attack with relative ease. Chikara would even punch one of the bullets, which caused it to shatter into pieces.

[Chikara]: That was too easy! You call that attack~?

A growl of anger escaped from Cirno’s lips.

[Cirno]: Don’t make a fool out of me, humans! Take this!

Cirno repeated the same attack, but in a more rapid manner. Unfortunately the heroines would easily dodge that one as Chikara would attack Cirno with an amulet shot, causing Cirno to spin for a second upon being hit.

[Cirno]: BWUGAH! Grrrr…time to show you one of my first moves!

Cirno brandished her Spell Card, she loaded it inside her bazooka and pointed at the sky.

Freeze Sign “Blizzard Fallen”

A giant white bullet shoots out from the barrel of the bazooka, the bullets explode into a shower of icicles falling from the sky. The heroines may have to dodge this one, because one of those icicles could stab them in the most painful way.

[Chikara]: CRAP!

[Thalassa]: EEP!

The heroines quickly split off to dodge away from the falling icicles that are threatening to stab them, Cirno would let out a shrill annoying laugh at the heroine's misfortune.

[Cirno]: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! That's what you get for insulting the strongest!

Chikara wouldn't be able to get close to Cirno to attack since she is too occupied dodging the raining icicles, much less trying to shoot her down.

[Chikara]: Crap, crap! I can’t shoot her like this!

Thalassa would pull her sleeves down, showing a bracelet with a blue gem. Thalassa cupped her hand together as she drew the power of the bracelet.

Water Sign “Vortex Beam”

Thalassa thrusts her hands forward to unleash a streaming, powerful beam of water. The beam engulf the icicles, the intense pressure of the water, causing the icicle to melt quickly, and almost narrowingly hitting Cirno.

[Cirno]: EEP! Hey watch it you dumbass- BAWK!

Cirno’s word is suddenly interrupted by an amulet shot to the forehead, causing the fairy to spin around again.

[Cirno]: GRRRRRRR! That's it, you're really making me freaking mad now!

[Thalassa]: She is definitely mad now… 

[Chikara]: Yep, she is really mad for sure~.

The fairy pointed her finger angrily at the heroines.

[Cirno]: I will show you my next attack! Prepare yourself!

The heroines take a defensive stance, now more prepared to deal with whatever Cirno is gonna throw at them.]

[Chikara]: Throw whatever you got~, we are now more prepared than ever!

Cirno brandishing another Spell Card, loading it in the barrel of the bazooka, she showed a smirk on her face.

[Cirno]: Then dodge this, humans!

Freeze Sign "Perfect Freeze"

Cirno fired a flurry of rainbow-colored bullets in random direction, due to the randomness of the pattern, it was tricky for the heroines to dodge. But Cirno has a trick on her sleeves! She freezes the bullets, turning them white by the frigid temperature.

[Thalassa]: She just froze her bullet?!

[Cirno]: Bahahahaha! Take this! 

Cirno unleashes an 8-way pattern of blue bullets to try hitting the heroines, but they narrowly dodge the attack. Then the frozen bullets quickly exploded into a burst of icicles, catching the heroines off guard, which resulted in them being hit by them.

[Chikara]: EEK! Ow, ow! That really freaking hurts!

[Thalassa]: It does…Chika-chan, she is gonna do it again!

Chikara noticed that Cirno was about to repeat the attack again, oh no this time…

[Chikara]: Not this time! 

Chikara pulled out both of her amulet and also her persuasion needle, as she quickly throw both weapon toward Cirno

[Cirno]: Now let's see if you can dodge this twice- OOOOOOW!

Cirno was hit by a dozen amulet shots, but also a good amount of persuasion needle stabbing on her body. It was really freaking painful for her as she pulled the needle off from her body, despite the counterattack, she isn’t done.

[Cirno]: I’m not done with you two yet! Taste the power of my ultimate attack!

Cirno threw her bazooka away, flying high in the sky as she raised her left hand up and pointed her pointer finger. 

Freeze Sign "Hypothermia Glacial"

Cirno unleashed a burst of bullets in various bluey color and size, which the heroines easily avoided. But, they start to notice the bullets were being pulled away, as if they’re getting sucked in by a black hole, that because it was Cirno pulling the bullets away, the bullets would be contained in by an ice block. 

[Cirno]: Taaaaaaake this!

The ice block exploded, causing the bullet to fly out in every direction. Chikara grabs a hold on Thalassa as she quickly moves out of the way from being hit by one of the bullets that just violently burst out.

[Thalassa]: We have to shoot her down before she could repeat the attack!

[Chikara]: Then let's throw everything we got at her~!

Both of the heroines would begin to lay an assault on Cirno, firing their bullets onto the fairy. This barrage of attacks did hurt Cirno a lot, but she is not staggering by all of this as she kept her pose still.

[Cirno]: GrrRrrk…! This is nothing, this is nothing to me! I, Cirno, the strongest fairy will not be defeated by some weak humans!

Cirno would begin to repeat the attack as she once again unleashed a burst of bullets. The heroines quickly dodge out of the way while laying a bullet at the fairy.

[Thalassa]: She is not going down!

[Chikara]: Leave this to me~.

Chikara pulled out a Spell Card from her scarf, she let out a confident smile on her face. The bullets then get sucked in by Cirno, as the bullet is contained in an ice cube once more. Chikara squinted her eyes, waiting for the moment for her to strike.

Finally, the ice cube exploded, violently spilled out the bullets from every direction and Chikara shouted her Spell Card!

Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal" 

As she did that, 8 large orbs came out from Chikara’s body, glowing and shining in a rainbow fashion. Chikara got into a pose and pointed her finger at the incoming bullet and…Cirno! The glowing orbs would disperse the incoming bullets, and then they would aim at Cirno.

[Cirno]: Huh? OH CRAP-

Her words unfortunately cut short, all 8 orbs slam hard against Cirno’s small body as she would be engulf into a huge, colorful explosion that lit up the surrounding area.

[Cirno DEFEATED]

[Chikara]: Now what I call ending a battle with a bang!

A big SPLASH can be heard.

[Thalassa]: For a fairy…she is quite strong, don’t you think?

[Chikara]: I will admit, she is! But not enough to beat me of course~.

[Thalassa]: Right, let's go to the mansion and solve this incident, Chika-chan!

[Chikara]: Gotcha! Let go!

The heroine would soon leave the Misty Lake and fly to the red, crimson mansion ahead. Meanwhile Cirno’s unconscious body is floating on top of the lake, with a dopey smile on her face and her eyes spinning.

Chapter Text

EPISODE 3: Scarlet Border ~ Scarlet Land

OUTSIDE OF THE SCARLET DEVIL MANSION

[PRE-STAGE DIALOGUE]

[ BGM: The Mound Where the Flowers Reflect ]

Our heroine would arrive at the entrance gate of the blood, scarlet mansion, which is being guarded by a redhead with the most goofiest-looking helmet they have ever seen, but fortunately she is asleep as the heroine flies over the gate with relative ease.

[Chikara]:

Well that was super easy~.

[Thalassa]:

Yeah, she shouldn’t be sleeping during her job…

But we at least don’t have to fight her.

[Chikara]:

I agree~, but I wanna say this mansion does look pretty~.

[Thalassa]:

It look to be a victorian-styled mansion, whoever 

owns this mansion is presumably a wealthy person

from another continent.

[Chikara]:

And that owner is our culprit!

[ BGM: Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea ]

As they managed to sneak through the guard, they now stand in the front yard of the mansion, which is the source of the red mist. They begin to fly toward the door of the mansion, because once they enter the building, they will need to find the culprit of the incident.

However, before they could get close to the mansion door. 

Remember the redhead guard that was sleeping at the gate? She just suddenly leaped through the air with a backflip as she landed in front of the heroines, and thrust her open palm toward them.

[Hong Meiling ENTERS]

[???]: Halt it right there! No intruder is allowed to enter the manor of the mistress! 

Well, the two are certainly surprised by the entrance of the redhead.

Thalassa sweat drop and said:

[Thalassa]: Ah……I didn’t know she was awake the whole time.

[???]: Well that's only because I was awake the whole time, I was only pretending to be asleep!

Chikara doesn’t seem all that convinced by the other’s word.

[Chikara]: Sound like a complete lie~, because you were sleeping very hard, you were snoring and all of that-

Her word would soon be interrupted by the (panicking) redhead gatekeeper.

[???]: U-Uh noooo? I was awake the whole time I swear! 

The gatekeeper is now a sweating bullet now, trying to deny what the shrine maiden just said to her. Even though it was actually the truth…

[Thalassa]: Ha ha ha…I’m sorry if we're trespassing! But we have an important thing to do, could you let us pass?

The Chinese Dragon

Hong Meiling

[Meiling]: Sorry missy, but I can’t let anyone enter the mansion without the mistress's approval. I suggest both of you leave now or else I will use force!

[Chikara]: Nope! Because leaving is just a running away, and I don’t run away from a fight!

[Meiling]: Then in that case, I will just force you two to leave! Prepare yourself!

[ BGM: Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 ]

[Chikara]: Let's do this together! Thal-chan!

[Thalassa]: Alright! I’m sorry, Miss gatekeeper! But you leave us with no choice at all.

[BATTLE START]

[Meiling]: You will step no further!!

The first attack was rather literal. Waves of danmaku patterns resembling gates formed on Meiling's flanks, spun around in place, then closed in on Chikara and Thalassa.

These waves were rather frequent (dense), though both heroines found it fairly easy to avoid. 

Meiling narrowly avoided several series of amulet shots from Chikara in return.

Soon, a loose needle found its way into the gate guard's already-impaled hat, and a second one eventually hit her shoulder.

Meiling was knocked back into the outside wall of the mansion from the second hit, but appeared to recover quickly without visible injuries.

[Chikara]: For a gate guard, you sure do move around a lot! Stand still for crying out loud!

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan, cool down!

Meiling didn't reply to the shrine maiden's words, but did look visibly annoyed at Chikara's overconfidence. 

The gate guard then got into a pose and threw out her first spell card.

Energy Sign "Power of Internal"

After calling out the card's name, Meiling then performed a series of martial arts moves... 

High kicks, spinning punches, low sweeps, among other high-speed, quick-motion moves.

These motions seemed to impact the attack's danmaku form, with individual waves varying wildly. 

Some waves were simple zig-zag formations, a few were rather ornate "spinning top" waves with flowery designs, but most were somewhere in between. 

None were consistent with each other, even when Meiling had performed the same movement twice in a row.

These factors all made this attack much harder to deal with, much more than simple gates. 

Compounding this was that every single wave went for the heroines at breakneck speed. 

Meiling’s moves continued even after the danmaku began flying, too.

Thalassa in particular moved too fast, dodging one solid block of danmaku only to slamming into another one just nearby, knocking her back quite a distance, behind the outer gates. 

[Thalassa]: Kyoooowwww!!! Whatever kind of danmaku this lady’s firing, it hurts!

Flying back into the battle, the magician grasped onto the blue bracelet gem that she kept. Calling out an attack, she targeted the mid-air position she expected Meiling to be standing in just a moment.

Water Sign "Flying Fish"

Thalassa’s prediction turned out to be correct. 

The attack proceeded to hit Meiling several times, again knocking Meiling into the mansion’s outside walls.

[Chikara]: Give it up already! We’re heading inside whether you like it or not!

The gate guard ascended once more, shaken up.

[Meiling]: This is my job... don’t forget that.

Rainbow Sign "Colorful Rainbow Wind Chime"

Calling out her second card, Meiling released a large circular wave of high-speed danmaku, circling in a spiral around the gate guard while they spread outwards and towards the protagonists. Meiling continually inched closer as the spell continued, changing the pattern slightly.

However, further attacks from the shrine maiden and magician eventually nullified this spell card too.

[Meiling]: I’ve about had it with you two!! Take your leave!!

Rainbow Sign “Flowers of Jungle Dragon”

Like the prior spell card, this was another “spinning top” attack. Meiling released rings of red shard danmaku, and a flower-patterned wave of yellow shard danmaku, with varying levels of consistency.

This was a fairly basic pattern, Chikara and Thalassa dodging it without much difficulty.

However, some of the seemingly-benign flowers in the mansion’s outdoor garden began to shoot danmaku shots in the middle of the spell card - without noise and without much warning. These shots had little to no pattern to their behavior, and were hard to predict - even for Meiling. 

She didn’t usually have to use the garden as backup in her battles, but this one was becoming an exception to the rule...

Chikara did not see these shots coming and took two strikes to the back from them. Thalassa avoided them by pure chance. Recovering, the shrine maiden now looked very upset and was unwilling to negotiate any further.

[Chikara]: You... YOU... that’s a cheap trick, gate guard!!

Divine Art "Demon Binding Ring"

The shrine maiden’s subsequent bomb spell card completely blew out Meiling’s card, throwing her all over the place and slamming her body into the walls several times.

Meiling recovered again... though slower. She was visibly damaged now, coughing out words while stunningly remaining upright.

[Thalassa]: I’ll say... you’re strong to take that attack head-on and still be standing...

[Meiling]: Don’t give me those... false praises. Just leave - it’ll either be... your choice... or by force!!

Jungle Sign “Horns Through Hat”

This seemed like Meiling’s strongest attack, despite the fact that she was clearly hurting. (Or maybe because she was hurting?) 

Danmaku imitations of her horn-ripped hat appeared around the battlespace, including one of Chikara’s persuasion needles that had been lodged into said hat earlier in the battle.

These danmaku imitations began to bounce around, releasing more and more random danmaku shots of their own as the spell card prolonged itself. 

The flowers that supported Meiling’s prior spell card did so again, though since the heroines had experienced it before, it was less of a surprise. 

Finally, as a last-ditch effort to take down the miko and magician, Meiling set the other flowers in the garden up to constrict the battle area. Flowers on each side of the area grew to inhuman levels at rapid speed, their winding stems constricting the battlefield, making it harder for all three participants to dodge incoming shots.

The longer it takes to capture the card, the more difficult it'll be for Chikara and Thalassa to dodge.

[Thalassa]: ...You know, Chika-chan, maybe I should have gotten into fire magic...

[Chikara]: Shut up and focus on taking this gatekeeper down, Thal-chan!

As time passed, Meiling’s spell seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, though she appeared to be taking no damage from everything the heroines went and threw at her...

...Until eventually, everything just ceased. Meiling’s body went limp, and eventually hit the ground at high speed. By the looks of it, she knocked herself out. Most of her energy had been sapped from taking on Chikara’s strong spell card head-first, and then she had used up the rest of it trying to take down the miko and magician with her “Horns Through Hat” card.

[Hong Meiling DEFEATED]

With the fight finally coming to an end, Chikara let out a sigh of relief, because man, that felt so good for her to beat down the annoying gate guard…

[Chikara]: Phew~, well that's been taken care of~.

[Thalassa]: I…do feel bad for her though… I hope we didn’t hurt her too bad.

[Chikara]: I will admit, I think we did go all out on her, but I believe she will be fine, since she just took the whole thing without taking damage~!

[Thalassa]: I suppose that's true, but it's bad to leave her like this…

[Chikara]: Don’t worry, I got this!

So Chikara picked up Meiling’s unconscious body, despite Meiling being bigger than her, it was impressive that she was able to carry someone bigger than her. She carefully plop her down against the mansion wall.

[Chikara]: That should be good~, let go Thal-chan! We got an incident to solve!

[Thalassa]: Alright then! Let go then!

The heroines open the mansion's large double door, now entering the manor of the mastermind of the incident…

However, they won’t get close, just yet.

Chapter Text

EPISODE 4: Mansion of Darkness ~ Save the Mind

VOILE, THE BASEMENT LIBRARY

[ BGM: Old Stifled Memories ~ BEGAN ]

When Thalassa entered the mansion’s door, the water magician wasn’t greeted with an entrance hall as you would expect from entering a mansion; instead, she was greeted with a large, spacious library. 

[Thalassa]: H-Huh? This is not the entrance hall, this is a library…

On Thalassa's face are expressions of shock, surprise, awe, and complete disbelief. She was perplexed by how she ended up in a library instead of an entrance hall. 

Could this be a work of some kind of space-time manipulation? It seems to be the case for Thalassa, as it was impossible for her to be in a library the moment she entered the door from outside.

Then Thalassa realized something, where is Chikara?

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan? Chika-chan?!

Thalassa looks around to see if Chikara is around or not; unfortunately, she is not with her at all. It seems like Thalassa got split up from Chikara the moment she entered the door; it was obvious to her now that this was a trap to stop them from getting closer to the mastermind behind the incident.

[Thalassa]: Alright…it seems like I’m on my own now.

Thalassa sighed as she realized she needed to find an exit and reunite with Chikara. However, there was one problem—the library layout seemed almost maze-like, which could become a potential problem for her…

[Thalassa]: It seems like I needed to find the librarian so I could ask them for the way out…but I don’t know where they are in this huge library.

Now with her current unfortunate situation, it will be quite some time before she could leave this area and reunite with Chikara; nonetheless, she couldn't help but be pretty curious by the book resting on one of the numerous bookshelves in the surrounding area.

Thalassa walked over to check around the book that was sorting it out across on these particular shelves, looking over with complete focus. Then she spotted something that made her eyes go sparkly, and an excited smile stretched on her face.

[Thalassa]: Holy moly… I cannot believe this!

Thalassa excitedly grabs a book that has a black cover with a gold accent on it, and on the cover, it says “Grimoire of Alice". 

Thalassa let out a high-pitched squeal.

[Thalassa]: Oh my god, oh my god! This is the legendary spellbook; I thought it was just a myth, a legend...but it's right here in this very library!

Thalassa then snaps out of her little world, shaking her head as she is sweatdropped from her forehead.

​​[Thalassa]: O-Oh right, I need to find the librarian so they will lead me to the exit and be reunited with Chikara again…

Thalassa realized she had an incident to solve, so she put the grimoire back inside where it belonged, and quickly took off in the air to look for the librarian. Maybe She will come visit the library once this incident is solved.

Fly around the library. Thalassa is looking around to see if the librarian is somewhere in this library because this library is large, which would make finding them difficult. But since it's a library, there has to be a circulation desk somewhere around here. She just had to search deeper.

Thalassa flying for a bit more. She noticed something, or rather someone in the distance, and it seemed like a person. This makes her perk up, as there is a person that might actually help her!

[Thalassa]: Excuse me! Do you know the way out of this library?

The person Thalassa asks quickly appears in front of her in a second, which makes her yelp out in shock.

[Kotori Toriatama ENTERS]

The Library Assistant 

Kotori Toriatama

[Kotori]: I had to apologize for that, you were looking for an exit from the library right?

[Thalassa]: Exactly! Though, this library is impressive. But I have something urgent to do.

Upon closer look, the person that she is conversing with is strange looking. The best way she can describe him is a white bird serving as a head for a sentient mannequin.

[Kotori]: Well, I would’ve helped your situation right now, but because I was ordered to deal with an intruder that entered the mansion.

[Kotori]: So I had to apologize~, but I must dispose of you right now. *happy*

[Thalassa]: . . .

Thalassa tilted her head to the side with sheer confusion.

[Thalassa]: E-Eh?

[ BGM: Bestrafung ]

[MINI-BATTLE START]

Kotori detached himself from his sentient mannequin companion, and a magic circle appeared behind them. The mannequin gets in the center and shoots a spiral pattern of large purple bullets, which Thalassa maneuvers around the gap to easily dodge the patterns.

[Thalassa]: Wait a minute! We don’t have to fight each other, could we just talk this out?

[Kotori]: I had to apologize…as much as I would love to hear things out, but order is order.

Kotori expressed an apologetic look on his face. He then shoots a short sequence of yellow tribullets at Thalassa, which she quickly dodges. She countered them by firing her water missiles at both of them. Both Kotori and the mannequin quickly dodge away from both sides and continue on their attack at Thalassa.

Thalassa evaded the attack by flying past them. Kotori detached from his headless mannequin partner, so they began to chase after her. 

Kotori and the mannequin begin to use their attack on her from behind, which she tries her best to dodge from, despite it being tricky to dodge without looking behind her back while in pursuit.

Thalassa quickly made a u-turn - though Kotori didn’t realize she had done so and briefly looked around in confusion, flying the wrong way. However he soon noticed that Thalassa wasn’t in front of him anymore. Once Kotori made this realization, he made a quick turn around and headed in Thalassa’s direction again.

But when Kotori did, Thalassa kicked him right in the face, detaching him from the mannequin and sending him crashing against one of the bookshelves.

[Thalassa]: Sorry…hehehehe—EEK!

Thalassa yelped  as she quickly created a water shield to block a punch from the mannequin’s fist. The mannequin began to perform various physical attacks to attempt to break the shield, like a roundhouse kick, multiple punches, and a body slam.

Thalassa is struggling to hold the shield as it shows signs of cracking from the relentless attack of the mannequin.

Thalassa did a quick water missile attack on the mannequin to disorient them so she can have ample time to prepare her spell card. She released her shield to draw her magic from her bracelet. The mannequin, however, recovers from the attack and lunges at her.

Water Sign “Vortex Beam”

Thalassa thrusts her hands forward to blast the mannequin with a beam of water, sending them flying toward the bookshelves that Kotori has crashed into not too long... and speaking of him...

Kotori was about to emerge from the bookshelves to assist his mannequin friend, but he was quickly slammed against the bookshelves again by said mannequin, which then collapsed onto both of them with all its weight, burying them underneath.

[Kotori Toriatama DEFEATED]

[ BGM: Old Stifled Memories ~ BEGAN ]

Thalassa winced, even though she had won the fight, but that definitely looked really hurt.

[Thalassa]: Ouch…I went too overboard...

Before Thalassa resumed her search, she made a point to check on the unconscious Kotori (and his companion) to confirm that they weren’t badly hurt, which was a relief for her. She then bows in an apologetic manner, and begins to float, resuming her search once again.

While Thalassa continues searching around this massive library, she then pauses when she notices the books on the bookshelves begin to shake.

The book removed itself from the bookshelves and opened wide as they turned a page to face Thalassa.

[Thalassa]: This can’t be good…

Magic circles materialized in front of all the books, barrages of danmaku speeding out from their pages. Thalassa quickly moves out of the way to evade the attack, following up by pointing her palm at them. The spray of thin, high-pressure water on the books cut them cleanly one by one, like a hot knife cutting butter.

However, more and more living books would emerge from the seemingly unending rows of bookshelves. They continued the sequence of barrage attacks, which Thalassa had to avoid and counterattack as much as she could. However, they just kept on firing at her in large numbers.

Their number is proving to be way too much for Thalassa to deal with by herself, so she brandished her next spell card...

Ocean Sign “Current Full Spiral” 

[Thalassa]: Taaaaake thiiiis!!!

Thalassa raised her hand up. She summoned a massive, dense bullet descending down upon the books like a water current, engulfing all of the books completely.

Thalassa finally let out a sigh of relief from the overwhelming forces.

[Thalassa]: That was too close... Why did the books move on their own…is someone controlling them?

[Thalassa]: But…exactly who could it be?

A deep voice called out to that answer.

[???]: I did…

[Tom Edison ENTERS]

A short black-haired hooded figure with a witch-like hat with a large lightbulb hovered toward Thalassa, they looked at her with a tired expression.

[Thalassa]: You’re…?

Locked Librarian

Tom Edison

[Tom]: I’m Tom Edison, the librarian of the Voile.

They introduced themself to Thalassa. Hearing the word “librarian” makes the magician’s eyes widened in complete shock. 

[Thalassa]: W-wait, you’re the librarian? But…you look so small.

Thalassa's statement about Tom’s height made them give an annoyed stare at her. She let out a nervous laugh and made a soft “sorry” about it.

[Thalassa]: Hold on, why did you attack me? I was just simply looking for you so I want to know how to get out of this library.

[Tom]: It was simple, I was following the order of the young mistress. I assumed you and that shrine maiden are here to deal with the “Scarlet Mist”?

Thalassa was a little surprised that Tom knew about it, but it shouldn’t be surprising since they both did break into the mansion.

[Thalassa]: Exactly, that is why we are here! To stop this incident.

[Tom]: Then you’re in the right place, as I am the one who created the “Scarlet Mist”...

[Thalassa]: W-What?!

[Tom]: But…it wasn’t my plan, you see... it was the young mistress’s plan, I was just merely following her order-

Tom’s words cut off as they let out a yawn from their lips, rubbing their left eyes. Thalassa has noticed how tired Tom looked, the water magician can’t help but be concerned for their health.

[Thalassa]: You don’t seem to be sleeping a lot…

[Tom]: My physical health and sleep schedule has its “problems”, as I was saying…I was just merely following her orders when I created the “Scarlet Mist”. I gave her control over it, if you wish to end this incident…

Tom raised their left hand up, several books removed themself from the bookshelves. They then float around Tom as they take a stance, preparing to fight.

[Tom]: ...You must defeat the mistress of this mansion. But I doubt you nor that shrine maiden could. Because I will stop you right here…

[ BGM: Another Mind ]

[Thalassa]: As much as I don't want to fight with a fellow book lover, I will fight back, no matter what!

[Thalassa]: …One other thing... Do you mind me visiting this library every now and then, once this is all behind us...? I would love to read the books here!

[Tom]: ……..I see, you have the same interests as I do. I will consider it... Now, let's fight.

[BATTLE START]

The battle between magicians begins! Thalassa first attacks with a countless shot of water missiles that approach on its way to Tom. The librarian thrusts their hand forward, opening their palms so they summon a magic circle to shoot countless fireballs, taking out the water missiles in an explosion of mist. 

[Tom]: Water-based magic…? Not bad.

Tom spread their arms out. 7 of the living books begin to open widened, a magic circle materialize in front of them, the book circles around them as a yellow dense laser emerges from the magic circle.

The laser starts to rotate and is incrementally advancing Thalassa. The pattern is relatively simple for her to dodge, all the water magician has to do is move and don’t move, rinse and repeat. 

Then Thalassa noticed Tom bringing in additional books to provide a backup firing from above, which made the all too easy of a pattern into one that would give her a hard time. This worked to an extent, Thalassa grazing against more than a few shots, and had to take things slower than she’d like in order to take down each of the danmaku-generating books one by one.

When the last book was slashed down and fell to the ground, Tom said little but called out their first card.

Light Sign “Illumination Bolt”

Suddenly, orbs of light began to flash all around the library, and the lamps used as a light source began to flicker oddly... The orbs then started multiplying, and flashing faster. The quickly-spawning lights gave Thalassa a bit of a headache. 

[Thalassa]: Nnugh…!

The water magician instinctively started holding one arm over her eyes to ease the pain somewhat... until she narrowly missed a lightning-thin bolt of light that had seemingly spawned from one of the light orbs.

Now having to hold her eyes open against her instincts in order to not be hit by a light bolt, Thalassa had to get rid of these lights somehow, which were all over the library and were firing in completely random directions. The bolts would bounce against the shelving in an unpredictable fashion. 

Thalassa had no choice but to use another of her own spell cards - which she called out, right as a light bolt struck her shoulder from behind.

Ocean Sign “Tsunami Wave”

Two rather high waves - at least three times the height of the shelves - appeared on Thalassa’s left and right sides, and began rushing forward towards Tom, as lines of danmaku were being fired between the two waves. 

The short magic librarian had to put in every possible effort in order to even get out of the waves’ line-of-fire, which was more dense than usual as a result of the spellcard’s timing.

This was not enough for Tom to avoid being hit, as they would eventually misjudge one of the danmaku lines. Tom would be hit multiple times by the line, and the librarian’s spell card would come to a screeching halt soon after.

[Tom]: Gurgh…! I had to admit that was impressive…using a wave spell card to disoriented my focus.

[Thalassa]: I appreciated the praise, Tom-san~, but this fight isn’t over yet!

Thalassa then thrust her open palm forward, a magic circle appeared in front of her as it shot out a moderately large, high-pressure beam of water toward Tom, like a mini Vortex Beam.

Tom raised a magic barrier to absorb the beam, as they made a quick swipe of their hand to the left, causing the barrier to shatter into pieces. The shard pieces of barrier then transform them into a barrage of bullets that zip toward Thalassa like a sniper bullet. 

The water magician couldn’t have the time to dodge, as the speedy bullet would hit on her shoulder, which made her groan in pain. The bullet impact did damage to her clothes, exposing a bit of her skin from the holes. Some part of her skin is being cut, which causes small bleeding.

[Thalassa]: Ouch…! That really hurt…

[Tom]: Apologize for that little injury, but I won’t stop just because you have some minor injury.

[Thalassa]: Yeah…me either, this won’t stop me at all! Haaah! 

Thalassa yelled out, she would use her gem bracelet to materialize a water sphere, and morph the clear liquid into a shape that resembled a broom. She charged at the librarian as she attempted to hit Tom with it, who narrowly dodged away from the broom attack. 

Tom retaliates by grabbing one of the living books, makes a dash toward the water magician and performs a simple slam attack at Thalassa with a book; she quickly parried the attack with her broom as both Tom and Thalassa back away from each other. 

Again, the librarian made little idle chatter, throwing up their second spell card as a magic circle began to illuminate under their feet.

Fire Metal Sign “Saint Elmo’s Fire”

A pillar of light appeared in front of Tom, and danmaku began to twirl around it, like water going down a drain. The pillar began to move about, generally chasing after Thalassa’s location - though at times it would move around randomly, as if it was a tornado... The twirling danmaku would also tighten in on the pillar, then spread out further away, at fairly consistent times. 

Trying to lock the water magician in place and get her stuck, Tom threw up two more danmaku-generating books, though unlike the ones that Thalassa had faced prior, these ones simply shot long beams, trying to put her in a jam that she couldn’t escape from. These were largely ineffective and would be shot down quite easily, but the “tornado pillar” remained.

At one point, the pillar suddenly began to move faster, catching Thalassa off guard, but she would be able to avoid being hit by any of the bullets. A few out-of-the-way sequences of danmaku on the water magician’s part that Tom couldn’t spot in time soon ended their second spell card.

Tom let out a few heavy breaths as sweat slowly dripped down from their forehead; however, the librarian wasn’t done yet.

[Tom]: I won’t be holding back this time around, prepare yourself…human.

The lightbulb from his hat and necklace let out an intense bright glow, which causes Thalassa to shield her eyes from getting blinded by it. The whole library color begins to change into a white-void color. 

Thalassa would uncover her eyes, to bear witness the change happen around the library with an expression of shock, awe and a bit of fear. 

[Tom]: This is where your damnation begins. Let it be known that you will face the true power of a magician!

The bookshelves everywhere in the library moved on their own accord, and with the rules of laws and physics breaking, the shelves began to bend and contort their shape into a spiral as if it were made out of rubber or clay. This created a sort of abstract version of the library that looks extremely disoriented.

Thalassa forced a smile with cold sweat dripping down from her forehead, this is it, this is the moment where she won’t hold back.

[Thalassa]: I WOOOOOOON’T LOOOOSEEEE…!!

Thalassa cry out with all her might as she brandishes her spell card.

Tom followed suit, and they both yelled out their respective cards.

Tornado Sign “Poseidon”

Light Sign “Prismatic Refraction”

A water-based replica of Poseidon’s trident appeared in Thalassa’s hands, as Tom threw up a handful of refracting prisms. Light orbs appeared along the arcing path of the prisms. Thalassa started firing lines of water drop bullets with the replica trident as if it was a gun. As Tom’s prisms reached the light orbs, the refraction of the light went in many different directions, and danmaku began to spawn along the path of these refracted light rays.

The lights would seemingly bounce off nothing at random places around the abstract library; Tom’s abstraction didn’t appear to match up with its appearance. As a result, any prediction of where the danmaku would go was much tougher to make. At the same time, when Thalassa’s water drop danmaku made contact with the ground or the spiral shelving, it appeared to spawn waterspouts - or some other sort of water-based tornado. Regardless, these tornado-like obstacles moved rather unpredictably. 

At the same time, Thalassa began to fire tribullet patterns of lesser danmaku replicas of the trident she held in her hand. Both spell cards were fairly complex and difficult to dodge, as would be expected of two magicians in battle against one another. 

Both Thalassa and Tom would narrowly avoid each other’s danmaku for quite a while, both magicians grazing numerous shots. It nearly lasted long enough to reach the point where both cards would be timed out and halted, without making a dent on either magician.

However, with just a few seconds remaining, Tom floated left when they should have floated right, and was hit by one of the waterspouts. The light magician was knocked back, but got back up after a while. They seemed to huff, all that movement seemed to have exhausted Tom physically, as it took a long time for them to catch their breath.

[Tom Edison DEFEATED]

[Tom]: Huuuuhhf... That... that was… impressive.

[Thalassa]: T-Thank you… Haahf… you too as well..

With Tom now unable to continue fighting, the abstracted library would revert back to its normal state. The water magician is now leaning their back against the wall to recover their strength.

[Tom]: You have won the fight…water magician…I will grant you direction to the exit.

[Thalassa]: That would be appreciated…but are you gonna be okay?

[Tom]: …I will be okay... I’ve been through worse.

Tom then pointed their pointer finger in a northerly direction.

[Tom]: The exit is over there…you will find two double doors.

[Thalassa]: Thank you Tom-san… O-Oh, be sure to take care of yourself…

As Thalassa would give her farewell to the librarian, she would fly over to the north for the exit or the library, leaving Tom alone to heal their own wounds. The librarian magician would float in the air to go in another direction, so they can check up and tend to Kotori.

Chapter Text

EPISODE 5: An Elegant Servant for the Scarlet Moon 

THE HALLWAY OF THE SCARLET DEVIL MANSION

[ BGM: Haze Castle ~ Phantom ROAD ]

Chikara is currently flying down the hallway within the mansion as she has been separating from Thalassa, and she has no idea where her friend is. The hallway is wide and has a tall ceiling, which is odd to the shrine maiden because the mansion was much smaller looking from the outside…she might just assume it is some kind of magic that she doesn’t know about.

[Chikara]: Urgh…..is it just me or does this hallway seem to be longer than it should be?

Chikara has been flying down the hall for at least a good 2 hours and she doesn't see anything in the distance other than the same hallway, it’s almost like the hallway just endlessly continues stretching further. 

Which Chikara finds to be pretty annoying…

[Chikara]: Oh my god! Can I fight something rather than flying in an endless hallway~!!

Luckily Chikara's wish is granted as doors on both sides of the hallway fling open, a swarm of fairy maids taking flight from them, rapidly approaching the shrine maiden. 

They move not as a coordinated unit, but as a chaotic cluster, armed with all sorts of weaponry. Halberds and spears poke out above the heads of the fairy maids while swords are bashed against shields to steel their will and drive them forward. 

Chikara can even make out a handful of unfortunate fairy maids that are clutching not weapons, but brooms and mops, had they grabbed the wrong tool in the heat of the moment or was this all they had? Chikara didn't have much time to contemplate as the first fairies were already in range and opening fire, a barrage of danmaku and missiles of countless different natures flying towards the red and white intruder as a dozen or two fairy maids raise their tiny voices in a valiant battle cry "For the Scarlet Devil!"

[Chikara]: That's more like it~! Here we go!

The shrine maiden easily grazes through the fairies's attack, dashing left and right, before brandishing her purification rod, which is immediately put to use swatting aside a particularly brave (or stupid) fairy maid that had charged right at her in an attempt to slash her with a shamshir. Their comrade's demise only drives the remaining fairies forward as two more attempt to stab and strike at the shrine maiden, a knife and an axe swinging at Chikara, but the maiden remains calm, evading the two with ease before sending them after the first fairy with two well-aimed needles. 

[Chikara]: You gotta try more than just that, girls~.

Still, the onslaught had only just begun as more fairies descended upon the shrine maiden in a flurry of wings and weaponry. A mace, a scythe, a warpick. Their chaotic attacks fill the air with steel and magic, but Chikara was left largely unimpressed, silently wondering if these fairies had plundered a museum ahead of their advance. Her every movement was deliberate, her crimson-and-white robes flowing like water as she danced through the storm of metal. 

A flick of her wrist sends a talisman flying, embedding itself in the chest of an approaching fairy, who lets out a shriek before vanishing in a puff of smoke, her spear falling to the ground.

Undeterred, the remaining fairies press their assault, coming at her from all sides. One of them swings a massive war hammer, aiming to crush the intruder with its sheer weight. But the shrine maiden, with a subtle shift of her body, dodges the blow and watches in amusement as the fairy strikes the air, losing her balance and plummeting down towards the floor as she refuses to let go of her precious great hammer. What they lacked in competence, they certainly made up for in fighting spirit.

[Chikara]: For a bunch of fairy maids, you’re very determined to beat me down…~.

Despite the mounting losses, the fairies showed no signs of retreating, advancing stalwartly against the shrine maiden, even as Chikara effortlessly dispatched them one after the other. Still, her instincts cried out at her that there was something wrong, but it couldn't be these weakling fairies, after all she didn't even have to pay them much attention to fend them off. Her gaze wandered across the hallway searching for the source of her gut feeling...some sort of enemy lying in waiting...but there was nothing. Could it really be these fairies?

[???]: VORWÄRTS, VORWÄRTS!

[Hansel Gretel ENTERS]

Fairy of Armory

Hansel Gretel

[ BGM: Mermaid from the Uncharted Land ]

[MINI-BATTLE START]

Many, many Reinforcement...

The sharp orders tore through the hallway, snapping Chikara out of her thoughts as she whirls around to face its origin and there she was, a black short-haired  fairy hovering above the rabble. Her four wings flattering wildly, struggling to keep her in the air as she carried a massive metal pipe underneath her arm. Her face was obstructed by a metallic mask, her breathing slow and deliberate, a rhythmic hiss followed by a deep, mechanical exhale through the mask's filters. 

The shrine maiden was quickly made to realize the purpose of her words as well as a group of fairy maids had enveloped her, charging her now from all sides.

A quick strike eliminated two of them, but there were simply too many and their attacks were no longer mindless and desperate attempts to strike her down, but instead appeared shockingly coordinated, each strike forcing Chikara to evade into a less advantageous position. 

The shrine maiden grit her teeth, having long realized what was going on, she knew that her only chance was to overwhelm the fairies and blast her way back to freedom, but it was already too late as she heard an odd, electronic jingle. Four red lights were cast upon the shrine maiden's face as she turns to face the 4 barrels of two shotguns held up by a clearly over encumbered little fairy with a blunt hair.

[Remi Gauge ENTERS]

Point-Blank Sharpshooting Fairy 

Remi Gauge

[Chikara]: Sugar honey iced tea…

[Remi]: Hasta la vista!

Remi pulled the trigger to shoot Chikara, but the shrine maiden's quick reflexes kicked in as she quickly barrel rolled away from being shot in the face, and she went ahead to disarm the fairy's weapon with a roundhouse kick on the wrist, making the fairy maid drop both her double-barrelled shotguns on the floor, Remi staggering a bit by the kick, before pulling out a handgun to try to shoot her down, but Chikara charges at her as she evades the bullet by dashing left and right; this causes her to panic because of the approaching red and white intruder, so she tries to flee, but it is too late because the fairy maid's face is decked by the shrine maiden's powerful fist, which sends her crashing against the wall, knocking her unconscious.

[Remi Gauge DEFEATED]

[Chikara]: Hasta la vista, you dumb fairy~! …What does that even mean?

Chikara was about to wonder about the meaning of the first word she just said, but then Hansel’s sharp exclamation rang out across the hallway.

[Hansel]: ACHT, ACHT!!!

That doesn't sound good  for Chikara, and there was a booming sound as if something was being fired, indicating... an attack! This prompted the shrine maiden to attempt a quick dodge, but her dodge was slightly delayed, and she was soon blasted away by a massive powerful explosion.

[Chikara]: Aaaarrghhh!!!

Chikara was sent sliding across the floor as she suffered scratches and bruises from the blast radius, her clothes torn and slightly scorched by the explosion's heat. 

She let out a pained groan as she got up from the floor; she looked over to see who was her attacker; it was Hansel attacking her because she could see smoke coming out of that metal pipe that the masked fairy was holding underneath her arm. Hansel orders the herd of fairy maids to standby as she lands in front of them, and she speaks out to Chikara with a very serious tone.

[Hansel]: In the name of the Scarlet Devil, I ask you to surrender now, Eindringling! 

[Chikara]: Not bad~, not bad at all…but I won’t surrender right now, because it's my turn!!

Chikara would soon pick herself back up, brushing off her possible burns and returning to the air. Hansel was fumbling around with the weapon trying to fire it again, but it seemed to have jammed after the first shot, clicking noises audible in Hansel's direction. The armory fairy ordered the block to take off once again in a rush after seeing Chikara's recovery.

[Hansel]: Dummkopf, get that red-white!!!

Hansel huffed, their loud voice echoing off the mansion walls.

Then, the shrine maiden threw her gohei towards the block like a boomerang. The purification stick spun, and spun... One of the lower fairies got distracted for a moment by the spin before getting back in line, charging towards Chikara again.

Soon, Chikara herself began to move in a diving somersault motion, trying to keep up with the gohei. The shrine maiden and the fairy block charged at high speed...

...There was a few seconds where all suddenly fell silent, as everyone involved was floating in mid-air.

Hansel's weapon finally unjammed, right as Chikara was about to make contact with the block. They fired, another ear-splitting boom sounding off.

...but they whiffed, an explosion soon blasted a hole into a wall close to where the shrine maiden once was. Then Chikara's gohei - and soon Chikara herself - slammed into the fairy block, the shrine maiden and her gohei comboing off each other. 

Fairies went soaring. Most of the block fell to the floor at terminal velocity (being lightweight has its disadvantages), unable to regain balance, and the rest had all been thrown backward into walls.

Hansel too, was hit, though they were not immediately knocked out, as Remi was. Their weapon went flying, lodging itself high up within one of the walls.

[Chikara]: Well, how's that, little fairy~?

Chikara boasted - not really knowing what a gun was, she used the closest thing she knew for sure - as she looked toward the still-standing Hansel as well as the knocked-out Remi. 

[Chikara]: Without your silly weapons~... you're d-

Chikara's tendency for overconfidence had struck at the most inopportune time. Hansel had picked themselves back up and slammed a couple punches to the face into the inattentive shrine maiden. Chikara would have the wind knocked out of her, but she recovered quickly, kicking the armory fairy away.

This kick would, at last, give Chikara an opportunity to end this fight. The shrine maiden wielded a handful of 'persuasion' needles, allowed Hansel to approach one last time, then she tossed them all at the armory fairy.

This ended things rather quickly, several needles would hit some part of Hansel, and the fairy quickly gave in, falling to the floor in pain.

[Hansel Gretel DEFEATED]

[Hansel]: Aughhhhhh! Damn it!!

[Chikara]: Ooooww… I didn’t see that coming, but that was a good punch!

A door on the other side of the hallway flung open as a blonde fairy maid with pair of fluffy wings coming out from there, holding a gun that was way bigger than the fairy itself, and it has multiple barrels, which look like it can shoot multiple bullets.

[Tina Flavor ENTERS]

[Chikara]: Ah, shit. 

[Hansel]: That is our final line of defense…urgh…

That is the last thing Hansel would say before succumbing to her injury and passing out on the floor. Chikara takes a defensive stance, preparing herself for one heck of a battle coming toward her.

Fairy of Tea

Tina Flavor

[Tina]: I promised Cirno-chan to come home! 

The multi-barreled weapon begins to spin, and a flurry of bullets fires out of the barrel, threatening to strike Chikara.

[Chikara]: Ah crap!

Chikara quickly sprints away from the attack as multiple bullet holes appear on the hallway wall, but Tina continues her attack by moving and turning the weapon to keep track of Chikara while the flurry of bullets continues to be fired from the barrels. 

Chikara appears to be at a disadvantage because she mostly fights in close combat, and if she tries getting closer to the fairy firing range, it would turn her into shredded cheese.

...Realizing this, Chikara seemed to panic a bit. At this point, she didn’t really have any good long-range attacks at the ready. Diving for cover behind a wooden chest, she tossed up a singular copy of her Yin-Yang orb, throwing it behind her towards Tina. However, this was easily avoided, and the minigun fairy soon advanced on her location.

[Tina]: And I haven’t heard from her all day!

[Chikara]: She wouldn’t let us by!

[Tina]: Then I’ll get you!

Splinters of wood began to fly off the chest, and the shrine maiden began scurrying away. She turned one corner, then another. Tina was never far behind, and the weapon she held hadn’t seemed to have skipped a beat, firing all the while. 

Chikara was mostly looking backward to keep an eye on the incoming bullets. As a result, she was unable to spot a rotting wooden support that was up ahead in her travel path, and slammed through it at top speed. While Chikara wasn’t as fast as Thalassa, the beam was so worn down that the collision shattered it into pieces. 

One shattered section of wood ended up striking Chikara in the shoulder - and staying there. The shrine maiden gritted her teeth, in a bit of pain, but the adrenaline was enough to let her ignore it for now. Tina made haste and kept following her opponent, grazing her a few times.

[Tina]: Stay still!!!

Chikara was in too much of a hurry to respond. She was in some kind of large room with a tiled floor now, and while the shrine maiden may have wanted to stop and look around, she didn’t have the time! Zig-zagging to try and avoid the bullets, she spotted a bunch of support beams, which were holding up an overlook platform. In a rush, Chikara sprinted to that part of the room, then dodged left and right to avoid running into more wooden support beams.

Tina chased after the shrine maiden, continuing to fire the weapon. Aiming at Chikara, the bullets made their way towards her but several support beams got in the way. Like the earlier one Chikara had run through, these beams were old and rotting - and just a few bullets were enough to tear them apart. The flying wood pieces created a bit of distraction - enough for the shrine maiden to find cover again, behind a rather large organ piano.

Tina kept firing, huffing about in search of Chikara. One beam after another would break into bits.

Chikara had seemingly ran herself into a corner, as the piano was in the corner of the room. Tina soon spotted Chikara and made a beeline towards her.

It was at this moment that a loud crack sounded from above. Both the fairy and the shrine maiden instinctively looked up to see what caused the noise. It turned out that enough structural supports had been snapped - mostly from Tina’s weapon - that the entire balcony began to fall down, collapsing on top of the two.

Ducking under the organ piano, Chikara was crouched down to fit underneath the keys, to the point that her head was seated between her legs. Tina was not so lucky, and a giant section of balcony fell on top of her. The weapon fell silent - Chikara had survived.

[Tina Flavor DEFEATED]

[ BGM: Haze Castle ~ Phantom ROAD ]

Slowly, Chikara climbed out from under the piano. She stepped her way through the wreckage, breathing heavily.

[Chikara]: Haah… Haah… That was close! I thought I was a goner~.

Chikara dusted her clothes from all of that dust flying everywhere; now that the small fry is dealt with, she would be able to look around the room she was in now. 

[Chikara]: Now then, what is this room anyway? This place is one big empty room…

The room in question is a massive room with a black and white tile floor, and it stands out compared to the hallway she was flying down just now. On each side of the room are stained glass with a vampire image, which is pretty creepy… But, it does give her some idea that the mistress is a fancy type..

[Chikara]: This place gives me a creep…I had to hurry and find the exit, so I can return to Thal-chan!

As Chikara was about to continue on her journey, a sequence of missiles coming at the shrine maiden's direction made her survival instinct kick in as she quickly leapt away for the missiles to explode on the floor upon impact, causing pieces of the floor to fly everywhere. She landed safely with her hand on the floor as she lifted her head to see who on earth just attacked her.

[Chikara]: Woah, okay, that was close…again…, okay, who the heck is in here? Come out and fight me!

A person descending to the floor as the enemy fired even more missiles at the shrine maiden; this prompted her to dash forward to evade the missiles, which hit the floor, causing an explosion from behind!

[Ruukoto ENTERS]

[???]: Aww… I miss the target!

[Chikara]: Seriously, do people here want to blow me up so badly? Actually wait, who are you?

[???]: Oh sorry, where are my manner~.

Ruukoto

Robot Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion

[Ruukoto]: My name is Ruukoto, I am the maid of “Lady Kurumi”, it is a pleasure to meet you~.

Ruukoto, the green-haired maid, bows down in a manner befitting a proper maid. She looks at Chikara with an innocent smile, straightens her torso, tilts her head to the side, and then apologizes softly.

[Ruukoto]: I had to apologize, as much as I like having guests in our mansion~, I must dispose of you, since you’re an intruder. *innocent*

Finishing her sentence with a simple threat in the most innocent way possible, this made Chikara to drop a sweat from her forehead.

[Chikara]: Jeez, that's just cold as ice… *sweatdrop*

[Ruukoto]: Order is order~, now prepare for your elimination, human~.

Ruukoto’s robotic hands retracted into the long sleeves and came out as a pair of rocket launchers coming out from the sleeves. She would point them at Chikara, as she is ready to dispose of her.

[ BGM: Broken Strawberry ShortCake ]

[Chikara]: Then in that case, I won’t be holding back, now~!

Chikara showed off a grin, as she palmed her fist into her hand as she prepared to engage in a fight with Ruukoto. She isn’t planning to lose against the enemy.

[Chikara]: I, Chikara Hakurei, will not lose this battle!

[Ruukoto]: I’ll not lose this dance. Launching!

[BATTLE START]

Ruukoto advanced first, a series of missiles being released from the launchers. Chikara dodged easily but the resulting explosion sent the shrine maiden skidding back a few feet.

Like Tina earlier, Ruukoto would not be an easy opponent to reach, though she would not react the same way as the fairy had... running off was not an option. Chikara would have to get closer, and try her best to dodge whatever came her way. 

The shrine maiden began moving in a circle, inching closer to the robo-maid, who responded in kind - following Chikara with near-pinpoint precision. She fired another missile ahead of Chikara’s circular path, but the shrine maiden suddenly jumped in the opposite direction, avoiding it cleanly.

Chikara continued moving in a circle around Ruukoto, with the robo-maid rotating in place to keep the shrine maiden in the line of fire. Abruptly, Chikara changed strategies when the shrine maiden suddenly charged at the robo-maid. Ruukoto reacted absurdly quickly, using the launcher to fire what amounted to a close-quarters explosion.

The shrine maiden dove down, trying her best to avoid being hit, but the explosion radius once again meant that she was thrown elsewhere... right towards the robo-maid!!

The explosion had caused Chikara to lose control of her movements and spiral, colliding with Ruukoto and sending the robo-maid backwards.

[Ruukoto]: Blasted...

Ruukoto recovered in seconds, in the middle of her sentence.

[Ruukoto]: ...so are you ready to meet the cold fires of rocketry, human!?

Four more guns emerged from Ruukoto’s shoulders, two on each side. They soon began firing non-explosive ammo, at a rate far faster than any prior weapon the shrine maiden had seen. Her human reflexes were only enough to avoid most of them. One or two bullets did strike the shrine maiden, ripping off a piece of the purple scarf she wore. These guns were definitely rocket propelled.

[Chikara]: Oh geez. If that’s how you wanna fight…!

Chikara threw up a wave of needles, which headed straight for Ruukoto at breakneck pace. Most missed, but a few landed inside Ruukoto’s left-side launcher, effectively preventing the robo-maid from using it. Another landed in the maid’s right leg - which she instinctively tapped off with her right arm/rocket launcher, lacking any sign of blood.

[Ruukoto]: That won’t work on a robot!

However, this gave Chikara just enough time to advance on the robo-maid again, throwing an uppercut that seemed to stun Ruukoto briefly. The shrine maiden took advantage of this, hitting Ruukoto a few more times, before the robo-maid was able to kick her leg out, pushing Chikara away.

Ruukoto let forth more missiles from the remaining functional launcher, sending the shrine maiden backwards and into a spin that ultimately deposited her right into a wall. The rocket-powered guns on the robo-maid’s shoulders then fired to Chikara’s left and right, limiting her movement.

At this point the shrine maiden had very few options left. But there was one more thing she could try...

[Chikara]: Okay… I might need to use this, right now.

Chikara grabbed her gohei, which had been attached to her pocket up until this point, and swung it around in a very specific pattern.

Ruukoto kept firing, from both the working launcher and from the rocket-propelled firearms - her stockpile of missiles and ammunition seemed endless. Chikara barely escaped one of the missile explosions before she completed the pattern she was attempting to convey.

Suddenly, a massive yin-yang orb appeared from behind Chikara - perhaps about twice her size. The orb began rolling towards the robo-maid, who attempted to fire at it with her rockets to try and break it into pieces. However, they had no effect, the rockets simply phased straight through. Ruukoto was quickly bowled over by the yin-yang orb. A loud crunch could be heard from under the orb as it bounced off the wall and came to a halt.

Ruukoto, again, picked herself back up, almost as quickly as the first time. A low droning noise began to sound as she did so, the noise seemingly coming from the robo-maid herself. A hatch soon opened up on her chest, and the low-pitched drone became a high-pitched screech. 

[Chikara]: Uh…that doesn’t sound good…

[Ruukoto]: Ruukoto…BEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAM!!!

An insanely wide laser ball appeared in front of Ruukoto - originating from that hatch - and it spread out in a cone, leaving almost no space to avoid it. Light beams and lasers appeared in place of the bullets and explosive rockets, going every which way. Darts came loose from the walls and flew in Chikara’s direction. 

Chikara could do little more but put all her effort into dodging, jumping around one beam, ducking under another, continuing to move while a wave of darts targeted the shrine maiden.

And the attack had seemingly shown no signs of stopping!

Muttering something under her breath, she kept dodging, nearly getting her outfit lit on fire as she grazed past the giant cone laser, as a tack struck her lower left arm in the process. Shaking it off, she moved past another line of beams.

Far behind the shrine maiden and robo-maid, something huge collapsed, making a tremendous noise as it crashed down onto the floor of the already-wrecked ballroom.

Chikara smelled something burning now, and it seemed to be in Ruukoto’s direction. Yet the attack kept going... and going... with tacks nearly hitting her head, and beams practically tearing the shrine maiden’s scarf to bits... until it suddenly stopped.

[Chikara]: Eh? What just happened…why did it stop- Oh.

[Ruukoto DEFEATED]

Smoke started pouring out of Ruukoto’s frame, who was lying face down, in the wreckage of the completely destroyed ballroom. The room was pretty messed up after Tina’s defeat, but the room after Ruukoto’s defeat was on a completely different level.

Chikara realized that Ruukoto had just over exhausted herself, to the point where she had straight-up fainted.

[Chikara]: Huh, she just got exhausted. Looks like I won~.

Chikara let out a big smile, before checking herself. Her clothes and even her favorite scarf is pretty torn off by the whole ordeal.

[Chikara]: Aw man…that is my favorite scarf! I suppose I should get Thal-chan to fix it when we are done with this. But, where is she-

As Chikara was just about to finish her sentences, a familiar voice called out her name..

[Thalassa]: Chika-chaaan! Where are you?!

The sound of Thalassa’s voice calling for her, slowly made Chikara smile even wider. She quickly gets out of the ballroom to find Thalassa wandering around looking for her, until the water witch spotted her.

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan!

[Chikara]: Thal-chan!

Both best friends ran in each other's direction as they embraced each other. They let out a laughter of joy, being happy that they are together again.

[Thalassa]: I’m so glad that we are together again!

[Chikara]: Thaaaal-chan…my scarf is torn off.

Thalassa noticed the terrible state of Chikara’s outfit, that including scratches and injury on her body, which is somehow much worse than what the witch had been through on her own. 

[Thalassa]: C-Chika-chan, are you okay? 

[Chikara]: Yeah…I’m fine! This is nothing! They can’t put me down that easily, hehehe~.

Despite Chikara’s worsened state, she does seem to be able to move around just fine, even after the fierce battle with Ruukoto that had ended only a couple minutes ago. 

[Chikara]: Now that we’re back…together, I don’t know we're gonna get out of this hallway, since it just keeps going endlessly!

[Thalassa]: Since I defeated the magician that lives in this mansion, who was using space-time magic to manipulate the mansion interior…

[Chikara]: Eeeeeh… huh?

[Thalassa]: Ahahaha, well it means we can actually reach the end of this hallway!

[Chikara]: Ooh, finally… So you mean to say that we’re getting closer to the culprit?

Thalassa nodded in response, and this made Chikara crack her knuckles with a determined-look on her face.

[Chikara]: I can’t wait to beat the culprit's ass and solve this incident once and for all! C’mon Thal-chan, let’s get this done!

[Thalassa]: Alright!

With that said, both the heroines have finally reunited. Flying down the long hallway, this incident, and the paths these two took to put an end to it, is about to come to a head...

Chapter Text

FINAL EPISODE: Rain of Blood over Elysium

THE HALLWAY OF THE SCARLET DEVIL MANSION

Chikara and Thalassa have finally arrived at the end of the halls, standing in front of a large grand, fancy double door with a design that provokes the sense of royalty…

[Thalassa]: This is it…lying beyond this door is our culprit.

[Chikara]: And the big boss is definitely waiting for us inside~. 

[Thalassa]: The mistress of this mansion, 

[Chikara]: I think one of the maids that I have a fight against called her “Lady Kurumi”? Which I assumed is her name.

Chikara said as she stepped forward to the large double doors, she stretched herself before she kicked the door hard, forcibly opening it wide.

When the doors open, illuminating some bit of light in what seems to be a dark room. 

[Chikara]: Oooookaayy…that is pretty dark inside.

[Thalassa]: I have a really bad feeling about this, Chika-chan…

[Chikara]: Heh! Don’t worry Thal-chan, we are in this together!

[Thalassa]: Well…we made this very far, let's end this parole once in for all!

Chikara let out a big grin, as she grabbed Thalassa by the hand and both of them entered the dark room…

As expected, it is quite dark—very dark to be exact; they can’t see the whole room; not even Thalassa’s magic is bright enough to illuminate a good portion of the room. Chikara just reminded her of the darkness around the forest that both her and Thalassa travel through, and how much she hated being unable to see things.

[Chikara]: Ugh…I can’t see a thing in this room! The next time I enter a dark place, I will make sure to bring a lantern…

Thalassa let out a giggle.

[Thalassa]: Oh Chika-chan-

Thalassa gets quickly cut off by the doors suddenly shutting close by themselves, which makes both heroines yell in surprise. This makes the two turn their backs to see that the light that shines from the doors is now gone; they are trapped. 

Realizing the situation, they both say an appropriate response to this.

[Chikara & Thalassa]: Crap.

A clap can be heard reverberating in the darkness, and will-o'-wisps materialized in front of the heroines, surprising them both. They then fanned out to light a fire on what appeared to be a torch, and as each torch was ignited, the dark room progressively became more visible.

They can make out the intricacies of the area they are now in; this was no regular dark room; it was a vast throne room with an elegant design. The entire space is completely illuminated, and a long bright red carpet stretches across the floor.

At the other end of the room was the throne itself. A very formally-dressed woman stands up from the throne, holding a wine glass in her left hand. She laughs a bit, stretching her other arm out and taking a sip out of the glass, before beginning to speak to the two protagonists, slowly advancing towards them all the while.

[ BGM: IaMP Pre-Battle - Demonic Place ]

[???]: So... what do you think of my mansion?”

[Chikara]: I say it was nice until one of your maids, especially that green-haired one, tried to blow me up!

[Thalassa]: It felt very grand and such, especially the library. But I am concerned for Tom-san’s health…

The lady laughs for a moment, before regathering and introducing herself.

The Eternal Scarlet Moon

Kurumi Scarlet

[Kurumi]: Ahahaha... she is often a bit too focused on her duties, isn’t she? And that witch is such a shut-in. But where are my manners... Yes, I am Kurumi Scarlet...

Kurumi continues to speak, giving Chikara and Thalassa a better glimpse of the glass. It clearly had something red in it, but the liquid was too thick to be wine.

[Kurumi]: ...and as you could guess, I am a vampire... and the Mistress of this Mansion.

The wings on Kurumi’s back extended out gradually as she spoke.

[Chikara]: Eugh.

Chikara was more grossed out from the blood than from Kurumi herself.

[Kurumi]: Is that any way to talk to a vampire, or the head of a Mansion?

The shrine maiden just rolled her eyes in response, mumbling something along the lines of “C’mon, vampy”.

[Thalassa]: *sweatdrop* Chika-chan, please...

[Thalassa]: Tom-san told me after our battle that while they were the one keeping the mist up, you were ultimately responsible for it.

Kurumi closes her eyes briefly, nodding in confirmation.

[Kurumi]: Of course. I take it you two have come to put a stop to this wonderful fog?

[Chikara]: What else would we be here for!?”

[Kurumi]:  Very well. Let me show you what you will be up against.

Kurumi walks back, and presses a button on the side of her throne. Soon, the entire room began to rise, into the skies of Gensokyo. 

The room continues to lift up, heading into the clouds, showing no signs of stopping.

Thalassa looked off the edge of the rising platform, but it had risen to the point where the forest and lake they had passed by earlier today were no longer visible, through the thick fog.

The platform suddenly came to a screeching halt. A startled Chikara made a quick hop to stay upright. The skies were a brilliant orange, mixing with the scarlet mist that had plagued the lands all day.

Remarkably, the sun seemed to be undergoing an eclipse at this very moment - only the outer ring of the sun was visible.

[Kurumi]: Now... if you end up defeating me, I will direct Tom to halt the mist immediately. If I beat you two... Well, I don’t think I’ll be elaborating any further. Do we have an agreement?

The two look at each other, before nodding. 

[Chikara]: Well I say that a good deal!

[Thalassa]: Yes, we do and we won’t lose this fight, Kurumi-san!

Kurumi seemed to be satisfied by the answer from the two as she raised her cup of blood upright, crushing the glass into pieces with her bare hand, which caused her palm to bleed profusely from the sharp glass shard jabbing on her palm.

But this doesn't seem to faze her at all, because the blood would begin to move around elegantly around her palm. It forms a shape that resembles that of a sword, before blood splashes out everywhere, revealing the sword's deep red, exquisite form. This is her weapon, Excalibur. 

The vampire mistress unfurled her bat-like wings, executed a swift curtsy, and ascended into the air with the deep red moon as her backdrop. 

She pointed the Excalibur at the heroines.

[Kurumi]: Looks like it's going to be a fun night~

[ BGM: Septette for the Dead Princess (IaMP Ver) ]

[BATTLE START]

Kurumi begins her first attack with a simple, flashy danmaku pattern as she fires two single bullets which explode into a wall explosion of bullets, along with an additional ​​omnidirectional of white bullet. The attack is a little tricky to avoid due to the omnidirectional bullet, but they easily avoid it by moving from the bottom. 

This attack repeated at least 2 times before Kurumi pulled out her first spell card.

“Heaven’s Punishment ~ Star of David”

Kurumi’s first spell card would consist of a sequence of red lasers. Blue bullets would spawn out where the red lasers made turns, arcing into a few unique circular patterns - surrounded by the lasers, forming a star pattern. Larger red sphere bullets would spawn around the lasers as well. These bullets would move rather randomly.

This was a fairly basic pattern for anyone that had experience with more dense danmaku waves - which Chikara and Thalassa had in spades - and was clearly one of Kurumi’s weaker attacks. The randomly-moving bullets would sometimes give the two heroines a scare, but both were able to avoid being hit once.

A well-timed scattering of ofuda and water spheres sent the vampire back, as she threw out her second attack.

[Kurumi]: GRK! Not bad, humans!

Kurumi's next attack is the same from the initial attack, but once the bullet explodes on the right, the wall explosion bullet starts bouncing around the room. Which causes the two having a bit of difficulty to dodge and one of the bullets would end up hitting the back of Chikara's head. 

[Chikara]: OW! Okay, this is just getting annoying!

The shrine maiden was quickly annoyed by this, so she destroyed the bullet with a powerful punch, and Thalassa followed suit with her own attack by a barrage of water missiles, completely destroying them all before laying the attack on Kurumi, who she quickly shields with Excalibur.

Kurumi clicked her tongue in annoyance as she took out her second spell card and declared it aloud!

“Scarlet-Red Shooter”

This spell card featured walls of danmaku phasing through the sides of the throne room, converging on the heroines - Chikara seemed to be getting targeted more than Thalassa with this one - before each bullet dissipated in an explosion. Kurumi also tossed out some large purple and red bullets, both of which would be flying outward in five different directions. When the purple bullets struck the walls of the throne room, they would bounce off, spawning smaller red bullets which homed in on the two.

[Chikara]: Crap!

[Thalassa]: Eep!

This pattern was much more difficult, and some of the smaller bullets would catch Thalassa off guard, resulting in the magician being flung backwards... but fortunately not fast enough to destroy the wall, which would have sent Thalassa falling for quite a long time…

[Chikara]: Thal-chan! Damnit!

Chikara narrowly avoided being hit several times, the shrine maiden having to hurriedly swing her gohei in the air at times in order to graze past some of the patterns. The homing bullets forced Chikara to sidestep back and forth repeatedly, not allowing her to send many clean shots back at Kurumi.

It took a moment for Thalassa to recover, but she would soon start running back into the thick of the pattern, grasping onto her gem bracelet, drawing out power for her own attack...

...which was not a spell card. The water magician had summoned a water replica of Poseidon’s trident, as she had done earlier, but she either did not or could not make the danmaku portion of that card work (possibly due to the height, or perhaps the indoors nature of this particular area), instead solely relying upon the trident. 

[Thalassa]: Zeeyah!

Thalassa charged towards Kurumi, making quick jabs in the vampire’s direction as she approached, cutting through homing attacks and ducking under one of the bouncing purple bullets.

Kurumi likewise made a wide swing with Excalibur, which Thalassa barely parried, the sword inches away from the magician’s head. Another trident jab from Thalassa resulted in Kurumi having to jump, using her wings to float above the incoming weapon until Thalassa receded.

[Kurumi]: Fufufu~, too slow for an insolent girl. 

This seemed to tick Chikara off, the shrine maiden tossing an extra gohei at the vampire at high speed. The flying, spinning stick nearly hit Thalassa, but she moved out of its path in the nick of time, and Kurumi was hit right in the head. The hit caused the vampire to lose her balance, nearly falling to the floor, and halting her spell card in the process.

[Kurumi]: Grrk! That hurts…! Don’t think I will easily lose to a bunch of humans!

Resteadying herself, Kurumi - eventually - declared her third spell card.

“Scarlet Sign ~ Scarlet Meister”

This card began with rows of bullets, offset from each other, being fired straight ahead at rapid-fire speed. To Kurumi’s left and right, she formed spinning spirals of danmaku, which coalesced into cylindrical forms, then began moving, circling around the heroines before closing in on them from behind. 

Thalassa was able to handle this pattern much more gracefully, choosing to stick back and shift around as needed. However, the attack now threw Chikara off instead - misjudging an empty zone, she tried to squeeze through one of the gaps between the straight shots and the spinning spirals. At first, she was successful, but soon the shrine maiden found herself running out of space, taking a nasty hit. The resulting impact threw the shrine maiden towards one of the side walls. However, Chikara had enough of a mind to kick off the wall instead of just allowing herself to be slammed straight into it, and was able to call down her own card in mid-air.

[Chikara]: Taaakeee thiiisss!!!

“Dreamy Sign ~ Evil-Sealing Circle”

A ring of light bullets descended on Kurumi, followed by arc shots of ofuda from several different directions. The vampire was able to slip past a few, merely grazing past another ring, but she soon found herself trapped on the wall, and with nowhere to go, Kurumi was soon hit by ofuda from both sides as well as from head on.

[Kurumi]: Kyaaaaaarrggghhhh!!!

This sent the vampire screaming into the back corner of her own throne room, her spell card again coming to a screeching halt. Her wings found themselves jammed into the wall, as was her head. While it took little time for Kurumi to dislodge herself from the wall, she didn’t appear to make it out unscathed. One of her legs seemed a little wobbly, and crumbs of the wall were falling out of her hair. She lifted herself up with her wings, only to find that she could barely hover.

[Kurumi]: You... arrgh!

Kurumi spoke with a surprisingly shrill emotion. So much for being a mansion owner.

[Chikara]: *sweatdrop* Oi, is she throwing a temper tantrum?

[Thalassa]: *sweatdrop* I believe so…

[Kurumi]: Blasted humans! This isn’t over yet!! Auuuugh!!! Ruukie, get them!

[Chikara]: Aaaand she forgot that her trigger happy maid got knocked out.

She went on and on, acting more like a child than an ancient vampire, and started to descend the long, long route down back to the surface. Having little other choice, Chikara and Thalassa gave chase.

[ BGM: Arch Heaven ~ Spirit of Nagara ]

[Kurumi]: You’ll... you’ll... dang it!!!

Barely able to talk in complete sentences, she turned around to face the two heroines while still descending the stairwell, her heightened awareness as a vampire allowing her to do so with her back turned, without fear of running into the walls.

“Spell of Arthur ~ Excalibur”

Swinging her giant blood sword around at inhuman speeds, trails of danmaku spawned behind the sword, which first appeared motionless but soon accelerated to match the sword’s velocity. The sword itself easily breaks through the walls of the stairwell, rubble falling all the way down. 

The pattern would have been hard enough had this battle taken place while standing in one place, but having to chase after the vampire made it almost impossible... for those not named Chikara or Thalassa. The two squeezed through tiny gaps, inches away from being struck, grazing again and again. The spell card continued for a while, but eventually came to an end. 

“Forbidden Barrage ~ Ticking Telescope of Hourglass”

[Thalassa]: Forbid-

Thalassa was quickly cut off, Kurumi’s next pattern beginning in earnest. At first, the spell card seemed to be another variation of Scarlet-Red Shooter, with large purple danmaku bubbles bouncing off walls and generating more danmaku, but Kurumi complimented this by spawning additional obstacles, an arc of red bullets firing outward, homing towards Chikara and Thalassa.

Lastly, this spell card made use of what was known as the spinning laser strategy, spawning two magic circles following behind her. These circles generated four lasers each, one in each cardinal direction, and they spun in opposite directions - one clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. The enclosed space that the fight was now taking place in made this a much tougher spell card than Scarlet-Red Shooter, too.

Chikara avoids being hit by the pattern by slipstreaming between the red bullet arcs, and with heavy use of grazing, once even tumbling down the stairs to avoid the bulk of the danmaku, nearly running into the back of Kurumi in the process. However, Thalassa again gets caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting trapped by shots from all sides.

The subsequent knockback from all those danmaku bullets hitting the water magician at nearly the same time sends her flying off the edge, the side wall having been destroyed by Excalibur beforehand. The magician starts to freefall, in peril... and Chikara looks very irate.

[Chikara]: KURUMI SCAAAAAARLET!!

Gulping, Kurumi did her best to prepare for whatever the shrine maiden was about to throw at her.

“Spirit Sign ~ Hakurei Spiralling Burst Special”

Yin-yang orbs began to spin around Chikara’s wrists, and she soon made an uppercut motion with both of her fists. This spawned two more yin-yang orbs - which were far larger than the first two. These orbs themselves spawned three rings of danmaku ofuda, which begun to spiral and home in on the vampire. But she slipped through one, then another... then another... Even as the second wave of rings approached, she seemed like she would be able to avoid five more.

Now, it was seemingly Chikara’s turn to be knocked into freefall, when one of the small bullets grazed a little too close to the shrine maiden’s cheek.... and she did get knocked back... But Thalassa had recovered herself, flying back towards the pillar holding the stairwell up. She grasped onto her gem bracelet, declaring her spell card as she busted through the wall.

“Water Sign ~ Vortex Beam”

A giant beam of water flew in front of the magician, hitting Kurumi twice over as she tried to move out of the way. While the water wasn’t divine in any way, and thus didn’t serve as mortal danger to the vampire, she did get drenched from it. Kurumi was sent tumbling into the outside wall from the impact.

Thalassa’s rather dynamic re-entry had also prevented Chikara from flying off the pillar. Striking the shrine maiden from behind, Chikara’s momentum was now sent the other way - also straight into Kurumi (and the wall).

Kurumi slowly dragged herself away from Chikara, picking herself back up off the ground. The latter had been trying desperately to stick one of her persuasion needles into a leg of the former while they were down, yet the vampire’s leg was just too shaky and the shrine maiden missed every time.

“Scarlet Sign ~ Four of a Kind”

Kurumi spawned three clones of herself. Each clone began to shoot their own danmaku patterns, each in a somewhat different rhythm and style - but all of the clones’ danmaku simply flew outward, not even attempting to target Chikara and Thalassa. The real Kurumi fired three quick rings of bright blue danmaku, targeting each ring at where the two had been, pausing between each cycle.

The cloned danmaku was something of a distraction, but both the shrine maiden and magician were able to avoid being hit rather easily. One of the clones had managed to fall apart before Kurumi’s spell card ended, and it dropped a strange-looking object which resembled a wing. Thalassa quickly dove down to snatch it, sticking it in her back pocket before continuing.

Four of a Kind was a lengthy spellcard, and by the time it ended, the fight had already moved through the clouds. Chikara hadn’t really seen it, but Thalassa had, thanks to being knocked into freefall earlier.

[Kurumi]:  “...This is it! This fight ends... right here!! KYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Spell of the Countess ~ Scarlet Nihility”

With a maniacal laugh, Kurumi once again begun to swing her blood sword around wildly, danmaku spawning in lines where the blade had been, while also spawning in a new set of clones, and setting up those bouncing bullets that gave Thalassa so much trouble.

But this time, she was ready, as was Chikara. Diving through the blade’s danmaku, grazing past the small bullets that the bouncers had generated. The magician thought she had this fight finished, with one final push...

“Rainy Season”

...Thalassa raised up her hand, calling out the name of a card that even Chikara had not heard of before. This was an instinctual card, one that came about in the midst of a fight. In this case, the magician had thought up this card based on one of Meiling’s own spell cards. A spinning wheel of shard danmaku rose above the magician at high speed and gradually expanded outward. When it reached Kurumi, the danmaku began to pour down, as if it was one of the heavy rainstorms that rolled through Thalassa’s usual whereabouts from time to time.

All this, only for Kurumi to be... completely unaffected. 

[Thalassa]: ...I should have seen that coming. Chika-chan, don’t worry about hitting her, we gotta stall!

[Chikara]: Ah? Well, okay then if you say so, Thal-chan!

Scarlet Nihility was among the highest level spell cards that had been designed under the Spell Card Rules, and thusly was defined as a timeout card. Kurumi was effectively invincible for the duration, but if she didn’t knock out the heroines before the card ended, the vampire was as good as toast. Timeout cards always lasted for 99 seconds... that’s how long they had to hold out.

But this vampire seemed to be losing it, as her motions continued to get more exaggerated as the spell card ticked down. The danmaku accelerated even faster, the more random aspects of the bouncing became even less predictable.

75 seconds.

Ducking under the swinging blade, Chikara narrowly dodged two cylindrical beams - like from Scarlet Meister - before getting back to solid ground. Thalassa barely avoided being squished by the danmaku pouring out of the walls, but had to back up to do so.

60 seconds.

While Kurumi herself was invincible, her summoned clones were not so. One by one they began to crumple, dropping more wing-like objects. The magician was too busy dodging danmaku to pick them up this time, though. As the clones dissipated, Kurumi summoned a new set to replace them, and the danmaku they shot resumed with haste.

45 seconds.

[Kurumi]: KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!... won’t you two just go down already... for good!?

[Chikara]: Oh, she has gone coo-coo now!

The spell card intensified further, while Kurumi’s sanity seemed to be slipping. More bouncing spawners, faster swinging, faster everything. Much like what Meiling had done with the shrubs at the front gate, Kurumi formed some laser danmaku along the walls of the stairwell, limiting the heroines’ range of motion. 

The vampire held her hand up, and soon a second sword - colored blood-red, just like the first - appeared in that hand. 

She started swinging both swords at once, showing no visible difficulty in doing so. The outer walls began to collapse thanks to the two swords ripping through them, revealing the rapid descent this fight had undertaken.

30 seconds.

Kurumi’s eyes were always red... but now they looked blood-shot. She fired two bright red beams, one targeting Chikara and the other targeting Thalassa. The shrine maiden avoided her beam with relative ease, but Thalassa got a little too close, taking another hit.

This one didn’t send her flying, but it seemed to leave a mark, a red gash now running along the magician’s right cheek, where the beam grazed her. She briefly stopped moving, looking dazed from the hit, but recovered quickly, resuming the chase.

20 seconds.

A three-dimensional grid-like pattern of danmaku appeared around the two heroines, individual shots moving along the lines of the grid. The two did their best to avoid the grid pattern, but amidst everything else, the length of the fight was starting to get to them. Holding back a yawn, Thalassa grazed past the lasers, still delineating where the wall used to be. 

Chikara was nearly bowled over by one of the bouncing danmaku generators, but avoided being hit by perhaps only a few hair strands’ worth of distance.

15 seconds.

Kurumi, rather abruptly, stopped swinging the two swords around, while the other parts of the attack went on without her. Putting her hands together, the vampire instead stacked them on top of each other, holding it with both hands as if it was one giant sword. One of them began to glow in a bright red light, and seemed to fade away...

...the other sword suddenly became twice as long, nearly enough to reach the necks of Chikara and Thalassa. Amidst her maniacal laughter, she began to swing it with such fury that she would be sent flying from the sword’s apparent weight. The vampire’s first swing sent her in the air, heading for the shrine maiden and the magician.

[Kurumi]: HIYAHAAHAHAKAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAA!!! Just... DIEEEEEEEEE!!!

10 seconds. 

Chikara dove down to avoid the swing, while Thalassa hugged the wall. This only seemed to enrage the vampire further, and Kurumi, looking more pale than ever, charged again, aiming for the shrine maiden in particular, who began to back up, climbing the stairs to escape the sword’s wide swing... but she couldn’t climb fast enough. The sword made contact with the shrine maiden’s lower right arm, making a slice up that arm before finally receding, nearly reaching Chikara’s right shoulder.

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan!

[Chikara]: I’ve withstood worse!

The shrine maiden let out a smirk, as she slides down the stairwell, to Thalassa... who now stared down Kurumi. The magician summons her trident once more, hoping it could withstand whatever that sword had turned into.

5 seconds.

Kurumi made one last-ditch charge, at the last opponent standing: Thalassa. Jabbing forward, the sword and the trident clashed, a metallic noise ringing up and down the stairwell. The sword seemed to overpower the trident, and the magician changed stances in response. Holding her trident up on top of her head, the blood-red sword came mere inches from striking Thalassa’s head, sharp point first…

But the spell card’s timer had expired. The danmaku surrounding this battle of weapons disappeared in a flash, Kurumi seemed to lose a lot of color, her sword shrunk down until it completely vanished, and the vampire seemed to expire alongside the spell card, nearly collapsing. Kurumi stood motionless, appearing to have had the life sapped out of her.

Chikara, bloodied, stood back up, having an array of needles and ofuda in the gaps between her fingers. She then threw the hand holding the needles into Kurumi’s shoulder. The resulting impact caused the vampire to collapse entirely, falling down and tumbling down the stairs.

[Kurumi Scarlet DEFEATED]

[ BGM: An Eternity that is More Transient than Scarlet ]

The sunlight shone down through the sky, and the scarlet mist began to clear away, revealing the blue sky.

Chikara and Thalassa softly landed on the ground, they looked very torn up and bloodied, covered head to toe with injury, right after dealing with a very intense battle…

[Thalassa]: Ah? It seems like the sky becomes clearer after we defeat her.

[Chikara]: I guess she did keep her deal after all.

As the heroines talk, they would look over Kurumi’s unconscious body laying on the ground. She looks just as torn up as the shrine maiden and magician had been over the course of the day. Thalassa would check on Kurumi to see if the vampire is okay. She has a pulse, but is unconscious.

[Thalassa]: Okay good, Kurumi-san is just unconscious…

[Chikara]: I’ll say, she is a pretty good fighter! Even though she went a little coo-coo at the end…

[Thalassa]: Chika-chaaaaan……

[Chikara]: Alright, alright! Sorry…should we help her?

[Tom]: I’ll take it from here.

Tom appeared rather suddenly, descending to the ground in the space between the heroines. Thalassa is actually happy to see the magician again, and Chikara is moreso shocked at just how short they are.

[Thalassa]: Tom-san!

[Chikara]: (Woah, they’re really short…)

Tom looks over the two heroines, seeing their scrapes and injuries, then back at Kurumi’s limp body again.

[Tom]: Ah, greetings, Thalassa, and you as well, who I assume to be the shrine maiden friend of Thalassa’s... I came here to pick up Kurumi, as I do have the duty of taking care of her when she is unable to. I suppose that battle must have taken a lot out of you two... and her, from what I can see. Looks like she fainted from draining her blood too quickly... thankfully, she is merely unconscious.

[Thalassa]: Yeah, I was worried about her…

[Chikara]: Hehehe, seems like she’s a lot tougher than she looks~.

Tom uses their telekinesis to carefully lift Kurumi’s limp body in the air. Given Kurumi’s relative size, Tom couldn’t really carry her, at all.

[Tom]: I believe this is where we bid farewell to each other. You two take care of yourselves.

Tom says goodbye to the two heroines, as they head back to the mansion with Kurumi's floating body following behind them. The two would let out a sigh of relief that the incident was finally over.

Chikara stretched her body up as she needed that after everything she had been through during the whole journey.

[Chikara]: Puuwah~... finally... it's finally over for good~.

[Thalassa]: Yeah… I won’t lie… we've been through quite a lot, huh…?

[Chikara]: Yep. Despite all the crazy stuff that happened to us, it was a lot more fun than I thought I would’ve had.

[Thalassa]: *sweatdrop* I wouldn’t exactly call our near-death experience “fun”, Chika-chan……

[Chikara]: Hehehehe… I guessed so~.

After they finished their little banter, Chikara would carry Thalassa on her back as the shrine maiden wanted to go back together. The two would make their way out of the mansion, heading back outside, and taking to the skies, following the path back to the Hakurei Shrine from above.

The sun would rise up over the horizon and lighten up all of Gensokyo…

Chapter Text

EPILOGUE

HAKUREI SHRINE

[ BGM: Walking a Road that Ends in Futility ]

The Shrine, early summer...

Nothing but the sounds of bugs were apparent, with the Shrine being as barren as it usually was. 

[Chikara]: Summer... nothing quite like it... 

The shrine maiden lets out a groan. She does not like summer, at all. Too hot, too humid, and the only visitors she’d get were ones she didn’t want. Like today!

[Thalassa]: Cheer up Chika-chan. This weather will pass, you know~?

[Chikara]: Sure, but... oh, look who decided to show up...

[Kurumi]: With a shrine maiden like this, no wonder this place doesn’t get any visitors.

Chikara just rolls her eyes.

[Kurumi]: When the sun gets low, you know what I’d do, is go down and tell some stories... late in the evening, starting a fire...

[Thalassa]: Ooh, that sounds fun! Though maybe away from the trees, I’d have no fun if I was spraying down the trees all night...

[Chikara]: If only this stinkin place had any people that came to visit! *glare*

[Kurumi]: Well, aren’t I-

[Chikara]: No. And how come you’re out here in the baking heat? Weren’t you vampires weak to sunlight?

[Kurumi]: Parasol. *waves it back and forth*

[Chikara]: So what was that mist even for then!?

[Thalassa]: Come to think about it…what was it even for?

[Kurumi]: ...The mist... the sunlight still gets to me, even with the parasol.

At this answer, Chikara and Kurumi charge at each other, though without having their tools with them, the best either can do to the other is some grabbing. Chikara fumbles around with the parasol but can do little more than let a little more sunshine reach the vampire.

[Chikara]: You could use a little sunlight... you look awfully pale!

[Kurumi]: It’ll vaporize me before it gives me any sort of tan.

The light of the sun begins to fade out, though sunset is hours away.

[Thalassa]: Eh? Look, the lights are dimming!

Chikara and Kurumi both do a double take, noticing the suddenly dimmer sun - getting even darker in a hurry.

[Chikara]: Hey, are you doing that?

[Kurumi]: No, no, no! That is not my doing!

[Chikara]: If that wasn’t you….then who…?

Somewhere in the Forest of Magic…as a blond-haired female with dark “wings” sprouting out like a tree branch, looking at the fainted sunlight with her arm spread wide, smiling across her face.

"Ahahahahahaha…..HAHAHAHAHAHAHA……..KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHHH!!!"

Back at the Shrine, Kurumi now looks insulted, Chikara sounds rather frustrated at having to deal with another troublesome pest, and Thalassa still seems confused.

[Kurumi]: Back in the day... long before my mansion was brought into Gensokyo... the humans called me “Lady of the Scarlet Night”. 

Kurumi gestures to the ever-dimming sun as she talks.

[Kurumi]: So I’m gonna show whoever’s done this, why that title is still alive and well!

SEE YOU IN THE EXTRA STAGE…

Chapter Text

EXTRA EPISODE: The True Meaning of Darkness

HAKUREI SHRINE ROAD

[ BGM: Burning of the Little Birds' Black Wings ]

Chikara, Thalassa and Kurumi had been flying for quite a long time, following the near-endless cobblestone path of the Hakurei Shrine Road. They were out to find, and stop, the culprit that engulfed the sun with darkness…

[Chikara]: Okay so, we got another problem in our hands… Who on earth is doing this?!

[Thalassa]: That's the thing, we don’t even know who or what is doing this, so that why we are out here to find the source of this!

[Chikara]: You know this darkness smells awfully familiar…

Chikara recounts both her and Thalassa's encounter with a youkai with the power of darkness that took place in the darkness-coated Forest of Magic.

[Chikara]: …Nah, that can’t possibly be her… can’t it?

[Kurumi]: Who are you talking about?

[Thalassa]: Not too long after we had set off to your mansion, we met this little youkai who could control darkness. She was rather weak and we disposed of her pretty fast.

Kurumi just tilted her head in confusion. She didn’t seem to see any connection between the current situation they were dealing with, and this little youkai they brought up. In the vampire’s mind, there was no way such a youkai could generate something of this level, if Chikara and Thalassa had dealt with them quickly the first time.

[Chikara]: I have my doubts, but maybe they found something that strengthened their abilities?

[Thalassa]: That could be a possibility, Chika-chan, but we can’t be too sure if this is the same youkai before…

A familiar noise sounded, in the midst of darkness...

[???]: KYAHAHAHAHAHA...!

The eyes of the magician and the shrine maiden widened, hearing that same high-pitched laugh again. Thalassa looked stunned.

[Thalassa]: No way. It’s her.

[Chikara]: You gotta be kidding me right now…? 

It seems like Chikara’s hunch was correct this time, the familiar smell of the darkness, and now the laughter that just echoes in the midst of darkness? 

It really is her…

[Kurumi]: Then come on out, youkai of darkness! 

A giggle follows after Kurumi’s demand. 

[???]: With pleasure~.

[Rumia ENTERS]

Delusive Youkai of Dusk

Rumia

[Rumia]: Hellooo there you two, we meet again!

[Thalassa]: I-it really is the same youkai before…

[Rumia]: ...Magician... you thought that you and your shrine maiden friend had put me down... that could not have been further from the truth! Is that fear I hear from you~?

[Chikara]: But how the hell are you even doing all of this?! Ain’t you just a weak youkai that we just dispatched?

[Rumia]: Here is the truth, shrine maiden, that whole display back then was just a fake, an act if you will say~.

[Kurumi]: Listen, youkai. I had a certain title, back in the day, and I do not intend to give it up! My powers over darkness far surpass yours! I am the Lady of the Scarlet Night!

Then there was a moment of silence…..until that silence was broken, as Rumia began laughing hysterically.

[Rumia]: PFFTTTTHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAKYAHAHAHAHAHAMHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! You gotta be joking with me~.♪ 

[Rumia]: What makes you think your power over “darkness” could surpass the embodiment of darkness itself? KAYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *snort* BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Kurumi let out an irritated growl at Rumia’s mocking tone. Chikara then pointed her finger at the youkai, demanding some kind of explanation.

[Chikara]: Okay…let's just cut to the chase, why are you doing all of this?

[Rumia]: …Oh why~? Just creating even more chaos for my own amusement~. This current day is lacking a lot of chaos and I’ll make sure to create more chaos!

[Chikara]: ...Geez, what a troublesome youkai. We beat you down once before, we’ll do it again!

[Thalassa]: We’ll not let you cause all of this, for your sick, twisted idea of entertainment!

[Kurumi]: I suggest we should bash her down to the pits of hell!

Three of them brandished their weapons, and got into a stance to prepare for a fight.

[Rumia]: Hell? Hell, you say? That’s where you’ll be going once I beat you three to a pulp- No…BISECTED ALL OF YOU!

[ BGM: MO-NA-D-1 ~ Memory Pursuit ]

[SURVIVE.]

Rumia, no longer satisfied by mere words, folded her arms together, and charged the trio.

“Pitch Dark Spark”

Rumia fired four beams, all of them absurdly wide. After the initial set faded, Rumia fired more beams, changing each set’s targets to form a checkerboard-like pattern. 

Behind the darkness youkai, blades spawned in, and flew at high speed towards the trio at random angles. The blades were seemingly made of concentrated darkness, as they were nearly impossible to see. Spiral danmaku spawners flanked Rumia’s left and right, making the attack even tougher to avoid.

[Kurumi]: Shrine maiden, can you even see the attacks?

[Chikara]: Shut up vampy…, I can’t risk being hit here!

[Thalassa]: Be careful everyone, stay on your toes!

Kurumi could see Rumia’s projectiles better than the humans, being a creature of darkness herself. Chikara and Thalassa could just barely tell the difference between where the danmaku ended and the darkness began.

Kurumi avoided the attacks relatively cleanly, while Chikara barely grazed past them, and Thalassa got slashed in the shoulder by the edge of a blade.

[Thalassa]: ..Hrrgk!

As blood gushed from the wound, Thalassa winced in pain as a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. Instinctively, she started to cover her wound using her palm to slow down any blood loss, and hopefully ease the pain. Thalassa realized Rumia's attacks were extremely lethal, capable of severely injuring everyone involved throughout the fight. This is not good at all.

[Chikara]: Thal-chan! Are you okay?! Uwah!

Chikara yelped as she narrowingly dodge out of the way from Rumia’s projectile 

[Thalassa]: I-I am... I-I’ll be fine.

[Kurumi]: This attack is just plain inelegance...and utterly annoying.

Rumia suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, sending off her next named attack.

[Rumia]: Let's see if you enjoy my little friend~.♪

“Nocturnal Hunt”

Strange garbled noises began sounding in the area’s surroundings, and soon the sources revealed themselves: Flying creatures with razor sharp teeth.

[Chikara]: Crap, familiars!

A three dimensional grid of danmaku began to appear around the trio, boxing them in as the flying familiars made divebombs toward Chikara, Thalassa, and Kurumi, like that of eagles. While they were hard to see, they could be heard well in advance, so they were relatively simple to avoid. 

However, Rumia began throwing out arcs of bullets and a rotating beam as the spell went on, which nearly trapped Kurumi. Desperate to put a halt to this attack, the shrine maiden went to her primary counterattacking card.

[Chikara]: Take this~!

Spirit Sign “Fantasy Seal”

A fluttering of ofuda came flying in from the side, with six homing danmaku circles appearing soon after, closing in on Rumia. The darkness youkai avoided the ofuda fairly easily, but the homing danmaku was a different story. Hitting Rumia head-on, she was knocked back a bit, and a lot of the familiars dissipated after the hit, crumpling Rumia’s spell into a wet noodle. Withdrawing Nocturnal Hunt, Rumia seemed to change her tone, no longer sounding quite as calm and collected as she once did.

[Rumia]: Tch…don’t think you’ll make it out of this alive, all of you will soon burn in the pit of hell!

[Kurumi]: I don’t think we will, youkai. After all, like I said before, we’ll bashed you down to the pit of hell.

[Rumia]: Is that so vampire? Let's see how much weight you carry from those words alone…

Rumia wasted little time, however, and quickly resumed her attack.

“Foolhardy Courage”

This attack seemed much different than the prior two, even just from listening to the way Rumia had invoked the spell... as if it was not even her own. She sounded much darker, more ready to put her opponents down.

A sphere of red shade appeared around the darkness youkai, and she began to fire extremely quick-moving danmaku in all directions, the danmaku vaguely forming lines, and moving in a curved manner. 

Red lights appeared to Rumia’s left and right. These lights began rotating, in the direction of the trio, before giving way to beam shots, also colored red. Lastly, Rumia released six rows of dark blades, targeting each of her opponents one by one, cycling between them each time she fired. The blades could be dodged but were absurdly quick. 

Thalassa narrowly avoided being slashed up by the blades again, but Chikara and Kurumi both reacted too slow to the fast-moving danmaku, and were sent into trees. Upon seeing this, Rumia fired two extra blade rows, targeting the shrine maiden and vampire respectively.

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan, Kurumi-san!!

Thalassa reactively invoked one of her cards, seeing them tumbling into trees.

Water Sign “Flying Fish”

The first few seconds of the water magician’s card was something Rumia easily avoided, and a troubled Thalassa redoubled her attack in response, narrowly grazing past the red beams.

Kurumi got back up almost immediately, and was able to avoid the extra wave of one-off blades that Rumia had fired. Chikara took a bit longer, and was not so fortunate... taking a scattering of blades in her right leg.

[Chikara]: OW, DAMNIT!

Thalassa’s card continued to accelerate, changing her attack angle constantly and releasing each new wave of fish-shaped danmaku almost as soon as she had finished the previous one. Rumia could not keep up with the magician’s speed and took another hard hit, bringing her third spell to a halt.

[Rumia]: Guwah! Nnghrh…

Rumia is starting to get annoyed by this as she picked herself back up, returning to the air and continuing where she left off.

[Rumia]: LET SEE HOW YOU GUYS TAKE THIS?

“Swallowed by the Unseen”

A sphere of darkness appears around Rumia, much like the one the shrine maiden and magician had seen in their first battle with her... but she can see through this one. It continued to expand outward as the attack went on

[Kurumi]: She’s going to-

Kurumi was interrupted, as four spinning beams appeared around the darkness youkai, slowly rotating clockwise. The beams began to reflect off the trees, and the result sent Kurumi nosediving, trying to avoid being hit. Chikara and Thalassa were in better positions than the vampire, and the two were able to avoid them. 

Another spiral danmaku generator appeared in front of Rumia, forming bullets which moved counter-clockwise. Kurumi was suddenly trapped, and the darkness youkai noticed. She fired off a one-off of homing blades, making direct contact with the vampire, sending her FLYING into a tree some distance away. 

[Kurumi]: BLASTED YOUKAIIIIIIiiiiiiiiii-

The impact would knock out Kurumi Scarlet once more, silencing her scream. Rumia did nothing but laugh in delight, halting her fourth spell early at her own volition.

[Rumia]: Hahahahaha... that boastful vampire…~ was no match for darkness. Soon, I will have what I desire... after I put you two out of your misery! KYAHAHAAHHAAAA!!!

Chikara looked at Thalassa, and vice versa. The two were both scratched and bruised.

[Chikara]: Crap…she got vampy.

[Thalassa]: This is bad, seems like it’ll just be two of us dealing with her!

Rumia’s tone changed once again, slipping further and further from her initial state, as she began her fifth spell.

[Rumia]: With that dumbass vampire out of the way, YOU TWO ARE MINE TO  FEAST ON!

[ BGM: MO-NA-D-2 ~ Memory Forgery ]

[Chikara]: Watch out!

“Reverbations of Darkness”

Like the prior spell, the way Rumia invoked this attack seemed odd and unusual, even in her current state.

Countless blades began flying in every direction, appearing out from under the trees and in the sky. While, unlike earlier, these blades were not totally pitch-black (instead just being mostly dark), the attack was just random enough to where it could not be predicted. 

Bright beams began to sweep from side to side, with danmaku bullets occasionally appearing over the two, dropping down like water splashing from a bucket.

[Rumia]: KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAH!!

[Chikara]: She’s insane, let us- GRAAH!!

Several blades made contact about halfway up the wooden handle of Chikara’s gohei; the shrine maiden narrowly missed having her hand stabbed several times, as she was holding the gohei from the bottom.

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan!- KYAAAAH!

Thalassa was slashed up again by a series of blades, drawing another cut down her arm. While the magician was doing her best to stop the bleeding, the natural environment was primed for gusty downdrafts. 

One of these downdrafts reached the ground at about this time, and Chikara and Thalassa were sent to the ground. Something in the area, perhaps summoned by Rumia, was keeping the two on the ground, preventing them from ascending, while Rumia was still proudly floating in mid-air.

[Thalassa]: W-what is going on?!

[Chikara]: What the hell, we can’t float anymore!

[Rumia]: Ahaahaha!! Good! Are you two ready to burn~? Don’t worry, your suffering will last.

[Chikara]: Not a. Freaking. CHANCE!

Chikara’s counterattack and Rumia’s sixth spell  would begin almost simultaneously, with the youkai getting her spell out first.

“ Crow’s Murder: Burnt Wings”

Spirit Sign “Dragon Seal”

The smell of fire and smoke began to wrap around the forest, as Rumia began to fire off waves of burning danmaku, shaped like the wings of birds...

[Rumia]: Aaah…I just love the smell of charred wood in the morning…

A dragon materialized behind Chikara, and she was enveloped by an aura of red and white. Four giant yin-yang orbs would be released from the dragon’s mouth, and they would fly in an arc towards the youkai of darkness.

Rumia summoned more blades, though these blades were attached to much more visible homing bullets, so Chikara and Thalassa were able to avoid them much more easily. As the waves of burning danmaku continued, the trees behind the shrine maiden and magician began to burn. The forest was one where if you traveled too far off the main Shrine Road, you would encounter very thick vegetation rather quickly, so the fire spread extremely fast.

As the fire spread further and further, Rumia seemed happier and happier. At some point during the spell, Chikara accidentally got too close to a burning tree, and the fire hopped from the tree onto the shrine maiden’s clothing. 

[Chikara]: Hot! Hot! Hot!

[Thalassa]: Don't worry Chika-chan! don’t panic, I got you!

Thalassa held up her magic gem, using it to blast Chikara with a quick burst of water, putting out the fire. Chikara let off a sigh of relief. 

[Chikara]: Thank you…Thal-chan~.

[Rumia]: Burn it, buuuuuurn it all!!! Kyahahahahahaah!

[Chikara]: Youkai, you should be glad that we’re nowhere near the big human village. Otherwise, you’d have about eight different folks against you right now.

Chikara was overexaggerating that number, but Rumia did answer back.

[Rumia]: Good!! Ahahaha~, so I can do something, and nobody will ever find out...

Then the yin-yang orbs exploded in Rumia’s face, into a sea of ofuda and persuasion needles. The ofuda just bounced right off, though the needles managed to stick.

[Rumia]: Ow, ow, ow....

The darkness youkai tore off each of the needles, audibly hurting.

[Chikara]: How do you like that huh?

[Rumia]: It hurts, but not too much. You won’t be taking me down like that~. By the way, red-white... did you know that was only the first part of the spell? And I didn’t say card! TIME TO BURN!

[Chikara & Thalassa]: What?!

“Crow’s Murder: Charred Beak”

Rumia began to fire waves upon waves of nearly undodgeable danmaku, though the darkness youkai targeted straight ahead, not towards Chikara or Thalassa. She was attempting to separate the two on both sides of the hyperspeed bullets. And it was working! Chikara was on the left side, and Thalassa was on the right side.

Little orange wisps began to ascend out of the ground as Rumia’s danmaku continued. These orange wisps started spinning around the field of battle... and began to ignite. All the trees around the clearing that this battle was taking place in, caught fire simultaneously.

[Chikara & Thalassa]: !!!

[Rumia]: Time to cut the meat~.♪

Rumia summoned a giant sword, roughly comparable in size to Kurumi’s last-ditch weapon, the one that the shrine maiden and magician had dealt with earlier. She began to swing it with ease, calling out her final spell card, one which would put these two humans down for good.

“Forest Fire in Pitch Black.”

The fire and smoke that had engulfed the area began to get thicker, darker, tougher to decipher...

[Rumia]: KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAH~!

Rumia advanced on Chikara and Thalassa, swinging the sword at them. The two backed up to avoid the hit, to which Rumia advanced further. This cycle continued for a while... Thalassa tried to summon her danmaku trident, but the fire was too strong, the temperatures too warm, the smoke too thick. The trident turned into vapors almost as soon as it appeared.

Eventually Rumia would get the upper hand, and the darkness youkai had the humans up against the wall (of fire).

[Chikara]: Damnit, we hit a dead end! Thal-chan, can you try to put out the fire?

[Thalassa]: I-I can’t…this heat is too much for my water magic to work properly!

Chikara grabbed Thalassa’s slashed-up arm without warning, preparing for whatever Rumia would do.

Rumia, smiling, threw two dark blades at the pair before making one final swing. The attack landed, knocking both humans into the raging inferno.

After Rumia knocked them into the fire, taking down those two wretched humans that gave her so much trouble, she burst out a laugh, thinking that she’s finally killed them off...

[Rumia]: KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was easier than I thought. How pathetic to think they could take me down? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHBUAHAHAHAHAHAA!

Satisfied by her own victory, Rumia’s laugh echoes amidst the crackle of burning wood. Now that those two pesky “incident resolvers” were gone, she could finally prepare her next move, on her way to transform Gensokyo into a burning chaos of hell… 

But as Rumia relished in her apparent victory, it would not last long... suddenly, the fire that burned on the vegetation began to dissipate, to extinguish itself— no, to be absorbed by a greater force... startling the youkai of darkness, now in shock.

[ BGM: G Free ~ Final Dream ]

[Rumia]: What…? What the hell is going- !!!

Rumia’s eyes widened, she could clearly see two familiar silhouettes... yet still covered by the fires spinning around them.

[Rumia]: No…no no! It can’t be possible…IT CAN’T BE!

[Chikara]: Oh, it is alright!

A familiar voice rang out as the fire exploded into a burst of vapor... revealing Chikara, who was holding onto Thalassa with a surprisingly solid grip, shielding the magician from the heat of the flame. This stunned Rumia into further shock, but even more shocking to the darkness youkai was the change in Chikara’s appearance. 

On the left and right sides of her head were two long, straight, oni-like horns, with chains tied to her wrists and ankles.

[Rumia]: You… YOU’RE AN ONI?!

[Chikara]: Well, a half-oni, to be exact. And I’m not a fan of your... shall we say, underhanded tactics.

Half-Oni of Paradise

Chikara Hakurei

[Chikara]: Heh, I never thought I’d ever use this form again, but given the situation? I’d say it would be best to use it now~.

[Rumia]: I heard a rumor of the previous Shrine Maiden married to one of the “Four Deva Kings” and bearing a child, but I didn’t know it was you all long?

[Chikara]: Yeah, but family talk aside…

Chikara let go of Thalassa, as the half-oni shrine maiden slammed her fist against her palm, looking ready to beat down the darkness youkai, and Thalassa prepared her gem bracelet to use her magic to provide support for her.

[Thalassa]: That's because!

[Chikara & Thalassa]: We’re here to defeat you once and for all!

[Rumia]: Like hell you will!

Rumia charged both of them with her massive sword, making a wide swing first at Chikara, hoping to cut her in TWO! 

However, Chikara quickly stopped the blade before it could even strike her by catching it with her bare hand. Rumia was shocked and tried to pull her weapon away, but Chikara held the blade firmly … 

[ Rumia]: You-! GRAAAAAH! 

Chikara draws her right fist as she thrusts her punch into Rumia’s stomach. Rumia let out a gasp as she was sent flying in the air. She can’t believe this, but this half-oni shrine maiden was actually terrifyingly stronger than her. 

[Rumia]: You’re strong…I gotta admit that. But, like hell I’ll let you win!!

Rumia stops her momentum and is immediately about to counterattack by covering her arm in darkness as she firmly grips her sword to prepare another devastating attack. 

[Rumia]: Die! GRAAH!!!

Rumia felt a sharp, explosive pain on her back as she was struck in the back by Thalassa's barrage of water missiles.

[Chikara]: Now Chika-chan!

[Rumia]: Why you son of a-!

Chikara nodded, she brandished her new spell cards.

“Oni-Miko ~ Rule Violation Barrier”

A cube, filled with ofuda danmaku, appeared around Rumia. The rows and lines darted back and forth, there were no gaps in the cube as it closed in on the darkness youkai, with more danmaku spawning where the original cube had moved on from.

Moving her sword in a jabbing motion, Rumia was able to crumple some of the ofuda, but more and more danmaku just kept on spawning, and with there being no space to get out of the way, Rumia had to take it head on.

[Rumia]: Hrrrkk!!! You wretched oni…BASTARD!

The darkness youkai released a few beams, all easily dodged. Following along with her own pattern, Chikara changed tactics a bit, now running toward Rumia with her fists drawn, cuffs dangling from her wrists.

[Chikara]: HIYAAAAHH!!!!

Both punches connected, Chikara’s left into Rumia’s upper chest, the shrine maiden’s right into Rumia’s left shoulder, creating a ring of shockwave upon impact. 

[Rumia]: Grr!! AARGH! 

Rumia was not expecting Chikara to go physical again right after invoking a spell card, and she was left unprepared. Her giant sword was sent crashing into a tree, as Thalassa had begun to get her support attack going.

Water Sign “Vortex Beam”

[Rumia]: …Crap!

Rumia, already having her hands full with Chikara, could not react to Thalassa’s spell cards, and took another direct hit from the vortex, slamming them into a tree. 

[Rumia]: Grrngh… I-impossible!

Chikara took advantage of Rumia’s state as she tackled her down to beat up the darkness youkai further.

[Chikara]: And this is how we take care of problems like you! TORYAH!!!

Rumia had little recourse but to wrap her hands around her head and bear the brunt of the oni-miko’s punches.

She started kicking her legs, trying to detach from Chikara’s grasp.

[Rumia]: Get... Off... ME!!!

While Chikara was hit by Rumia’s kicks, the shrine maiden being in her oni form meant that they barely made a dent on her at all.

But the shrine maiden was startled and backed away when one of Rumia's kicks landed close to Chikara's eyes. She quickly gets up from the ground and flees at a good distance, as she appears to be battered, struggling to stand straight up after being beaten down by Chikara.

[Rumia]: I’m not giving up! I am not giving up until I win this fight…

[Thalassa]: It’s already over, youkai! You’re losing this battle!

[Chikara]: So give up, will you? Because you can't stand up straight!

[Rumia]: …Shut up…shut up, shut up! SHUT UP!! 

Rumia’s expression contorted and twisted into that of rage as darkness slowly covered half of her face as she was going to pull her next move.

[Rumia]: I’ll make sure…I’LL MAKE SURE THAT YOU TWO CAN GO BURN IN HEEEEEEEEEELL!!!

From there, Rumia tried to call out a ninth spell...

[Rumia]: DARKNE-

However, a sea of purple holes appeared in the air around the darkness youkai, from which a sea of sealing talismans ejected out of, latching onto Rumia and stopping her in her tracks as shock and horror rose to her face.

[Rumia]: Grk! W-what?!…is this a sealing talismans?! No, no no no no nonono!! I am so close to victory! I…….I……I won’t accept this!!!

Rumia looks over to the two heroines, her expression filled with even more rage and hatred, as she feels her power being drained away from the sealing talismans attached to her body.

[Rumia]: You...YOU! This isn’t over yet, you wretched bastard!! I’ll make sure that you won’t have a comfortable time in your pathetic life…

[Rumia]: Because I’ll return……RETURN TO BURN  YOU INTO HELL AAAAAAAaaaaaaaagainnn....!!!

Rumia’s final scream faded into an echo, as the ground opened up beneath her... and she would fall into the purple abyss below.

[Rumia DEFEATED]

Chikara and Thalassa stood in silence for a while, the latter looking down into the purple abyss for any sign of the youkai, but found none. The holes soon closed up, leaving the area like the battle had never happened.

Well, aside from all the torched trees, ashes, and the faint smell of dissipating smoke. It's just pure silence for a good moment.

Until the silence was broken as Thalassa redirected her attention.

[Thalassa]: Chika-chan! We should help Kurumi-san right now.

[Chikara]: Roger that!

Chikara nodded as she stepped over some fallen bark and blackened leaves, reaching the unconscious body of Kurumi and how would she know if it was her? Well, her wings are the easiest to tell.

Crouching down, Chikara picked up Kurumi’s unconscious body as she carry the scarlet vampire on the shrine maiden’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

[Chikara]: Sooo~ what should we do now, Thal-chan?

[Thalassa]: Let’s take her back to the Shrine and tend her wounds. It’ll be getting dark soon anyway.

[Chikara]: Hehehe, sure do~, I bet she would be shocked to see this form!

Thalassa let out a giggle.

[Thalassa]: I’m sure she would.

As Chikara and Thalassa began to float themself up from the ground, returning back to the shrine with an injured vampire in order to tend her, but unknown to the two heroines.

Someone was watching them from afar. 

Peeking through another gap, too small for the pair to notice, was a blue-haired figure wearing a red scarf with multiple eyes, and a raven-haired figure with a shrine maiden outfit. The blue-haired then spoke in a calm tone.

[???]: It seems like your daughter has improved a lot since I last saw her.

Following their sentence, the raven-haired figure would replied with a lower, mature tone compared to the other’s polite tone.

[???]: Yeah…I’ll admit, I was worried about how she would live on her own ever since I retired from the shrine, but it seems like she is doing well on her own.

The blue-haired let out a soft chuckle.

[???]: Indeed, and she made a new friend along the way, albeit…more in your wife style…

[???]: I know that, but that is what I love about her and my daughter.

With their conversation done, the gap closes, disappearing into the air, as the two heroines unaware they were being watched…