Scourge Shrouded in Gold II (Touhou Fan Fiction)

by TheOVJM

Marisa's Sakuya's and Sanae's adventure continues, but they and their competitors are not the only ones who know about the treasure. Someone back in Gensokyo also knows something, something quite terrifying. And the treasure? Is it truly something that is meant to be found. If you haven't read the first part, please do before reading this one.

Scourge Shrouded in Gold II

A loud snoring was filling the space when Sakuya finally came back from the cockpit to see how Sanae and Marisa were doing. It was early morning and sun was shining through the window of the plane. They had flown for the whole night and were almost at their destination. Sakuya then walked up to Marisa and Sanae and shook the gently.

"Hey, it would be wise to wake up. We are almost there. The pilot has started to lower the altitude so we can jump," Sakuya said to sleepy Sanae and Marisa who had started to wake up. Marisa just groaned a bit and held her head.

"I'll never get used to these planes. Ughhh, my head," Marisa said with painful look on her face. The changes in air pressure gave her bad headache.

"I too had that problem when I still weren't too experienced with planes, but after, let's say about six flights you'll get used to it," Sanae said while yawning and shrugged her shoulders.

"When we get back to Gensokyo I'll never want to see a plane ever again," Marisa said with annoyed look on her face while looking through the window. It was sunny and the vision was great, because there were no clouds. She could see hectares of forest and fields below them and one small town they were closing on to.

"Is that where we're headed?" Marisa asked while looking down.

"Yes. It may be best if we got those parachutes on and prepared for the jump. I think I need to teach you how to use those," Sakuya said and headed towards the back of the plane. She then opened a metal locker and took out three yellow backpack looking things.

"Okay, you do it like this: first you get it on like a backpack and wrap these belts thightly around your waist, legs and arms," Sakuya instructed and threw the other two parachutes to Sanae and Marisa. They then followed Sakuya's lead and put them on like she had instructed.

"Okay, once we jump you can open the parachute by pulling this wire near your left shoulder. It is very simple and it should not be too hard to understand... even for you Marisa," Sakuya said and looked at marisa with cunning grin on her face.

"Oi! Can't you let me be, I've had enough of your taunting!" Marisa retorted with pissed look on her face while lifting her backpack from the floor. Sakuya just laughed a little and walked up to the door. Before opening it she looked through the window.

"It seems that we are right on top of our goal. Now, when I open this door we jump immediately," Sakuya said and looked at Sanae and Marisa. She then lifted her hand and counted from three to one with her fingers and when she got to one she opened the door and the cold and strong wind entered the plane. Sanae ran towards the door and jumped. Marisa followed her lead and went after her. Sakuya was the last one to jump, because she wanted to make sure that everyone makes it.

"WOOHOOO!" Marisa screamed, stretched her left arm and laughed with wide smile on her face while falling. She was clinging to her backpack with her right arm.

"You are doing it wrong! If you want to have fun, you do it like this!" Sakuya yelled at Marisa and pressed her arms tightly against her body, so the air resistance would be as minimum as possible. Sakuya's speed surpassed easily the one of Sanae's or Marisa's. Marisa tried to follow Sakuya's lead, but because of her backpack she was unable to. The free falling was fun, but in the end they had to open their parachutes, so they wouldn't crush themselves at the landing. When the parachute opened their speed decreased fast.

"It was fun while it lasted," Sanae said with amused smile on her face while looking at Marisa.

"When we get back, I should ask Nitori to make me a parachute, so I could fly up and just safely free fall down with it," Marisa said with smile and thoughtful look on her face.

"Why wont you just do it with your broom?" Sanae asked just before they landed.

"It's not nearly as exciting," Marisa said after she finally reached the ground and stood up. They then took off the parachutes and looked around themselves. They had landed to the side of a road and behind them there was field with crops growing on it. They then just ditched the parachutes and walked to the road.

"It's pretty quiet..." Marisa said while looking around herself. There were fields everywhere and everywhere there weren't a field there were a forests. They could see a river running in the distance and behind it was a laughably small ski slope. It was summer, so there really weren't anyone on the ski slope. There were few town houses here and there, but they still saw nobody.

"It is pretty early. There are not many people out during this time," Sakuya said while looking the sides of the road.

"Sanae could you use your phone's maps to tell where we need to go?" Sakuya asked and looked at Sanae.

"Yeah, I think I can," Sanae responded and took her phone. They then started to walk along side of the road while Sanae was looking at the maps she could find. They walked for a while until they saw someone on a bicycle driving towards them.

"Seems like a local, we could ask him where we could find that Pöös Rock," Sakuya said and signed the cyclist to stop. He was young not even eighteen yet. He had a light, short and messy brown hair and was wearing a pair of worn jeans and a black tea shirt. The boy stopped in front of Sakuya.

"Would you happen to know how we could get to the Pöös Rock from here?" Sakuya asked in English.

"Yeah, the fastest way is simply just walking over this field and about half kilometer through woods until you come across a rocky hill. You really can't miss it," The boy answered and pointed at the field on the side of the road.

"Thanks," Sakuya said. The boy just nodded and waved at them while driving away.

"Okay, we just walk in that direction and we should get there," Sakuya while looking at the forest behind the field. They could clearly see how the landscape behind the forest was a bit higher from the other landscape, but they didn't think that it would be the Pöös Rock at first. They had thought that it would be much taller.

"Gah, I really should have taken a lot more better shoes," Sanae complained after she realized that they would need to walk over the field and through forest.

"Come on it's not that bad," Marisa said with enthused spark in her eyes while starting to walk to where Sakuya had pointed. Sanae just shrugged her shoulders and went after Marisa and Sakuya. The ground seemed flat, but the field was so soft and muddy that it took them surprisingly long to get anywhere. But even if slow, they reached the forest line in the end and realized how the ground was starting to rise.

"I gotta say that this is much nicer than back in that mausoleum. It's peaceful and we're surrounded by nature," Marisa said with comfortable smile on her face.

"So you're finally starting to notice the true treasures around yourself, the nature," Sanae said and patted Marisa to her shoulder.

"Oi! I'm a nature person, ya know! I realize these things immediately. Altough I'm starting to realize how different it is from Gensokyo. It's so peaceful when there's no magical power stirring things up," Marisa said while looking around herself in the forest.

"There truly is a notable difference between the nature in Gensokyo and in the outside world. Outside world is, as funny as it may sound, much more quiet place," Sakuya said while inhailing that fresh air.

"Say, once this is over, wouldn't it be nice to visit some more places before returning to Gensokyo?" Marisa asked with curious grin on her face.

"Wouldn't you agree that enough is enough. I think that we should not waste anymore time in the outside world after we are done with that treasure of ours," Sakuya said with gentle smile on her face. Even if she was relaxed she was still fully aware that they were on a mission. While they were having their conversation they had arrived almost to the top of the Pöös Rock. It was then when they realized that they had reached their goal. Even if that rock wasn't too tall the view was still somewhat impressive. The landscape was flat and covered in forest as far as the eye could see. The town was fully visible. The landscape around them was rough and uneven with many lose boulders here and there and stunted pines growing from everywhere they could. They just sat down to one of the boulders to catch their breath and to plan their next move.

"So... here we are. What's our next move?" Sanae asked while laying on her back.

"I do not really know. The stone tablets only told us the location and the name of this rock. I think that the rest is up to us. We have to find the treasure or the next clue on our own," Sakuya said while looking at the stone tablets that she took from Marisa's backpack. She then put them back, stood up and looked around herself.

"Sanae, you are the most educated one of us. How different is this landscape from the one, let's say, thousand years ago?" Sakuya asked while looking to the horizont.

"Well as far as I know the shore was really close by back then, but other than that, I don't think that anything has changed really. I only know the basics of the geology of Scandinavia. We really weren't taught much about it in school. The only notable thing changing would most likely be vegetation," Sanae said with thoughtful look on her face.

"Okay, let's spread up and start looking," Sakuya said and started to investigate the surrounding area.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Marisa asked while looking at Sakuya with confused tone and look on her face.

"Well, anything. Anything that would look like a good place to hide a treasure or anything that looks man made," Sakuya responded while looking at the ground beneath her feet.

"She really has gotten excited about this treasure hunt, hasn't she?" Marisa asked from Sanae with smuggish smile on her face.

"She truly has," Sanae responded and laughed a bit. They then split up like Sakuya had told them to do and started looking for any clues they could find. Sanae headed towards the closest forest line and started looking from there. She kept checking every crack and boulder if they could be hiding something.

"Could it be a cave...? Or a wall painting...? Nah, I think that it isn't just some ancient painting, it would have been found ages ago," Sanae thought to herself while inspecting some big boulder next to her.

"Found anything yet?" She heard Sakuya asking from the distance.

"Nothing yet!" Sanae responded while walking alons side the forest line.

"Nothing here-eeaaAAH!" Marisa screamed loudly. Sanae then turned around towards Marisa to see what had happened, but was surprised when she saw it. Marisa was standing there with frantic look on her face in chest deep hole in the ground. Only her neck, head and hands were visible. Once she had recovered from her surprise she just looked at Sanae, grinned and waved at her.

"How did you end up in there?" Sanae asked while walking closer to Marisa and after Sakuya had arrived to the scene.

"I just stepped on to tussock of moss and it appears that there wasn't ground beneath it," Marisa said while looking at the hole she was in.

"I'm okay and I can pull myself up easily, but this hole feels much more spacier than you'd think. Hold on a moment," Marisa said and dived into the hole for a moment.

"It's kinda thight at first, but it gets wider the deeper I go!" Marisa's voice could be heard yelling from the hole.

"Though I can't see anything. We should check this. Come down here and show me some light," Marisa said after she peeked from the hole again. Sanae and Sakuya just nodded and followed Marisa into the hole. It was tight at first, but just like Marisa had said it got wider the more deeper you went. Sanae then managed to turn on the flashlight on her phone, so they could see.

"Well would you look at that... Marisa it seems that you are not so useless after all," Sakuya said while looking around herself with amazed look her face.

"This isn't just some random hole, this is a fully sized cave," Sanae said while ponting her flashlight around the walls.

"Hold on... Give me some light, would you?" Sakuya asked and kneeled down to the floor of the cave. Sanae then pointed her flashlight down, so Sakuya could see what she had found.

"There are stairs carved to the floor... This is not just some random natural cave... I think we hit the jackpot," Sakuya said and stood up.

"Come on, let's head deeper down. This seems more than promising," Sakuya said and signed them to follow her. They didn't head too much deeper when they started to realize that the walls became more and more symmetrical and weren't so rough anymore.

"These walls have been honed," Sakuya said while looking around herself as they kept progressing downwards.

"Yeah, but by who? How old are these even? Did the vikings buld these?" Sanae asked with amazed look on her face while pointing her flashlight around herself.

"No it is older than that... at least five thousand years older...," Sakuya said with confident tone.

"How do you know that?" Sanae asked with curious tone.

"I have read a book or two on my free time. Patchouli has many interesting ones. These walls and stairs are well made, but even if carved into granite they still are really worn," Sakuya said, but then she suddenly stopped and looked in front of herself.

"Can you see that? There is an opening in front of us. Now we are getting somewhere," Sakuya said and started walking a bit faster. They then entered the opening and looked around themselves. They were amazed. It really wasn't your ordinary cave. It was really well made and decorated underground temple. Well to be precise, they couldn't tell what it actually was, but the pillars carved out of solid rock and benches made it look like one.

"I'm not an expert, but I'd say that we found what we were after," Marisa said with pleased grin on her face and arms crossed over her chest.

"Well would you look at that... An ancient sanctuary carved into solid rock and hidden just by a simple moss tussock," Sakuya mumbled while walking around the space.

"What was this used for? Worship? Assemblage?" Sanae wondered while looking and pointing her flaslight around herself.

"Well let's find out," Marisa said with confident tone while walking closer the back wall that had some sort of altar looking thing near it. They looked at the 'altar' for a moment. Marisa then went to the other side of the 'altar' where there was another bench carved from rock, but this one was bigger than the rest and looked almost like a throne.

"Hardly seems like an altar. This is more like a desk," Marisa said and signed that the so called altar was hollow from the other side.

"Does it have any clues where are we supposed to look for that treasure?" Sanae asked and headed to the other side of that stone table where Marisa was.

"Don't know yet, but there's something in here," Marisa said and reached inside the the stone table to get out those objects she saw.

"A-ha!" Marisa yelled and pulled out her hand where she was holding a piece of cloth and one dusty coin.

"Hold this for me, would ya," Marisa said and gave the peice of cloth to Sakuya who started to examine it. Marisa on the other hand started inspecting the coin. It was quite large and heavy. She swiped some dust off from it and looked at it carefully.

"...Could it be...?" Marisa mumbled and bit the coin carefully. She then looked at it once again and brought it closer to Sanae's flashlight.

"It's gold... Hell fucking YEAH! It's gold!" Marisa yelled with enthused look on her face and punched the air with her hands.

"So the treasure is real... Does the coin have any leads where we are supposed to head?" Sanae asked and looked at Marisa with curious look on her face.

"What makes you think that it isn't here?" Marisa asked with confused look on her face.

"Look around yourself. There's no place where you could hide the treasure in here," Sanae said and pointed the light around the room.

"Well... On the flipside of the coin there's something... a square with a loop on each of its corners," Marisa said while looking at the coin more carefully.

"The same symbol is pictured to this worn piece of cloth too," Sakuya said and showed the cloth to Sanae and Marisa. Marisa and Sanae looked first at the cloth then at the coin and then at Sakuya like waiting for her to continue.

"I know that symbol. It is called the Hannunvaakuna. It is supposed to bring you luck like a charm. Though it is mostly used in northern parts of the Finland and other Scandinavia," Sakuya said while looking at the piece of cloth.

"But what does it have to do with the treasure?" Marisa thought half aloud while rubbing her chin with confused look on her face.

"Uhmmm, maybe this map could help?" Sanae said with gentle grin on her face while pointing her flashlight to the back wall that had a map carved on its surface.

"Ohh, good girl," Sakuya said and patted Sanae's head with impressed tone and look on her face while looking at the carving on the wall.

"A picture of an actual mountain this time? Or another map?" Marisa asked while looking at the carving. She really couldn't tell, because this too looked like a mountain to her as did the map carved to the stone tablet.

"There's some writing too... Aww crap," Sakuya mumbled while inspecting the writing on the wall.

"What is it?" Sanae asked and took a closer look at the writing.

"It is not English that is for sure. Sanae, borrow your phone, would you. I think I may be able to translate this," Sakuya said with unsure tone while looking at the carvings. Sanae than gave her phone, but kept the flashlight on, so they could see. They then just sat down to one of the benches and watched how Sakuya started to translate the text on the wall.

"How can you be sure you're able to translate that?" Marisa asked while looking at Sakuya who was constantly leering between the phone and wall.

"When I looked at the text, I could recognize few words from here and there. I bet that it is some sort of ancient Finnish. With the information from the net I may be able to find out the meaning behind it," Sakuya replied casually without even turning her gaze towards Marisa.

"How come you understood few words?" Sanae asked with curious tone and look on her face aand looked at Sakuya.

"This is not the first time when I am visiting Finland. Only about year before I met my mistress in 1942, I was on a mission here in Finland in 1941. I was part of a national socialist political group called the Nazis. Our mission was to assist Finland to fight against Russia and during that time I learned a word or two," Sakuya said and looked at the phone with empty look in her eyes.

"Wait, Sakuya, you were a soldier at some point?" Sanae asked with surprised tone.

"Well a commander to be precise, but yes, I fought in many battles during the second world war. Like here in Finland, France, Russia and in many other countries too," Sakuya replied with casual tone and look on her face.

"And you were with the axis powers?" Sanae continued with even more surprised look on her face.

"It should be obvious. I was born in Berlin and I am an albino with bright blue eyes. Of course I would be part of the Nazis. I was thought to be a perfect Aryan," Sakuya said and shrugged her shoulders.

"Wait, you're albino? I always thought that your hair color was because of your time controlling ability or your age," Marisa said with fascinated look on her face and touched Sakuya's hair.

"I do not blame you. Many humans tend to change their hair color after long exposure to magic, but for me, it never happened. My hair color is completely natural. Same cannot be said about you two now can it?" Sakuya said, looked at Sanae and Marisa and cracked a gentle smile to her face. Sanae just looked away with embarrassed look on her face, but Marisa just tilted her head.

"Na-aah, mine is natural too," Marisa said and crossed her arms over her chest with proud grin on her face.

"Is it now? As far as I know it you are Japanese and Japanese people should not have blonde hair color naturally," Sakuya said with impressed look on her face.

"Heh, I've always said that my body is quite special." Marisa said with smuggish tone and look on her face while preening her hair.

"Be it as it is... But any how, I think I have finally translated the main parts of this text," Sakuya said and lifted her gaze from the phone.

"Well then, what does it say?" Sanae asked with curious look on her face.

"Well, I were not able to fully translate it, but what I was able to translate says: To the northern land, where only shamans, fairies and trolls wander. Under the hills and rocks of mighty Saana... for it never to be found by any living thing... so it cannot spread its... and destroy...," Sakuya read all the parts she had managed to translate out loud.

"That's it? Not too helpful in my opinion," Marisa said with disappointed look on her face, sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"For it never to be found by any living thing? Somehow that sounds like a warning to me," Sanae said with nervous look on her face.

"Take it as you will, but this was not so useless than you might think. Marisa this time you were right, that carving on the wall is not a map, it actually is a picture of a mountain. Or should I say fell. That text mentioned Saana. It is a fell in northern Finland almost in the corner of three kingdoms, the place where the borders of Finland, Norway and Sweden cross eachother. That is Saana in that carving. If this text is not lying, that treasure is buried right there under that fell," Sakuya said and pointed her finger at the carving.

"So what are we waiting for? We head there now and we might get home before tomorrow morning," Marisa said, put the coin and the piece of cloth in to her backpack and headed back towards the entrance of that cave. Sanae looked at Sakuya who just nodded, stood up and walked after Marisa. Sanae then just looked behind herself before following them.

"For it never to be discovered by any living being? ...So what will happen if we find it?" Sanae asked half aloud from herself before heading after Sakuya and Marisa. They soon reached the entrance and climbed out. Marisa took a deep breath and stretched her arms.

"Ngghh-aaah. Treasure hunting is fun and all, but I'm still not the biggest fan of dusty air," Marisa said while looking towards the town few kilometers from their location.

"Well you better get used to it, because I am sure that it wont be the last time," Sakuya said while walking down the hill towards the town with lazy pace. Sanae and Marisa then headed after her.

"So, how are we going to get to that mountain-thingy? There are no airports here, are there?" Marisa asked while walking beside Sakuya.

"With bus of course. It is about 800 kilometers from here to Saana, but getting there should not be too big of a deal," Sakuya responded and shrugged her shoulders.

"Good that you know about these things. But tell me, you seem to be enjoying yourself in here, do you miss your old life here in the outside world? Would you like to live free again?" Marisa asked with curious look on her face. Sakuya then just quickly glared at Marisa with the usual look on her face when she sees Marisa stealing books from the library.

"I am enjoying myself, I wont deny that, but no, I do not want to return here permanently nor do I want to regain that so called 'freedom'," Sakuya said with serious look on her face and dead cold tone.

"Why not? You could live completely normal life with other humans not needing to worry about constant needs of someone else," Marisa said with gentle grin on her face and lovered her hand on to Sakuya's shoulder.

"Have I ever said that I would like the company of other humans? Besides, there is nothing for me here in the outside world. No youkai to hunt, no one worthy to serve or any supernatural beings to kill and protect the humans from. I would just die from boredom and truth to be told, I would take eternity in hell over that," Sakuya said and just looked into the distance.

"I wont deny that it is refreshing to break from usual routines, but I do not want to make myself useless by abandoning my mistress. That would be a same as I would commit a suicide, because that would be the most likely thing I would do when having nothing to do in centuries," Sakuya said and started playing with her fob watch like one would do with yo-yo.

"But you didn't die from boredom before meeting your mistress," Marisa insisted and looked at Sakuya with strict look on her face.

"That was completely different. I had other masters who I would serve and even colleagues to work with. I was a vampire hunter back then when there still were vampires in the outside world, but now when there are none I would most likely start killing humans when bored, and I do not want to make kills that have no meaning to anybody," Sakuya said with calm but dark tone.

"Bu-" Marisa tried, but she was quickly interrupted by Sanae who glared at her with angry look on her face.

"Just let her be and stop harrassing her. If she doesn't want to live like normal humans do, then she doesn't need to," Sanae said and pinched Marisa from her ear. Marisa whimpered a little, but didn't open her mouth after that. They then just quietly continued their walk out of the forest and towards the road they had walked along. Once they got back to the road they just followed it towards the city. Marisa was looking around herself quitely for the whole journey. The town where they currently were was much more different from Agra or Tokyo. There really weren't places where town and building would supersede the nature, but instead everywhere where there were buildings there was nature. It reminded her a little bit about home. Still the nature was much different from the one back in Gensokyo, but it still felt somewhat like home. The sun had risen quite high already. It was almost midday. People had started to get out from their homes. Few cars were passing by every now and then.

"Gotta admit... I'm getting kinda fond of this place. I mean, this reminds me a bit of home. This is a beautiful place afterall," Marisa said with plaintive look on her face while looking towards the distant forest line.

"Wait till the winter. Winter this north is much more purer, colder and harsher than back home. But oh, how beatuful it is during the winter this north. Everything is frozen solid, white and dead," Sakuya said with gentle smile on her face.

"The beauty of death. I've heard of it too. Thought only artists use that saying these days, but it seems that I was wrong," Sanae said while looking at Sakuya.

"Huh?" Marisa asked with confused look on her face after she heard Sanae's weird comment about death.

"Whaddya mean? What's supposed to be beautiful in death?" Marisa continued and kicked a small pebble on the road.

"It's a term usually used by artists. It means that you paint or draw a beautiful piece of art about death. It can be used in literature too," Sanae explained and scratched her hair.

"Those artists can shove that beautiful death up theirs all I care," Marisa said and waved the air with her hand.

"Hey, I've been to the art school. It is more fun than you'd think," Sanae said with a bit offended tone and nudged Marisa to her shoulder. Sakuya just smiled a little when she watched how Marisa and Sanae had started to fight about such simple thing as art. Though she didn't complain. At least they weren't asking those constant questions about her daily life. They soon reached the center of the town and it seemed that Sanae and Marisa had managed to achieve a somekind of an agreement. They walked through the center of the town until they found a gas station that was also a buss stop.

"Okay, we have managed quite nicely so far. Let's just hop on to one of these and head north. We might reach Saana before night fall," Sakuya said and looked at the busses to see which one was going north.

"So is this another waiting session?" Marisa asked with a bit annoyed tone and look on her face.

"Yes it is. Well you were warned that the treasure was on the other side of the world, so you should not complain," Sakuya said after she finally found a buss that could take them to Saana. She then signed them to follow her and hop on to the buss. They then headed to the back of the buss and sat there after Marisa had put her backpack to a shelf above the seats.

"Wake me up when we're ready," Marisa said with arms crossed over her chest, closed eyes and her head buried into the collars of her jacket.

"Well good luck with sleeping," Sakuya said with gentle grin on her face.

"Huh? Whaddya mean?" Marisa asked and opened her eyelids a bit.

"We are so north currently that sun sets only barely even during the night and at the place where Saana is the sun wont set at all. I would assume that it is going to mess your sleeping schedule quite badly," Sakuya said and giggled a bit.

"You kidding right? Gosh, for some reason this doesn't feel like home at all anymore," Marisa bridled and leaned against her knees.

"Hey, at least we get to see some sights through the windows," Sanae tried cheer up Marisa, but she didn't have energy to get exited over some sights.

"Well what ever. Be a grumpy cat if you want," Sanae said and shrugged her shoulders.

"The what now?" Marisa asked with confused look on her face while opening her eyes to look at Sanae.

"Just a common joke or should I say a meme in the outside world," Sanae explained, but stopped quickly when she understood how hard it was going to be to explain a meme to someone who hardly knew any jokes of the outside world.

"Ok, whatever," Marisa bridle and enhanced her posture a bit.

While they were chasing the treasure, people back in Gensokyo had no idea that they had actually already found Marisa, but were currently helping her to find that treasure. Reimu had been just waiting for their return from the day she had sent Sakuya and Sanae after Marisa. She actually had had some beef with the gods of the Moriya shrine after they heard that Reimu had sent Sanae after Marisa, but Kanako and Suwako calmed down quickly after they understood how dangerous the situation was if Marisa were allowed to roam the outside world freely. Reimu was currently visiting the human village for groceries and while she was at it she heard the people constantly talking about 'Marisas latest trick'.

"It seems that word gets around pretty quickly these days," Reimu thought to herself after she heard one lady yelling that Marisa was going to bring destruction upon Gensokyo and to all of its people. Some people came to ask Reimu about the recent event, but Reimu just calmly answered to each question that the situation was under control. If she had told the truth that she had no idea how the things were going in the outside world people would have surely started to panic.

After Reimu had somehow managed to calm everyone down she headed back to her shrine. She was currently too hungry to bother exterminating any youkai or fairies, so she headed straight back. Once she landed to the pathway leading to the shrine she sensed a familiar presence. She just sighed with a bit annoyed look on her face and headed into her shrine. Once she stepped in she just closed the door behind her, put the groceries down and asked," So, Yukari, haven't seen you for a while. What are you doing here all of a sudden?"

"Awww, you could even act delighted after seeing me," Yukari said, covered her mouth with her fan and giggled mischeviously. Yukari had long blonde hair and a mob cap on top of it which had a thin red ribbon attached to it. She was quite tall and lady-like and was wearing a purple and orange Chinese-styled tabard with various trigrams over a white western-styled dress and was carrying a parasol with her.

"But any how, I don't have any specific reason for visiting you. I just want to visit old friend that's all," Yukari said and shrugged her shoulders.

"You're the one being old here, besides you're here just to eat my snack, aren't you?" Reimu said while emptying her bags.

"That too. But tell me, has anything interesting happened while I've been running my errands?" Yukari then asked after creating a gap and pulling a bottle of sake from it. She then opened the bottle and poured some into a cups on the table.

"Well besides that Marisa's stupid treasure hunt idea, nothing too major has happened," Reimu responded and took her cup from the table and drank the sake in it.

"What treasure hunt? Did she go and steal someone's belongings again?" Yukari asked with curious look and gentle smile on her face.

"You don't know about it? Well basically this one day Marisa found a stone tablet from Rinnosuke's shop and figured that it was somekind of a map leading to some treasure. She figured out that the treasure was in the outside world, so she decided to do the thing that every reasonable person would... Go to the outside world and search for that damn treasure," Reimu bridle, finished her sake and lowered her cup to the table. But immediately when she said that Yukari's eyes bursted wide open and she dropped the bottle of sake from her hands. The bottle hit the floor and shattered into pieces.

"Huh? What is it? Did you see a ghost? Even if you did, you shouldn't be afraid of them, you're youkai after all," Reimu said with cunning tone and a bit confused look on her face.

"You're not seriously telling that out of all people it was Marisa to whose hands the tablet fell on to, and she managed to figure out that it was a map?" Yukari asked with a frantic look on her face and grabbed Reimu from her shoulders.

"It is stupid what she did, why does it startle you so much?" Reimu asked with a bit worried tone and look on her face.

"Gods damn it, I shouldn't have given that thing to Rinnosuke in the first place!" Yukari said and let go of Reimu. She then turned around and walked through the door with serious look on her face and took flight towards Rinnosuke's shop.

"Hey, what's this all about!?" Reimu yelled after Yukari, but she didn't respond. Reimu wanted to know the truth, so she headed after Yukari to make her explain everything. Reimu knew that Yukari hadn't been seen in Gensokyo for a while, but she didn't know that Yukari was completely oblivious about the events that had happened recently. She kept chasing Yukari until she landed on to Rinnosuke's shop's yard. She saw how Yukari rushed in, so she followed her. She finally catched up with her inside the shop.

"...You just had to sell it to her, didn't you!?" Reimu could hear Yukari yelling when she entered Rinnoskue's shop.

"It was among all other merchandise, so I thought that it would be fine," Rinnosuke defended himself with coonfused tone.

"I was going to tell you to not sell it as soon as I got back to Gensokyo from the outside world, but I didn't expect you to sell it instantly," Yukari bridled and looked angry.

"Pant* Could you slow down please? Why are you so upset all of a sudden?" Reimu asked when she finally had caught her breath.

"Well first of all, shouldn't you as a shrine maiden prevent these kinds of things from happening in the first place?" Yukari dodged Reimu's question with her own.

"Hey, I had no way of stopping her. She used Nitori's teleporter to get out from Gensokyo, and during that time I didn't even know about her plans," Reimu defended herself with offended look on her face.

"Tck* I'll have a long talk with that kappa after this," Yukari said and was already stepping out from the shop until Rinnosuke grabbed her from her sleeve.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me, what's utterly dangerous about all this," Rinnosuke said and glared into Yukari's eye's. Yukari then sighed and responded, "Well, beside the fact that Marisa has no experience about the outside world, and if the humans of the outside world catch her, it would be catastrophic, the biggest reason for my anguish is the fact that if the world outside wont kill her the 'treasure' will."

"WHAT!?" Reimu shouted with scared look on her face after she heard what Yukari had said.

"That's the reason why I brought the map from the outside world to Gensokyo. If it were to be left there, humans there could accidentally destroy themselves if they found it. I figured that the Gensokyo would be a perfect place for keeping it away from the hands of the humans, because you shouldn't be able to acces the outside world from here... It appears that I was mistaken. The fastest way to get it into Gensokyo was via those merchandise crates that I deliver to Rinnosuke. I still had errands to run in the outside world, so I thought that I would come fetch that map from you when I finally would have the time, but I didn't know you were this efficent salesman," Yukari explained and sat down to a chair while doing so.

"W-well don't worry. We sent Sakuya and Sanae to get her back. They know the outside world better than anybody else in Gensokyo," Reimu said with a bit scared look on her face.

"You really were too impatient to wait until you see me again, so I could just simply gap her back, but what ever, it is your choice," Yukari said with disappointed tone and stood up and was just about to step out when Reimu interrupted her.

"Wait, why can't you gape them back now?" Reimu asked with a bit frantic tone and looked into Yukari's eyes.

"You made your decision of what would be the best course of action as a shrine maiden and now we'll see if your judgement was rational enough," Yukari said with her back turned towards Reimu while walking out of the door of the shop.

"HEY WAIT! This is unfair. I'm sorry, please gap them back!" Reimu yelled after Yukari, but when Reimu stepped out Yukari was already gone. Reimu just stood there with frantic look on her face.

"D-did I just sent them to their deaths?" Reimu muttered with blank look on her face while watching into the horizon.

Not knowing what Yukari had told Reimu Marisa, Sanae and Sakuya continue their journey towards their goal. The buss had travelle eight hours already and they all were starting to get quite bored. The views were great, but nothing is exciting forever. Marisa was just leaning against the window and watching the fells and trees pass by. She then happened to look at Sakuya who was sitting right next to her. Even if she and Sakuya had been friends for almost fourteen years she still didn't know much about her. Sakuya had told her and Sanae a lot more about herself during their adventure, but she still weren't open about everything. Marisa thought that Sakuya was an interesting person, so she decided try to see if she could ask a thing or two about her.

"Hey, Sakuya, ya know-" Marisa started, but Sakuya interrupted her almost instantly.

"No, I am not going to answer your questions. Wont you agree that I have told you two quite much already, hmmm? So now it is your turn. I am not telling more things about myself before you start to compensate," Sakuya said with closed eyes. It seemed that she had tried to sleep, but it was quite hard, because even if it was almost night the sun was still shining brightly.

"You want to know more about us?" Sanae asked and looked at Sakuya with curious look on her face.

"Not really. I just want to get you two off from me for a second," Sakuya said, opened her eyelids a little and looked at Sanae with gentle smile on her face.

"Well there's not much to tell about me, now is it. I was born in Suwa in Nagano Perfecture. I lived my childhood there and went to school there. We once did a trip to the Suwa Taisha, the Suwa Grand Shrine from the school and it was back then when I met Suwako and Kanako. I learned that I was Suwako's descendant when I spoke to them. After that experience I decided that I wanted to become a priestess and so I did. Nine years ago we moved to the Gensokyo with Kanako and Suwako and you kinda know the rest," Sanae said while looking out of the window.

"And what about your parents? Were they completely cool with your ambition to become a shrine maiden? And what about when you left the outside world?" Marisa asked with fascinated tone and look on her face.

"They were completely cool with my desire to become a shrine maiden and after I did Suwako and Kanako became my family. I started to become very distant to my real mother and father. They visited me every once in a while, but in the end I'm not even sure that they know I left," Sanae said and looked at Marisa with serious look on her face.

"And you're completely okay with that?" Marisa continued a bit confused look on her face.

"Yeah, I think i am. I have never regretted my decisions. So what about you Marisa. What kind of history do you have?" Sanae asked with a gentle smile on her face.

"Me? Eh... Well, my family has a shop. I was five years old when I ran from home and met Reimu. After that I became youkai hunter," Marisa said with a bit quivering tone.

"Come on. Don't be so vaque. Besides that seems hardly beliveable. How you were able to become youkai hunter in just age of five?" Sanae asked with strict look on her face.

"I'm just naturally talented that's all," Marisa said and dodged the question.

"So why did you run from home?" Sanae continued her questions even if Marisa didn't seem to like it.

"I wanted to study magic which wasn't possible during the time I still lived home," Marisa said and shrugged her shouldes.

"Come on. A five years old doesn't think like that. Besides if you were to run from home in that age, there's no way could have survived," Sanae insisted with strict tone and look on her face.

"Hey, these things have nothing to do with you so don't ask!" Marisa yelled at Sanae with a bit angry and pissed look on her face.

"Me? You're the one who started to asking things from Sakuya, so you have nothing to say," Sanae retorted with offended look on her face, but their argument was cut short when the buss suddenly stopped.

"Feast your eyes! Saana," Sakuya interrupted them and said while pointing through the window. Through the window they could really clearly see a big ramp shaped fell behind a lake. Marisa quickly forgot her argument with Sanae, grabbed her backpack and rushed outside with enthused look on her face.

"Come on! That mountain thingy is hiding somthing that will be ours soon!" Marisa enthused while running outside.

"We have waited quite long so might as well investigate," Sanae said with gentle smile on her face and shrugged her shoulders before following Marisa with Sakuya. They stepped out of the bus. Marisa gazed up to the skies and covered her eyes with her arm.

"Jeez, what's the clock?" Marisa asked after she saw how high the sun actually still was.

"About 10 pm. I warned that during this time of the year the sun never sets when you are this north," Sakuya said and crossed her arms over her chest with amused smile on her face.

"Come follow me. There is a town by the lake. We walk past it and towards the fell. Better investigate the area during the night when there are less hikers. It is also quite view... the midnight sun," Sakuya said and started walking along side the road.

"So have you been here before?" Sanae asked while walking beside Sakuya.

"Yes, yes I have. Although that was not nearly as pretty event as this one," Sakuya said and lowered her tone.

"Pretty? What do you mean with that?" Sanae asked with curious and confused look on her face and tilted her head.

"You have your phone. 15th of sebtember 1944 till 27th of april 1945. Look it up and you will understand," Sakuya said without even looking at Sanae. Sanae then dag out her phone and looked it up. She then sighed understandingly after she saw the search results.

"Huh? What does it say?" Marisa asked after she saw that Sanae had looked it up.

"The Lapland war. Fought between Finland and Nazi Germany. Germans retreated from Finnish soil, but burned everything on their path. Finns were victorious, but the whole region of lapland was destroyed. It appears that Sakuya was fighting amongst the Germans," Sanae said with thoughtful look on her face while looking her phone.

"If I may correct, I was serving my mistress back then. I was not member of the Nazis back then anymore. I was actually fighting against Germans, or should I say hunting them. My mistress was living temporarily in a castle called Olavin Linna back then. My mission really was not to side with anybody in the war. I just needed to get something that I could serve for my mistress and I thought that I would release few of my old country men from their duty." Sakuya explained with grim tone and look on her face.

"I-I see..." Sanae responded and looked away from Sakuya. It appeared that Sakuya hadn't changed and she had been as cold blooded as she is now for a very long time already.

"Anyway, we are almost at the town. Beyond that is some forest and the fell. Sanae, so you still have the walkie-talkie that I stole from the airport?" Sakuya asked just before they reached the town.

"Yeah I do. What about it?" Sanae asked while taking the walkie-talkie from her pocket.

"It is best if we split up while investigating the are. We can communicate with those and cover fairly big area at the same time," Sakuya said while looking at the fell behind the town.

"Okay, let's head straight for that fell. I will search the eastern slopes and you two will search the western slopes. Got that?" Sakuya said her plan as they were walking through the village.

"Sounds good. If we don't find anything, let's meet on top of that fell at 4 am," Sanae suggested before they parted ways. Sakuya just nodded as she headed towards her own direction and Marisa and Sanae headed for their. They walked straight through the town and into the forest that was between them and Saana. After a moment Marisa stopped and looked at Sanae.

"Hey, sorry that I yelled at you back in that bus," Marisa said with a bit embarrased look on her face.

"It's okay. We all have things we don't want to talk about, but if you're not willing to tell something to someone else, you shouldn't ask that question from the others," Sanae said with strict, but understanding tone.

"Yeah, I wont do that," Marisa said with a gentle smile on her face and nodded. They then kept moving, but Marisa continued.

"But you can't deny, Sakuya is really fascinating person," Marisa said and looked at Sanae with significan look on her face.

"No, I wont deny that. In fact, I too am really intrigued by her history," Sanae responded while looking around herself in the forest.

"What do you think Remilia gave to her? I mean, what made her loyalty so strong?" Marisa kept wondering with thoughtful look on her face.

"I really don't know, but if I were to guess, I'd say home and family," Sanae said with a bit plaintive tone.

"What do you mean?" Marisa asked and looked at Sanae.

"Think about it. If Sakuya is almost 200 years old, it's no wonder if she didn't have a lasting home or people to stay with. Everyone just withers around her. But I think that Sakuya sees herself and Remilia alike, because both are very inhuman, but still human in their dark or even sick way," Sanae said, crouched to ground and inspected it for a moment.

"Did you find something?" Marisa asked after she saw Sanae inspecting the ground.

"Nah, I thought for a sec," Sanae said and swiped her hands clean from the dirt as she stood up again.

"But back to the topic. It seems that you have problem with Sakuya. That 'sick' part wasn't too nice of ya," Marisa said and stared into Sanae's eyes.

"I'm being completely honest with you. I don't think that Sakuya's completely fine with her mind. She treats a killing almost like a sport," Sanae said with uncomfortable tone and look on her face as they kept walking.

"And you're not cool with that?" Marisa continued with serious look on her face.

"How cold I, or how could you? Taking a life is wrong in so many levels. In the outside world, she would most likely be given a death penalty for that. I even fear that she might attack you or me if provoked," Sanae said with a bit frightful look on her face.

"I know what you mean. But in Gensokyo these kinds of things aren't too rare. For instance Mokou I believe has killed more people than Sakuya. It is said that during the time she still was in the outside world she killed every single living being that crossed her path. Sakuya and Mokou, even if very youkai like, are still humans. They wouldn't hurt people important to them," Marisa said with compassionate tone.

"Ever thought if we are important to her? But anyway. I get your point, but that kind of thirst for blood isn't normal, even for most of the youkai. Take for example Alice. She is a youkai, but is still really friendly with humans. Heck, she's even allowed to enter the human village even if she is a youkia," Sanae said with strict look on her face.

"She hasn't always been like that," Marisa said and looked at Sanae.

"Huh?" Sanae asked with confused tone.

"Back when we met for the first time, she was still just a kid who had just recently turned herself into youkai. She tried to kill me and Reimu. After that she has matured and changed her ways," Marisa explained as they kept heading deeper into the forest.

"So how about you? Will you turn into youkai any time soon?" Sanae then asked with serious tone and look on her face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marisa said and laughed a bit nervously.

"You know what I mean. You already have more power than most youkai and you're constantly gaining more. I'm just worried that eventually your body will either break or turn into youkai," Sanae said and looked at Marisa with worried look on her face.

"I have my own ways to prevent that, so don't worry, I'm not planning to become one. (At least as long as my immortality potion doesn't work.)" Marisa said and swiped the air with her hand indifferently.

"Back in 2014, when we had that miracle mallet incident, I actually was worried that you, Sakuya or Reimu would actually turn into a youkai," Sanae insisted and stared at the ground.

"That was different. We weren't ourselves back then, because that power from that mallet turned our tools into youkai and altered our personalities as well," Marisa explained to worried Sanae and patted her shoulder.

"I'm still not convince, but any how. Oh, if you will, how old Alice currently is?" Sanae asked suddenly.

"Somewhere around 40-50 years I'd guess. Since she is a youkai she looks younger than she actually is, but she still ages physically much faster than many other youkai," Marisa said with thoughtful look on her face and rubbed her chin.

"Gotcha!" Sanae then suddenly said with triumphant look on her face.

"Huh?" Marisa asked with confused tone and look on her face.

"You said that you met Alice when you were both kids and Alice had just recently turned herself into a youkai. You're hiding something, I know it," Sanae said with triumphant tone and pointed her finger at Marisa. Marisa then backed away a bit and looked at Sanae with a bit frightened and pissed look on her face. Sanae saw clearly that Marisa was sweating, but before she could respond Sanae heard Sakuya voice through the walkie-talkie.

"Made any progress?" Sakuya's voice asked though the device.

"No we haven't," Sanae responded after taking the walkie-talkie out of her pocket.

"Keep searching, we're missing something. If we don't find anything, you remember where we were supposed to meet, don't you?" Sakuya asked just to make sure.

"Yeah, yeah. On top of the Saana at four am," Sanae responded and looked to the sky to see how high the sun was.

"Good, I wanted to make sure you remembered that," Sakuya said and disconnected. She then looked around herself and saw that Marisa had already leaft the area she was in. She just sighed and hoped that she'd come back to them when they were supposed to meet at the top. Meanwhile Sakuya was just looking at her walkie-talkie. The line had been open and she had heard the whole conversation between Sanae and Marisa. She heard what they had said about her, but she knew when to interrupt them when Sanae had revealed that Marisa was hiding something.

"We all have our secrets, it is unpolite to force someone to reveal it," Sakuya muttered and thought about their conversation back in the bus.

"They call me sick... Brings me back memories about why I kill humans. Nothing but insults," Sakuya thought to herself with grim look on her face.

"But no, I will not kill you... under any circumstances, for it would do more harm than good," Sakuya muttered as she continued her search.

"Sanae, you are a noble person, but that is only a coil shell. Deep inside you are just like them all... selfish, but oh so good person. Sometime when I look at her I almost feel like I wanted to be a normal human once again... almost, that is. But Marisa... deep inside I weel like she would see the world as I do... Thinking me as a mysterious character, what a way to hide one's own mysteries," Sakuya muttered as she kept walking and looking around herself. She was slowly reaching the top even if it still wasn't the time. She just wanted to have a better look at the envirioment around her. It made her feel more safe. Once she found a good place to scout thing out, she sat down and just watched. There were loads and loads of forest to her right and left and the rocky hill behind her. She could clearly see the village and the lake below her. Behind those were more fells just standing there lonely apart from each other, but still surrounded by their own. One small tear rolled down Sakuya's cheek when she was watching the view before her. She then just wiped the tear away and started to think.

"Under the hills of Saana, under the hills of Saana... Why it just cannot be that simple... There are just too many hikers and other people visiting this place every day, so someone should have already found it if there truly are any hidden entrances or pathways in here," Sakuya thought and looked down once again. Then suddenly her eyes bursted wide open when she realized that the answer was just in front of her.

"Under tha hills and rock of mighty Saana, of course!" Sakuya yelled while looking down at the village and the lake. She then took the walkie-talkie out of her pocket and reconnected the line with Sanae again.

"Forget what I said earlier. Meet me at the northeastern shore of the lake. I think I have figured where we need to go next," Sakuya said with enthused tone.

"Okay. I just caught up with Marisa, so I'll just tell her where our new meeting point is. We'll see you there," Sanae responded though the walkie-talkie. Sakuya then just put it back to her pocket and started descending down the slopes of Saana. It wasn't long till she reached the shore of the lake and as soon as she did she touched the lake's surface.

"Could it be..." She muttered out loud while looking at the mirror plain lake before her. She then stood up and started investigating the shores a bit more closely. There were no signs of any secret passages, but she was sure that it was nearby.

"It has to be down there, there is no other possibility," Sakuya muttered as she looked down into the lake with thoughtful look on her face.

"Hey Sakuya, we finally caught up with you," Sakuya heard Sanae yelling from behind her. She then turned around and saw how Marisa and Sanae appeared from the forest. Sakuya lookd at them for a moment. They had arrived so fast that she thought that Sanae had let Marisa be. She smirked a little before opening her mouth again.

"We have been off base. The treasure isn't hidden within the Saana. It is hidden literally under it," Sakuya said and stomped the ground below her gently.

"What are you getting at here?" Marisa asked with confused look on her face as she tilted her head.

"What do you bet that we have to dive into the lake to get our hands on that treasure," Sakuya said and threw a small rock into the lake. Few birds took off from the surface of the lake as the stone hit its surface.

"That isn't too far fetched. In the end the lake might not have been here six thousand years ago, so it is a worth to give it a shot," Sanae said and squat down at the water line.

"Yeah, we should, well assuming that you have lungs made of titan. Diving like this without using magic would take us months to find the treasure chamber assuming that it actually is in the lake. And besides, even if we could use our magic, it would be no use because I don't know how to control water," Marisa said with frustrated tone and kicked the sand on the shore.

"Hey, I could split the lake... but then again, it would take me over a week to prepare that sort of miracle," Sanae said with compassionate smile on her face.

"We still have options, do not worry. Follow me please," Sakuya said and signed Sanae and Marisa to follow her.

"Where are we going?" Marisa then asked and looked around herself. She didn't understand what Sakuya meant with that option thing.

"While looking around myself at the slopes up there, I happened to see a cottage near here. We could see if nobody is home and use it as our temporary base where we could scout things out a bit," Sakuya said with confident grin on her face.

"What do you have mind exactly?" Sanae asked with curious look on her face while following Sakuya along the shore.

"You will see, you will see. But first I have to make sure that my plan is possible to execute," Sakuya said with thoughtful look on her face and preened her hair. The cottage Sakuya had seen was just couple hundred meters from their location at the beach of the lake. It was fairly big and made out of logs. There was no light coming out of the windows nor any other signs of life, so Sakuya assumed that there was nobody there currently. She then sidled a little bit closer to take a peek through the window to make sure that they could use the cottage.

"A-are you sure this is a good idea. I think we're not supposed to be here," Sanae said and looked around herself nervously.

"Calm down, there is nobody there and most likely wont be for a long time. It does not seem like this cottage has been used for a long time. Come let's head inside," Sakuya said with relaxed tone and headed for the front door. Sanae and Marisa just looked how Sakuya started to pick the lock. After a moment there was a faint click and the door opened in front of them. Sakuya then peeked inside just to make sure that there was nobody inside before stepping in.

"Make yourself at home. I will go look through the stuff we can use," Sakuya said while rushing into the depths of the dark cottage. Marisa then just sat down to the couch and lookd at the interiors of the cottage.

"Pretty nifty. So what do you think Sakuya is up to?" Marisa asked while improving her poisture on the couch.

"Don't know, but she is definitely going underwater. But how is she going to do that, I don't know," Sanae said with thoughtful look on her face while rubbing her chin. They then heard few knocks and clangs from the upstairs before sakuya returned back to them. They looked at her for a moment. She was carrying a black bag with her. She then put the bag down and opened it in front of Sanae and Marisa. She then pulled out two black rubber suits and grinned.

"It seems like I was right. Tourists that come here also go diving. Lucky for us they seem to have left their equipment here," Sakuya said while inspecting the contents of the bag.

"Uhmmm, sorry, but what exactly are those?" Marisa asked with careful and confused tone while looking at Sakuya who was holding one of the suits up.

"These are wet suits. They are meant to allow humans to dive for a long perios of time. There were two suits and two oxygen tanks up stairs," Sakuya explained to Marisa while making sure that the suits were in good shape.

"But there are only two," Sanae said and pointed at the suits on the ground.

"Someone will have to stay here and monitor the situation from above water. The other two are going to dive into the lake and search for that possible treasure," Sakuya said and pulled out a map of the area that she had found from the upstairs. She then rolled it to the table and looked at it.

"Okay, I'll volunteer for staying here. Marisa is just too excited about the treasure that she could stay here and you have to keep her in check," Sanae said while lifting her hand as a sign for volunteering.

"Well it seems we have ourselves the teams. The clock is only about 00:30 am, so we have plenty of time. Sanae I hope that your phone is water proof, because we are going to need it with us to be used as flash light," Sakuya said and stretched her hand towards sanae.

"Luckily it is," Sanae said and gave her phone to Sakuya.

"We have our walkie-talkies, so we can keep in contact if we find an air pocket from down there," Sakuya said and pointed at the walkie-talkies on the table.

"So, Sanae, help Marisa to put that wet suit on. I will go up stairs and grab those oxygen tanks," Sakuya said and returned upstairs. Sanae then lifted the wet suit from the ground and looked at it for a moment.

"Okay Marisa, take off your clothes. You really can't put this on with them on," Sanae said and looked at Marisa with sly grin on her face.

"You really like this too much, don't you?" Marisa said with unamused tone while looking at Sanae who just stood there like she would know nothing. Marisa then just sighed and changed her outfit. Once she got the wet suit on she looked herself for a moment.

"Now I know why you didn't want to go underwater. It's like I'm wearing full body condom," Marisa said with weary look on her face while looking herself from a mirror. Sanae couldn't help herself and bursted out laughing. She then just tumbled on to the couch and laughed for a moment while holding her stomach.

"Heh, don't worry, it wont feel as strange once you go underwater. It is just so abnormal to see you wearing something like that," Sanae said with cunning grin on her face while sitting on that couch. Sakuya then returned from the upstairs with the two oxygen tanks.

"Seems like you are ready. Hold on a second and I will get my suit on," Sakuya said and lowered the tanks to the floor and changed her own clothes. It didn't take too long until Sakuya had gotten her wet suit on. She then lifted the tanks from the floor and attached the other one to Marisa's back and showed her how to use it properly. They then headed outside. There was about ten meters long pier overlooking the lake. Sakuya and Marisa then sat to the tip of the pier and Sakuya lifted her mask from her face before jumping into the water.

"Sanae, remember, we cannot talk to you underwater, but you can talk to us. Once the clock hits three am tell us to return if we have not done that already. Got that?" Sakuya asked with serious look on her face. Sanae just nodded to indicate that she understood. Sakuya then just put the mask back on and signed Marisa to follow her. There was a brief splash followed by another when Sakuya and Marisa dived underwater. Sanae looked down into the lake until she lost the visual to her friends. She then returned to the cottage to look at the map and se if she could figure out something from them.

Back in the lake Marisa was amazed. She was just looking around herself while underwater. The water wasn't too clean and she really couldn't see anything past ten meters until everything faded into that dark greenish drape shrouding everything to its warm embrace. She just floated there for a moment before she started to follow Sakuya who was heading down deeper into the depths of the lake. Sakuya was just signing her to follow as she descended deeper and deeper. Marisa had expected to see some fishes swimming here and there, but she was surprised when she didn't see any. She guessed that all of the fishes were scared of them, but she currently had much more pressing matters on hand than the missing fishes. They needed to find that treasure or the entrance to the supposed treasure chamber.

They swam for a minute or two until they reached the center of the lake. Sakuya then started to shed some light around them with Sanae's phone. Even if it was water proof, they had still covered it into a small plastic bag for just in case. They started to sweep the bottom of the lake. There were all kinds of plants and and rocks, but no signs of any ancient treasure. Nor were there any signs of that Arthur guy who had supposedly looked for that same treasure.

"Okay Marisa, think, think, think... We haven't seen or heard anything related to that guy who supposedly tried to find this treasure few hundred years ago, and we also hadn't find his corpse, so that would most likely mean that he didn't find it, but what ever killed him, we haven't reached it yet," Marisa thought while searching through the bottom of the lake.

"But if he got further than we are currently, we must be able to do so too... But how was he able to get down to the lake? They didn't have these kinds of equipments back then, now did they?" Marisa kept thinking while swimming between two rocks. She looked at the rocks for a moment.

"Are these carved? Naah, it is too hard to tell. The waters have grinded these rocks too much so I can't tell," Marisa thought and shrugged her shoulders, but then she happened to look down to the ground between the rocks. There was bunch of weed growing there, but there was a two meters wide empty circle in the middle of the weed field.

"Wait a sec," Marisa then said almost aloud when she saw it. She immediately swam closer to take a better look at it. The circle was covered in sand, but after she swiped it off with her hands, she wasn't going believe her eyes. The circle was made of iron in the middle of which was a small, round and about three millimeters deep hole. Marisa swam a bit closer to take a better look at it. In that smaller whole there was a tiny carving. After looking at the carving for a while she recognized it. It was that Hannunvaakuna thing that was on that cloth that they had found from that cave back at Pöös Rock and on the back of that coin.

"Wait... THE COIN!" Marisa then realized after looking at the carving for a moment. She then immediately swam to Sakuya and poked her shoulder. Sakuya turned around to see what Marisa was doing. Marisa just signed Sakuya to follow her back to the surface where she would tell her about her discovery. Sakuya looked at Marisa for a moment with confused look on her face, but decided to follow her nevertheless.

It didn't take them long until they reached the surface again and as soon as they did Marisa took her mask off.

"I found it! It was there between two rocks there was this metal circle," Marisa enthused while floating on top of the lake.

"Then why you did not show it to me?" Sakuya asked with a bit sceptical look on her face while floating on the water.

"It seemed like it would require a some sort of a key, and may just know what is the key," Marisa enthused with triumphant tone and look on her face.

"You wait right here and I'll get the key," Marisa yelled after she started to swim towards the shore. Sakuya had almost thought to have seen spittle dripping from Marisa's mouth. She actually was that enthused about the whole thing. Marisa swam like a torpedo towards the shore and as soon as she reached it she stood up, took off her flippers and ran towards the cabin where Sanae was looking at the maps. She immediately ran to the door and kicked it open.

"W-whoa! Marisa watch it a little! We don't want to break anything!" Surprised Sanae yelled at Marisa after she had just ran though the door.

"B-but aren't you supposed to be diving? Why back so soon?" Sanae then continued and looked how Marisa was digging her backpack.

"I found it, but now I just need that coin... Where is it?" Marisa said and stick her head into the back pack. She then pulled herself out while holding that coin in her hands.

"A-ha! Here you are," Marisa enthused and was ready to run back into the lake, but Sanae managed to stop her.

"Hold on, what did you find exactly?" Sanae asked with confused look on her face while holding Marisa from her shoulder.

"No time. I'll fill you in about the details once I have the chance," Marisa yelled, wrenched herself free from Sanae's grip and ran straight through the door and back towards the lake where Sakuya was waiting for her. She then put her flipper back on before jumping back into the lake. Sakuya was waiting for her near the shore and as soon as she saw Marisa getting back to the water she proceeded to ask what was all that haste about.

"Look at this. The same symbol was on that metal circle on the bottom of the lake and the size of that small hole is just about the same size as this coin is," Marisa said and showed the coin to Sakuya who looked at it for a moment.

"Well it seems that even blind chicken can find a grain eventually," Sakuya said and pulled her mask back on.

"Hah, you can taunt, but in the end it has been me who has found all of the important clues so far," Marisa said and grinned while putting her mask back on too.

"Okay, let us take a look what is hidden there," Sakuya said before diving back into the lake while signing Marisa to follow her. Marisa quickly did that and they both dived back into the green depths of that warm lake. Marisa was clinging to that coin very tightly for she thought that it was the one object standing between her and the treasure. After a short time Sakuya signed Marisa to take the lead and show her where she had found that circle. Marisa just nodded and started to look around herself as Sakuya shed some light around themselves with Sanae's phone. It didn't take her too long to find those two rocks again and as soon as she did she signed Sakuya that they had found it. Marisa then calmly swam to the rocks and showed Sakuya the circle. Sakuya looked it for a moment and touched the small hole in the middle of the circle. She then looked at Marisa and nodded to indicate that marisa could do it. Marisa then swam a bit closer to the circle and opened her palm. She looked at the coin for a moment and then turned it so that the symbol side was facing at the circle. She then brought it closer to the circle and took a deep breath. A faint click could be heard through the water as Marisa pressed the coin to its place.

"Click... click... click, click, click-click-cklickcklickcklic," The ticking sound got faster and faster and then suddenly a small cloud of dust rose from around the circle as it moved a bit. Then after a short silence the circle continued moving. It spinned slowly out of they way of something that semed like a small hole. Marisa was just holding her breath as she witnessed this astonishing sight. She just looked at Sakuya who seemed as astonished as she did as the metal circle spinned away from the hole. After the circle stopped it had moved away completely and they saw only the about 1 meter and 20 centimeters wide hole before them. Marisa then just swam a bit closer to it and took a look inside. It was dark, really dark. She then signed Sakuya to show some light to the hole, but even then they couldn't see the bottom of it. Marisa then just looked at Sakuya and signed to her that they had to go into the hole to see what was in. Sakuya looked at Marisa for a moment. Marisa swore that if she didn't know Sakuya any better, it would have seemed like she was nervous. Marisa then just ignored that feeling and started to crawl into the hole, for it was so thight that she couldn't swim through it properly. Heck, she was just barely small enough to even fit into the hole. Sakuya looked Marisa hesitantly for a moment before gulping and following her with shaky hands. She then just took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she entered the hole just behind Marisa.

They kept crawling through down the almost vertical hole not knowing what they would do if the hole would lead them to a dead end, because they weren't going to be able to turn around in that tight space.

"Good thing I'm not claustrophobic," Marisa thought to herself as she crawled down deeper into the darkness. She could easily feel Sakuya behind her. They started to feel how the hole started to get tighter and tighter and the slimy walls weren't easy surface to get grip on to. But soon to their relief they started to realize that the hole was starting to rise up again. Luckily it was gradual enough that they could climb it easily. How ever, despite the fact that the climb was pretty easy, it still took pretty long time. Twenty minutes they crawled in almost complete darkness until they noticed that the hole was starting to get wider. Marisa then sighed for relief as she started to see a dim glow of light from above them. She then started to pick up her speed as the hole got wide enough for her to swim up. After about twenty seconds she reached the surface of the water and she was quickly followed by Sakuya. Before she did anything else she took off her mask to take a better look at the space they were in. It was an another hole. No, not a hole. It was an entire cave. It seemd to be over one hundred meters from its floor to the ceiling and even wider than that. There were huge stalagmites hanging from the ceiling and reaching up from the floor. The whole place was lit with dim light, but they couldn't tell where it was coming from. Marisa then quickly swam to the shore of the small pond on the very edge of the cave from which they had entered the cave. Marisa pulled herself quickly to the dry earth and looked around herself in astonishment. She then took off her flippers so they wouldn't be on her way. But while putting them away, she saw how Sakuya was just silently sitting next to her and shaking a little.

"Hey, you okay?" Marisa asked with worried tone and she sat down besode Sakuya as she set down her flippers.

"J-just... sigh* I am juts not the biggest friend of thight places that is all... T-that place... it almost gave me a panic attack," Sakuya said with quivering tone. Marisa then just leaned closer to Sakuya and lowered her hand to Sakuya's shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, we're out of the cave now," Marisa tried to comfort Sakuya with colm tone and look on her face.

"But we have to return sooner or later," Sakuya said while looking at the pond in front of them with a bit frantic look on her face. Marisa had never seen this kind of look on Sakuya's face, so she really didn't know how to calm her down, but it seemed like she didn't need to for Sakuya soon stood up with determined look on her face.

"But let's not worry about that. We made it here and that is the most important thing. Let's take a look around ourselves and see what we have here," Sakuya said and started to aim the flashlight of Sanae's phone around her. She then took out her walkie-talkie and tried to contact Sanae. She tried few times, but each time there were just some static noises to be heard.

"Damn, cannot get the signal in here," Sakuya mumbled with frustrated look on her face as she put the walkie-talkie away.

"So where do you think we are?" Marisa then asked while looking around herself in the cave.

"This might be just a guess, but I am betting my life that we are currently literally under Saana," Sakuya said while looking and pointing her flashlight up to the ceiling of that cave. They then continued their walk towards the center of that cave, but as they started closing on to the center they started to stumble upon strange items. They were made of metal and were quite rusty. Marisa then proceeded to pick one up after almost tripping on to one.

"So what do you think this is?" Marisa asked and showed the object to Sakuya who looked at it for a moment.

"Well I am not an expert, but I would say that it is an ancient helmet. Look at the shapes," Sakuya said and moved her finger across the object showing some specific shapes of that object.

"A helmet... So that means we're not the first ones here, and for some reason I don't like that one bit," She mumbled as she looked around herself with sceptical look on her face.

"No, we are definitely not the first ones here. Check that out," Sakuya then said and pointed her flash light in front of them where there was a skeleton shrouded in really worn and old looking clothes. The skeleton seemed to be holding something that looked like an old backpack of some sort. Marisa and Sakuya quickly walked closer to the spooky remains of a human and leaned closer to it to take a better look.

"So who do you think our decomposing friend here is?" Marisa asked and poked the skull of the skeleton with a bit disqusted look on her face.

"I do not have a slightest clue, but we might want to check what was so valuable in that backpack that this guy would die hugging it," Sakuya said and put the phone down to take a better look at the backpack the skeleton was gripping on to.

"Seems like a good idea. Take his wallet," Marisa said playfully and giggled with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You are all hearts, Marisa," Sakuya mumbled while looking through the contents of that old backpack. She then emptied the contents to the floor of the cave. She was amazed. A few dozen of those same coins that Marisa had rolled to the stony ground. Together with them there was some mining gear and an old note and a piece of leather.

"Looks like this guy hit the jackpot. So what does it say on that note?" Marisa asked after Sakuya picked up that note and looked at it with curious look on her face.

"It is all English... Marisa, I think I know who we are looking at right now," Sakuya then said and lifted her gaze from the note.

"Who? Read it," Marisa said with impatient tone while looking at the coins on the ground.

"Hear this: Me, Arthur Ecclestone think that my adventure is over. I got really lucky. First I thought that this cursed winter was going to be hindrance for finding Sampo, but it turned out otherwise. The lake was completely frozen, so I was able to just dig my way to that trapdoor and proceed freely. But I never would have quessed that this place had already been picked clean centuries ago. Damn vikings it seems. The sigil of Erik the Red was in the most of the viking gear that I was able to find alongside with few of those coins I had found earlier. But no matter. I can't chase that treasure any further. While searching for it in this dark, god's forsaken land I caught a god knows what illness and I can feel that I'm not going to heal from it. I was just barely able to get even to this cave, so there's no hope getting out. If someone ever finds my body, please if you're able to continue where I left, please continue and bring the truth to the world. That piece of leather shows the drawn picture of Sampo. I found it from Taj Mahal. Make sure that my efforts were not in vain. Arthur Ecclestone," Sakuya read out loud and then just stared into nothingness for a moment and put the note down. She then lifted the piece of leather and looked at it for a moment. It was like the note had said. A quite large hexagonal mill was pictured on that piece of leather and there was a word written on it in Hindi. Sakuya didn't know how to read it, but she really didn't need eithr, because she could really easily guess it.

"Damn... so that's why he wasn't mentioined in any history books," Marisa said and looked at seemingly shocked Sakuya.

"What is it?" Marisa then asked from weird looking Sakuya.

"This has been all in vain," Sakuya said and facepalmed after dropping the piece of leather to the ground.

"How so?" Marisa asked with confused look on her face.

"He mentioined Sampo. If T´that is the treasure we are after, we could give up now," Sakuya said with pissed look on her face.

"Huh? What is Sampo? Why should we?" Marisa then asked with really confused look on her face. Sakuya then just looked at Marisa and stood up.

"Sampo is a legend from Finnish mythology. A mill that would grind you infinite amount of salt, flour and gold... especially gold. But that is the problem. It is only a myth mentioined in a grimoire called Kalevala. It is a legend about a paradice almost similiar to our Gensokyo where humans and monsters live together and magic is involved. It is almost like Scandinavian version of Gensokyo... an ancient verion," Sakuya said and looked at Marisa with serious look on her face.

"How do you know of that?" Marisa asked with confused tone and look on her face after Sakuya had explained the Sampo to her.

"I have readthe book. Patchouli has a copy of it in her library. It contains a lots of old spells, and I concider it as a good poetry," Sakuya said with sarcastic look on her face.

"B-but we have proof that it exists. Look at all of these coins!" Marisa yelled and showed her hand that was full of those coins that dropped from that backpack. Sakuya then looked at Marisa for a second and then took a few steps away from her. She just calmly picked up one of those helmets that were laying on the ground and looked at it for a moment. Then suddenly she roared and threw the helmet fiercely to the nearby stalagmite.

"What the hell Sakuya?" Marisa asked with with a bit startled and surprised tone and look on her face.

"Marisa, I am not looking for lousy pieces of tin! I am currently working against my orders here! Sigh* I was really counting on this one," Sakuya said angrily and sat down to a nearby rock and leaned against her knees.

"Come on, just relax. Let's look around. There's bound to be something useful here," Marisa said, took the old backpack from the ground and looked around the cave like looking for way out of that situation. She then took a few steps away from Sakuya like she had seen something.

"What is it?" Sakuya asked with low and almost depressed tone.

"I think we have something here," Marisa said and headed towards the center of that cavern. She had seen something there behind those stalagmites. Sakuya then sighed and decided to follow Marisa just in case.

"What is so important?" Sakuya asked after she caught up with Marisa who was just standing there with amazed look on her face. They were currently standing in the middle circle of that cave. It was quite large area surrounded with stalagmites and in the middle of it all was something that looked like a vague stony altar that had something written on it.

"So this is where it was held... There's no doubt, the treasure is real, it is just not here," Marisa said and walked a bit closer to that altar. They then realized that the altar was surrounded by dozens and dozens of skeletons.

"Erik the Red's men I suppose... What a waste," Sakuya muttered and kicked one of the skulls of those skeletons. They just looked for a moment how it rolled on the ground.

"So what do you think killed them? It's not like they had company here, is it?" Marisa then asked with a bit nervous look on her face.

"Highly doubt that," Sakuya said and leaned closer to one of the skeletons. She then slightly touched its worn and rusty armor and bones.

"Call me crazy, but it looks like they killed each other. Look each armor and helmet has the same sigils, but these people were killed with weapons like blades," Sakuya said with a bit surprised tone and stood up.

"So what? An ancient viking suicide club?" Marisa then asked and laughed nervously.

"Na-ah. There is something shady about this. And this text... Hmmm... Wait a second, it is short enough so I should be able to translate it without help of Sanae's phone," Sakuya said and took a better look at the text on the altar. Marisa then just leaned against the altar with her hands and sighed deeply.

"Can you imagine, an artefact of endless everything you could ever need was laying here... And then these people came and just... killed each other. Why?" Marisa wondered and rubbed her chin with thoughtful look on her face.

"I really do not know, but get this. I was able to translate it. It verbatim says: The greatest demand of mankind will be their undoing," Sakuya said and just looked at the text carved to the stone altar in front of her.

"So what exactly does that mean?" Marisa asked with confused look on her face while watching the skeletons around them.

"Usually the simplest answer is the most likely one. I would say greed. These men were too blinded by their lust for gold that they started killing each other for it. Those who stayed by Erik's side killed the rebels and took the Sampo away. You too should watch how much you desire something, it may turn out to be your downfall," Sakuya said with concerned tone and look on her face and looked at silent Marisa beside her.

"But enough of that, we must return to above ground, and you must think are you really going to chase this treasure or will you do the wise thing and forget that cursed thing. You alread found those coins. They are valuable by themselves so is it really worth it anymore?" Sakuya said and started walking back towards that pond via which they had entered the cavern in the first place. Marisa just took one of those coind from the old backpack and looked at it for a moment. She then just closed her eyes and sqeezed the coin with her hand.

"She's right..." She just muttered and started to follow Sakuya. She then just walked beside her with the coin in her hand. She then looked at Sakuya and grinned a little.

"So what do you think these coins will be wor-" Marisa started, but she wasn't able to finish her sentence, because they were interrupted by huge explosion behind them.

"GET DOWN!" Sakuya yelled and knocked Marisa to the ground before doing the same herself. Few of those stalagmites fell from the ceiling and shattered into millions of pieces after hitting the ground, but luckily they weren't injured by them.

"Are you okay!?" Sakuya yelled after they had recovered from the impact.

"Y-yeah, I think so," Marisa responded and held her head with shocked look on her face. Sakuya then just sighed for relief, but their relief was really short lived when they heard a familiar voice from the direction of that explosion.

"You my girls are just too easy to follow," Alexander Wolf said while walking towards them from the direction of the hole that had just been exploded to the wall of that cavern and clapping his hands with taunting smile on her face. With him there were dozens of merceneries and a woman who was walking beside him.

"Aaah, the Sampo, Kalevala, Erik the Red and all that sort of fun stuff, yeah, I heard it all," Wolf said with taunting tone while taking out his gun.

"How do you know of that?" Sakuya then asked with serious, but a bit confused look on her face while getting her hands up.

"That radio you have with you. You do realize that while it was on all the time I could hear everything you said with a little signal boost," Wolf said while waving that other walkie-talkie in his hands tauntingly.

"Huh, what did you do with Sanae!?" Sakuya then yelled when she realized that it was Sanae's walkie-talkie and that he had gotten it from her.

"Oh, don't worry. She is in no life threatening condition... as long as you play it cool," Wolf said and laughed a bit.

"You want that treasure? Go on then, it is all yours. Just give us our friend and we will leave you be," Sakuya said while gnashing her teeth. Marisa saw really clearly that admitting defeat wasn't really a thing sakuya did often.

"I'm afraid that you're not in the position to negotiate. I am the one with the gun and army, so I'll be the one deciding the terms and I assure you, you wont like them. You stole from my family, all of you and now you'll pay the price. But first, pleace retrieve that backpack from that blond, before we use them as our practise targets," Wolf said and grinned as he commanded one of his soldiers to get that backpack from Marisa. Sakuya then just looked at Marisa and signed her to not do anything stupid. The soldier then came and took the Ecclestone's backpack from Marisa while keeping his eye on Sakuya's every move, but it seemed that Sakuya really wasn't going to do anything to stop them. The soldier then just returned back to his boss and gave him the backpack. Wolf then just rummaged through its contents and just smiled satisfiedly.

"Heh heh heh, it seems that you've done all the hard work for me. So, I think that the time is up. I'll head towards Canada, but before I do that I'll rid myself from this thorn from my side," Wolf said and his expression quickly changed from amused to serious while pointing his gun at Marisa and Sakuya as his soldiers did the same.

"So, who wants to fire the first shot?" Wolf asked and looked at his soldiers, but before he could do anything Sakuya interrupted her.

"I!" She yelled and pulled out her gun that was attached to her belt. She then shot one of the soldiers that had a RPG. She hit the soldier and the soldier fell to the ground, but while doing so he accidentally pulled the trigger of that rocket launcher which fired the missile up towards the ceiling. It then hit the ceiling and the stalagmites and exploded causing many of those stalagmites to fall down above them.

"GET COVER!" One of the soldiers screamed as they scattered away from the falling stalagmites. Sakuya then just jumped behind one of those still standing stalagmites that pointed from the ground and pulled Marisa to cover with her. They then heard how those huge stone spikes hit the ground with tremendous force. They could just cover their ears as the bang filled the space.

"FIND'EM!" They then heard Wolf's furious voice yelling form the distance after the dust had dispelled. Sakuya then peeked from behind the stalagmite and saw that she had managed to crush few of the soldiers with that stalagmite drop. She then looked at Marisa with serious look on her face and signed her to follow her with her eyes burning with rage. Marisa just nodded and followed Sakuya as she started to flank the soldiers by scampering through the stalagmites and using them to protect them from being seen by the soldiers.

"What are we going to do? I didn't take my weapon with me when we went underwater," Marisa whispered with concerned tone and look on her face.

"Just stay low and follow my lead," Sakuya said with determined look on her face while sidling through spaces between stalagmites. But suddenly she topped and signed Marisa to do the same. She had heard something. She peeked carefully behind the stalagmite and saw that woman who had accompanied Wolf earlier. It seemed that who ever she was, she could be used against Wolf. She was still recovering from that cave-in from few moments ago. Sakuya didn't waste any time. She realized that she could offer them some sort of protection for she had to be somehow impotant for Wolf or he would have not just taken some random chick with him to chase the treasure. With a sharp move with her hand she grabbed the woman from behind her, covered her mouth so she couldn't scream for help and pulled her behind the stalagmites. The woman was trying to yell, but because Sakuya was covering her mouth only subdued mumbles could be heard. Sakuya the pulled out her gun agains and pointed it at the woman's forehead and glared at her.

"Now listen to me carefully, I am not afraid to kill as you might have realized. Now if you play it nice, you might walk out of this alive, but if you want to you can try to be though. Not that it would get you anywhere except being killed. You got that?" Sakuya asked with menacing look on her face while glaring deep into the woman's eyes. The woman just looked silently at Sakuya with terrified look on her face.

"Good, it seems that we understand each other," Sakuya with contented and creepy smile on her face as she grabbed the woman from her shoulders with her other hand and pointed the gun at her head with the oher. It seemed that she was going to use her as a meat shield.

"Marisa stay behind me, I am not sure how dirty this will get," Sakuya said just before stepping out from the shadows cast by the stalagmites and signing Marisa to follow her. Marisa just gulped a bit before following her. She had never been in a situation like this before, so she was really nervous and unsure what to do. They then just slowly stepped forward while Sakuya was holding that woman on gunpoint.

"WOLF!" Sakuya then yelled sharply that her voice echoed through the cavern. She just looked around herself with furious look on her face as the soldiers started to gather around her aiming at her and Marisa, but none of them shot any shots for they couldn't risk hitting Sakuya's hostage. After a moment Wolf came forward to see what was going on.

"Seems like that now I am on the position to dictate the terms, so what is it going to be? You release Sanae right now and let us go and nobody gets hurt!" Sakuya yelled at Wolf who looked like he was going to lose his temper at any moment.

"You release Sophie right now!" Wolf yelled at Sakuya and pointed his gun at her.

"You are not the one who syas the terms now. I have made myself very clear, let us go and we will leave you alone," Sakuya responded without even showing signs of backing off.

"YOU RELEASE HER RIGHT NOW OR I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Wolf screamed at her and it seemed like he was ready to shoot. It was at that moment when sakuya realized that she had truly hit his soft point by taking that woman as her hostage.

"Sakuya, are you sure that this'll work?" Marisa then asked with nervous and unsure look on her face while looking at the soldiers surrounding her. But before Sakuya managed to respond Marisa noticed that there was this one soldier staying in the distance and aiming at them. Marisa didn't really know what that soldier was up to, but her gut told her that they were in danger.

"Sakuya, look out!" Marisa yelled and pointed at the sniper in the distance. Once Sakuya noticed him she immediately pointed her gun at him and fired without hesitation. Luckily she hit her target and the soldier dropped dead instantly, but that ruined their plans completely. Once her attention had drawn to that sniper Wolf had had enough and something snapped inside him.

"KILL'EM!" He yelled from the bottom of his lungs and as soon as he had finished his sentence all the soldiers started firing at them. Marisa dashed into safety immediately and survived without wounds. Sakuya on the other hand had to take cover behind that woman who she was holding as hostage. She was covering her head as the bullets ripped the woman into shreads. Luckily the body offered her just barely enough protection so she didn't get hit. Once she got a chance she apandoned the shredded corpse of that woman and jumped into safety behind those stalagmites where Marisa was. Once she got into safety she just leaned against that stalagmite and breathed heavily. It was a miracle that she had survived and even without a scratch.

"THAT GUY IS CRAZY!" Marisa yelled at Sakuya over all that gunfire. Sakuya just looked at Marisa and nodded with dead serious look on her face. But then Sakuya heard something over the sound of the gunfire. A really familiar metallic clunk that reminded her of something. After that she strecthed her arm out of her cover like driven by instinct and grabbed something from the mid air. It was a granade. She then quickly proceeded to throw it back at the soldiers and she was just in time. The granade exploded in mid air and caused few more of those stalagmites to drop down from the ceiling, but this time when they hit the floor the after shock it created was enough to make even more of those stalagmites to fall which created a chain reaction. The whole cavern had turned into a warzone that was starting to collapse on itself. Everyone soon noticed this including Marisa, Sakuya and the soldiers.

"RETREAT TO THE ENTRANCE!" Sakuya and Marisa heard one of the soldiers yelling as the stalagmites started to drop at faster rate. The gunfire stopped and the soldiers started to retreat back to that entrance they had blown for themselves. Sakuya used this moment to jump out from her cover and shoot as many soldiers as she could possibly aim at. She was able to drop six in total until she ran out of bullets.

"QUICK, WE MUST FOLLOW!" Sakuya yelled at Marisa over the crumbling of that collapsing cavern. Marisa then got out of her cover and started following Sakuya while dodgning all of that falling stone and rubble. They were almost halfway there, but then suddenly few soldiers who had stayed behind at the entrance started shooting at them, so they had to take cover again.

"SHIT!" Sakuya yelled as she was leaning against a rock that had fallen from the ceiling.

"We have to get past them!" She continued, but she had no time to act when she was slammed down by Marisa who yelled, "LOOK OUT!" They hit the ground just before a huge chunk of solid rock fell from the ceiling almost directly above them. There was a huge bang and then it became silent and dark.

..."..."...

"Uuughh, my head," Marisa groaned as she started finally to recover. She tried to scratch her hair, but she soon realized that she couldn't move her hand freely. After regaining her sense of reality she started to realize how lucky she was. She was currently in a really tight and dark space between the floor and huge boulder which were separated by only one smaller rock tall enough so she didn't crush under that huge boulder.

"Uhhh, let's try getting out of here," Marisa muttered as she started to drag herself towards the light few meters away from her. It was really hard to pull yourself out from that small space, but eventually Marisa succeeded and managed to get out from under that huge boulder. She then stretched her arms and joints that had been bruised a little bit on that incident they had.

"Wait a moment, where's Sakuya!?" Marisa then realized and snapped out from her stretching session.

"Sakuya!? Where are you!?" Marisa yelled so loudly that her voice echoed though the wrecked cavern. She then realized how badle damaged the whole place was. Loose bits of rocks and rubble were everywhere and where there used to be stalagmites rising from the floor there currently were just huge loose boulders. Once she started to look more closely she began see those mangeled corpses of those soldiers that had not managed to get out.

"D-don't tell me that Sakuya..." Marisa slurred with a bit frightened look on her face, but then suddenly she heard some wheezing under the rocks. She almost jumped from relief after hearing that. She immediately started to dig the stones and rocks away.

"Sakuya hold on, I'll get you out of there," Marisa yelled through the rubble, but she was just barely able to finish her sentence when she came across a boulder she wasn't able to move by hand. She quickly looked around herself and saw a rifle pointing from the rubble few meters away from her.

"That'll give me the leverage I need," Marisa muttered and quickly ran to the rifle. She then just pulled it from the ground and returned to that boulder to wedge it off. She pushed the back of the rifle between the rock and the other and started to push. It was even heavier than she had thought, but eventually she managed to get it moving. With one sharp jolt the rock rolled away and as soon as it did Sakuya stood up from the rubble that had been under that boulder. She just sat there, holding her chest and breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" Marisa then asked after she had caught her breath.

"I-I think so... Than you. God, it took all the nerves I got to not start panicking under there. I just cannot stand constricted places," Sakuya managed to stutter after she had recovered from that a bit traumatic experience of hers. Sakuya then stood up and took a deep breath before looking around herself.

"Looks like we are the only ones who made it, well except those dickheads who blew up the place. Seriously who thinks that it is a good idea to throw grenades in a place like this," Sakuya bridled with pissed look on her face.

"So much for the returning home," Marisa said and sighed deeply while investigating if she had any major injuries that she hadn't noticed earlier.

"You are goddam right," Sakuya muttered and walked down the pile of rocks they were standing on. On her way down she grabbed some ammo from a dead soldier that had gotten stuck under one of those boulders. She then approached one of the corpses and kneeled before it.

"What are you doing?" Marisa asked with a bit confused look on her face as Sakuya started to rip equipment off from the soldier with her knife. She then got the soldiers bulletproof vest and threw it to Marisa.

"Put this on, we need some protection," Sakuya said and moved to the next soldier after grabbing the ammo from the last corpse.

"For what for?" Marisa asked while doing what she was told to.

"They have Sanae. We have to get her back, no matter the cost," Sakuya said after she had gotten the other bulletproof west and had put it on.

"I get your point, but why this over protectiveness? I mean, we mean nothing to you, right? Why are you suddenly so protective towards us?" Marisa asked with curious tone and serious look on her face.

"You clearly do not get it. You, me and Sanae all have big amounts of magical power stored within our bodies. If we die here and humans discover that power, imagine what they could do with it. We are like living powercells to them if they were to find out. That is why we have to find her and get her back. Living or dead," Sakuya said with dead serious look on her face as she looked directly to Marisa's eyes while explaining.

"O-oh... Well damn, we better get moving then... assuming that our diving equipment wasn't destroyed during that incident we had," Marisa said and kicked the rock near her with frustrated look on her face.

"Here take this," Sakuya said and threw a gun for Marisa who grabbed it and looked at it for a moment.

"That is Beretta 92fs, should not be too hard or powerful for you to use it. I assume that you left my luger back to our cabin, so this will come in handy," Sakuya said and grinned a bit.

"You must really like the weapons of the outside world, mustn't you?" Marisa asked and looked at Sakuya who was seemingly searching for something.

"That I do, but still not nearly as much as I love my own knifes," Sakuya said with indifferent tone while moving some rocks away from the body near her.

"What are you searching for by the way?" Marisa then asked and walked closer to Sakuya.

"A way out," Sakuya responded calmly like it would have been obvious, which it technically was but her way of doing so just didn't seem like it.

"You know that digging yourself out isn't the brightest idea currently and the passage that they blew to get here is currently blocked by rocks and rubble," Marisa said with a bit sarcastic tone and look on her face.

"Well not for long!" Sakuya said with confident grin on her face as she pulled a rocket launcher from the rubble.

"Say hello to a RPG-7. They had these so I figured that some may have survived the collapse," Sakuya said and made sure that the thing worked and swiped some dust off from it.

"Uhmmm, isn't that one of those things that blew the most of the cavern up?" Marisa asked with a bit frightened tone when she saw Sakuya inspecting the one she had found.

"A damn good way to escape, wouldn't you agree?" Sakuya added with serious tone and pointed it at the wall that had collapsed on top of that path Wolf and his men had blown to the wall.

"A-are you sure that this is a good idea? Wouldn't that bring the rest of this cavern down on top of our heads?" Marisa then asked with worried tone and grabbed Sakuya's shoulder before she managed to fire.

"Most certainly, but we most likely will have over half minute to get out before there is nothing left of this cavern," Sakuya replied and took aim with the rocket launcher.

"I feared as much," Marisa muttere, crouched and blocked her ears before Sakuya fired the weapon. She could clearly hear when the rocket left the weapon and flew towards the collapsed cave that had been blown up. Then the sound of explosion filled the whole cavern. Sakuya threw the RPG away and grabbed Marisa wrom her collars.

"Run!" She yelled and pulled Marisa up and started running towards the entrance that the rocket had blown open again. Marisa started tailing Sakuya as fast as she could and while doing so she started to feel and hear how the rest of the already unstable cavern started to collapse above them. They just kept running and dodging the boulders that had started to fall down from the ceiling.

"Do not stop! We are nearly there!" Sakuya yelled as she jumped over one of those boulders that were still on the way of them in that entrance tunnel. Marisa just followed Sakuya's lead and sighed for relief when she saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. They kept running for few seconds and then heard massive crumbling from behind them and a thick cloud of dust surrounded them.

"Cough* Cough* Y-you okay?" Marisa asked after the cloud had somewhat cleared and they could see again.

"Yes, I am. I believe that the cave is now no more. This is why we cannot have nice things," Sakuya said and panted while leaning against her knees.

"Yeah, pant* ...remind me to never give you a rocket launcher ever again," Marisa responded and laughed a bit. They then continued towards the end of the tunnel which was only about few dozen meters away. As they stepped back into the light the sun blinded them for a moment, but their eyes got soon used to the light of the morning sun again. They looked around themselves. It seemed that the entrance which the soldiers and Wolf had blown up was on the slopes of Saana. Then they happened to look behind themselves. The whole fell had collapsed on top of itself and it was hundreds of meters lower now.

"Gulp* L-let's just get the heck out of here before the locals can connect us to the collapse of their land mark," Maris said nervously and started jogging down the slope.

"You are not kidding," Sakuya responded while looking at the collapsed fell with amazed and a bit terrified look on her face. She then ran after Marisa and started walking beside her.

"So what now? We are out, but we have to save Sanae. Where do we start?" Marisa asked with worried tone as they walked away from the wreckage.

"First of all, we will return to that cottage and see what is left. We are still wearing only our diving suits after all," Sakuya said with determined look on her face.

"But if they found Sanae they must have rummaged through that place," Marisa responded. She really didn't seem too feel optimistic about the situation.

"Most likely, but I will doubt that they destroyed the cottage for no reason. They think we are dead, so they should have no reason," Sakuya said as they continued their walk back towards the lake and the cottage which they had used as their temporal base. Their walk was long, but they eventually reached their destination. On their way back to the cottage they tried to avoid attracting too much attention, but they still saw how the streets were filled with terrified and amazed people who were just looking at the remains of Saana.

"Hope no one connects us to that," Marisa whispered with nervous and worried look on her face while looking at the people.

"Tell me about it," Sakuya responded and tried to maintain her calm as they walked through the crowded road near the beach. Once they reached the cottage they left the crowd behind them and rushed back into the cottage.

It was just like they had feared. The whole place had been clearly rummaged through and most of their important items had been taken like Marisa's backpack where they had the stone tablets and other clues and Sakuya's Luger. They looked around themselves for a moment, but sighed for relief when they found out that atleast their clothes had been speared. They got dressed up immediately and collected every useful thing that the soldiers had left behind.

"Well it is like you said. The place is a complete mess, but we still found at least some of our belongings, but what now? Do we have any clues on how to follow Wolf?" Marisa asked and looked at Sakuya.

"I know it looks bad, but we do have enough. When we went diving I had Sanae's phone with me and I still have it. We can use that and Wolf also mentioned Canada. What do you bet that that is the place where Erik and his men took Sampo after getting it out of here," Sakuya responded with thoughtful look on her face.

"I once again don't know anything what you're talking about, but I suspect you know what you're doing," Marisa said and grinned a little.

"By now you should have more faith in me, but anyhow. Let's leave. I believe that our best shot to get to Canada is from Norway and when we take notice on how messed up this place is, I would say that it is going to be a long walk through tundra until we reach the coast," Sakuya said with arms crossed over her chest while looking through the window.

"You're not saying that we need to progress on foot, do you?" Marisa asked with a bit annoyed tone and look on her face when she heard what sakuya said.

"Indeed I do. We cannot use public transport to get over the borders. We do not have passports so the only way to get to the coast and to possible way to cross Atlantic is by walking over the border," Sakuya said and signed Marisa to get up. Marisa just sighed and got up like Sakuya had signed.

"Okay from here on we are not after the treasure. We get Sanae back and we get the heck out of this world. You ready?" Sakuya asked while opening the door of that cottage.

"As I'll ever be," Marisa said, sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Sakuya just nodded as they stepped out and started their long walk across the tundra towards the coast of Norway in the hopes of finding a way to Canada. Even more people had gathered on to the streets to wonder what had happened. It seemed that police had appeared too, so Sakuya and Marisa tried to keep low profile while walking though the crowd. Even the local media had already appeared.

"How long we were unconscious in that cavern if this many people have already gathered here?" Marisa asked as they squeezed through the people who were taking pictures of that collapsed fell.

"Maybe hour, maybe more or maybe less, but Wolf has certainly gotten a huge headstart on us that is for sure. They are most likely at the coast already if they have not left already," Sakuya said while trying to keep low profile.

"I hope Sanae is fine," Marisa continued with quilty look on her face.

"Me too, but do not worry about it for now. Let's just get going so we can gain even a little on Wolf and his men," Sakuya said and sighed for relief when they managed to get rid of the crowd on the streets. It seemed like straight saft from here. They would just need to follow the road and get around the toll booth by walking a kilometer or two through tundra. It was a long way to walk, but they really didn't have any other choice. They had to find a way to get to Canada as soon as possible. From there they could start to track down Wolf.

Their journey progressed slowly, but surely. Sakuya had searched a way for them to smuggle themselves to Canada. She had checked with Sanae's phone where was the closest city where cargo ships stop. It seemed like a small town called Finnfjord was their best chance, allthough it was about 100 kilometers from the border. A walk that long would take them about two days, but if they make it, it should be quite easy for them to get onboard one of those cargo ships. They walked for whole day. Once they were sure they had crossed the border they started walking through tundra to get to their destination faster. The views around them were amazing. Sky was clear and sun was shining brightly. Scandic mountains could be seen rising miles away in front of them. The view was at least breath taking. The whole day passed by with them walking for dozens of kilometers. Marisa was amazed by the landscape. She had seen mountains before, but never an actual mountain range. She just kept looking around herself while trying to keep up with Sakuya, but in the end the evening came and they needed to stop to rest and sleep. They really didn't have anything proper to sleep on, so they had to rely on the materilas that nature offered. Luckily it had not rained for quite long time, so the moss was quite soft and dry platform to sleep on. They were just laying there few meters away from each other. Marisa was just gazing up to the sky that was lit by the midnight sun.

"Sigh* Our adventure got a really nasty turn, didn't it?" Marisa asked with a bit plaintive and repentant look on her face.

"You mean your adventure? You were the one who dragged us along, so you have only yourself to blame for all this," Sakuya said with indifferent tone with closed eyes while trying to get some sleep.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry you know. If I knew that it would come to this, I would never have attempted this," Marisa apologized and looked at Sakuya.

"I wont doubt that," Sakuya simply responded and just rolled to her side. Marisa then just sighed and started to rummage through her pockets. She was going to see if she could create a small shooting star with her Hakkero to lighten up the mood a bit.

"What the... No, don't tell me...," Marisa yelled suddenly.

"What is it now?" Sakuya asked and sounded a bit annoyed when Marisa wouldn't shut up while she was trying to get some sleep.

"I can't find my Hakkero. Oh shit! Wolf's men gotta have found it and taken with'em!" Marisa yelled with a bit panicking look on her face.

"Oh, son of a... Wait, maybe that is not so bad thing. Think about it," sakuya then said with a bit upbeat tone and look on her face.

"How is loosing my weapon to the hands of that maniac a good thing!? That cannon should never leave my side, and you yourself said that the humans of this world should never get to know about our magical powers!" Marisa panicked while still searching through her pockets.

"They do not know it is magical, but Sanae knows. She is the only one who knows how that device works. If she is clever, she can use that to ensure that she keeps herself alive. If she manages to convince them that she is more worth to them alive than dead, there is a high chance that we can rescue her," Sakuya said and when Marisa heard that she too got a bit more optimistic towards the situation they were in. They both agreed to just hope for the best from now on. They then went to sleep for they would need all the energy they could get if they wanted to be a match for Wolf and his army.

The sun shined through the whole night, so they didn't get too many hours a sleep until they woke up again. Marisa didn't like how the midnight sun had messed her internal clock, but there was little she could do about it. They then continued their walk. I they continued like this they could reach Finnfjord before the evening. And so they did. Their walk was quiet and quite boring, but eventually they reached the town. It wasn't as big as they had expected, but it had clearly big enough dock where the cargo ships could stop. And lucky for them there was one currently being loaded. Marisa and Sakuya were currently standing on the slope of a mountain just looking at the town and planning their next move.

"My feet hurt like hell," Marisa whined while taking her shoes off.

"So here we are. And what now?" Marisa continued while rubbing her feet and looking at Sakuya who took the binoculars from her pocket and started to scout things out.

"I am working on a plan... The ship is currently being loaded, but it seems like it is gonna take a while until it leaves. They have lots of containers. With any luck we could hide inside one of them," Sakuya said and lowered the binoculars from her eyes.

"Let's get going then," Marisa said and put her shoes back on, but Sakuya grabbed her from her sleeve before she could get any further.

"We have to be extra cautious. This might be our only chance to get to Canada, so I will not tolerate any sloppy moves. Got that?" Sakuya said with strict tone and looked into Marisa's eyes. Marisa just nodded quietly. Sakuya then just stood up and they started to walk down the slope of the mountain. They then casually entered the streets and started walking towards the docks. It was quite obvious that word about their small incident back at Saana had spread fast already. Sakuya found a news paper from the streets and saw a picture of collapsed Saana on the front page.

"Seems like we cause havoc where ever we go," Sakuya said and showed the picture to Marisa. Marisa looked at the picture for a moment and just nodded. Sakuya then just threw the news paper away and they continued their walk towards the docks. Once they reached it, they hid behind one of those storage buildings and Sakuya took her binoculars out once again.

"What do you see?" Marisa asked while watching Sakuya who was scouting things out with her binoculars.

"Okay, there are six containers left one of which is little bit separated from the others. If we wait for the rigth moment we could be able to sneak into that," Sakuya said while lowering her binoculars.

"Sounds like a plan. So how we are gonna sneak in?" Marisa asked while looking around herself to make sure that nobody would see them.

"Wait here. The locks on those containers can be tricky, but I am sure that these docks have the tools I need," Sakuya said and signed Marisa to wait there as she started to sneak towards to the entrance of the warehouse they were behind of. There was a lots of hiding places, so it was easy to make progress. Not that there were many workers who could have spotted her, but having enough cover made her feel safer. She then soon reached the entrance to the warehouse, and when she was sure that no one was going to see her she sidled in.

The warehouse was quite large ans spacious. It actually seemed more like a carage for ships than a warehouse now when she had gotten in. There were few smaller ships that were lifted on rails. Sakuya sneaked behind a concrete block and looked around the warehouse.

"Good, it seems like I am alone," Sakuya muttered and stood carefully up from behind the block. She then sneaked closer to one of the ships and started rummaging through the tools scattered around it.

"Come on... I know they have at least one," Sakuya muttered while searching through the tools that were just laying on the ground. She knew exactly what she was after, so when she finally found the tool she was after she grabbed it immediately with her and rushed towards the back wall, behind which Marisa was supposed to be waiting. She inspected the wall for a second ans soon she noticed a window high up on the wall. She then saw that next to the window there was a scaffolding which she could use to reach the window to save some time. She started to climb, but when she was almost at the top she heard how the door of that warehouse opened. She rushed up and hid behind the safety railing of that scaffolding. She heard how two men walked in and started working on one of the ships. It seemed like they hadn't noticed Sakuya, so she stood up carefully, opened the window ajar and sidled through it. She hanged from the edge of the window for a moment to calculate the length of the drop and to make sure that Marisa was still waiting for her. Once she was sure that the drop wasn't too long she let go and landed behind Marisa.

"What the- Crap, you scared me," Marisa said with surprised look on her face once she saw Sakuya behind her.

"So, did you find what you were looking for?" Marisa continued and looked at Sakuya who pulled something out from under her jacket. The tool she was holding in her hands was a common crowbar. Marisa looked at the crowbar for a moment and then at Sakuya.

"A crowbar? Really? You said that the lock on those containers could be tricky, and the tool you need is just a simple crowbar?" Marisa bridled with a bit disappointed tone and look on her face as she looked at Sakuya.

"Hey, not everything in the outside world need to be cool and flashy," Sakuya said, flipped the crowbar on her hand and continued, "These things never let you down. You should know that as a theif." Marisa just looked at Sakuya and sighed.

"Now then, let's catch that container," Sakuya said and signed Marisa to follow her as she started to sneak across the docks towards the container that was still standing there a bit away from the other containers. It took them a while to sneak to the container for there were much more pairs of eyes to spot them than on Sakuya's trip to the warehouse. They had to often use the moving machines to hide themselves from the workers. It was a risky move, but the only possible one when they needed to get through some open areas. There were few occasions where they almost got caught like when Marisa accidentally stumbled to a hose that was laying on the ground and when the container behind which they were hiding for a moment was suddenly lifted. But despite all of this they still managed to get to the container that was next to a small cote. Marisa and Sakuya then lookedaround themselves and when they were sure that they wouldn't be noticed Sakuya took a look at the lock on that container. Luckily the front of the container was turned away from the center of the docks, so they had a quite good blind spot which they could use to open the container without being seen. Sakuya then slammed the crowbar between the lock and the door of the container and started wring it open. After a minute or two she stopped and looked at Marisa.

"Damn, no matter how hard I try this lock does not give in," Sakuya said and leaned against her knees.

"Hmmm, let me try," Marisa responded with toughtful look on her face and grabbed the crowbar. She then put the crowbar carefully between to door an lock and gave it a little tuck. There was a brief click and the lock opened immediately. Sakuya looked at the container and then at Marisa with amazed look on her face.

"H-how did you...," Sakuya stuttered with confused tone and look on her face while pointing at the open container.

"You know I'm a thief right? I have more than enough experience with things like this," Marisa said and flipped the crowbar in her hands with proud grin on her face.

"Maybe you are not so useless afterall," Sakuya said and grinned a bit. She then signed Marisa to move inside to container, and as soon as she did Sakuya followed her and shut the door behind them. It took a moment, but eventually Sakuya managed to turn on the lamp of Sanae's phone so they could see around them in the container.

"While we are at it, we could take a look at what we are traveling with," Sakuya said and pointed the flashlight towards the back of the container. There were wooden crates that had something written on them. Sakuya walked a bit closer to see what it was.

"Gunpowder? Wait a second...," Sakuya said with a bit surprised and shocked look on her face when she saw what the crate held.

"There are weapons, materials and rations for months at least. Could this be going for the Wolf and his men? This looks like restocking supplies to me," Sakuy said and rubbed her chin.

"If all these crates hold weapons and other suplies, then that Wolf guy isn't joking around. But why all of this? Wasn't he supposed to think that we're dead? What is he preparing for?" Marisa asked with really concerened look on her face and stepped away from the containers.

"I do not know, but if all of this is meant to go to Wolf, I bet that we are going to find out," Sakuya said and looked at Marisa with serious look on her face. They then felt how the container was lifted from the ground. They just sat down and just waited as the workers lowered the container into the cargo ship's hold. There was no going back now. They were on their way to Canada and Wolf wanted or not. It probably goes without saying that the tension was high. Not just with Sakuya and Marisa, but also back in Gensokyo, for Reimu could just pray for the gods that Sakuya, Marisa and Sanae were going to be okay after she heard what Yukari had to say about Marisa's treasure hunt. And the prayers they truly needed, for they had been separated from each other without even knowing if Sanae was alive. But she was. In the middle of the Atlantic ocean Sanae was sitting tied in the hold of another ship not knowing that she, Wolf, Marisa, Sakuya and every soldier on board were traveling towards a discovery which was going to be the end of so many lives. And when they would find it, death isn't going to be the worst of their fears.

To be continued...