The sky is starless and dark. The only thing visible through the strange pall of scarlet mist was the Moon, shining unnaturally bright and red. Silhouetted against it, in the dead of night, was the vampire responsible for the incident. Remilia Scarlet, she had said. She's small, and if it wasn't for the bright red eyes, the batlike wings, and the wickedly sharp teeth that glinted in her open mouth between sentences, Reimu wouldn't have thought much of her.

Of course, even that's stupid, thinking on it, considering how many unassuming, tiny people have given Reimu a hard time. She's drifting in the slight wind, wings only occasionally flapping, glowing eyes fixed on Reimu's position. At this distance, in this light, all Reimu can really make out are those eyes, staring at her, piercing and intense.

The two of them float there for a few moments before Reimu reaches down, grabbing a bunch of ofuda. She's only barely moved her arms, however, when Remilia is suddenly in front of her, wearing a terrifyingly large, toothy grin. Huh, so vampires are as fast as Tengu… Reimu manages to quickly dodge to the side, avoiding a punch that would've hit her right in the face, but in close quarters like these, Remilia's speed is more than she can deal with properly.

The next blow lands, a quick but powerful kick to Reimu's stomach, one that instantly knocks all the air from her lungs. Thoughts jumbled in her head, she's only faintly aware of Remilia moving in for another blow, but every instinct just screams "Run away." Reimu quickly flies back out of the way, faster than she thought she could move, opening up the distance between them again. Reimu clenches her fist on the ofuda she has bunched in her hand, and then throws them forwards in a quick, broad spray.

Remilia responds with her own spray of danmaku, a burst of multicolored bullets of varying sizes that blot out the darkened sky. Reimu takes a moment to collect herself and regain her breath before she weaves between them. Unsurprisingly, it was nasty to dodge, bullets brushing against her clothes and singing the fabric. It doesn't help that Remilia's a tricky target - she's fast, and small, weaving between the waves of ofuda that Reimu throws her way, getting closer and closer.

Close combat isn't really disallowed by the Spell Card rules, but it's definitely frowned upon. Not that Remilia seems to care. If she had ridiculous strength like that, Reimu would prefer the melee option too.

Right when she gets close enough to throw another punch, Reimu pulls up a barrier. It takes the first blow, but cracks, and a snarling Remilia just pulls back her other fist to finish the job. Before she can hit it again, however, the barrier explodes in a spray of danmaku. Under the veil of smoke, Reimu directs one of the Yin-Yang Orbs up and over Remilia's head.

Just as the smoke clears, the orb slams into the back of Remilia's head, knocking her off balance. Reimu takes the opportunity to slam an ofuda into her forehead. Remilia makes a pained, strangled hissing sound, looking up at Reimu as she readies another wave of ofuda.

None of them hit. Remilia splits into a swarm of squeaking bats, each one expertly maneuvering through the field of danmaku. Each one shoots out its own little burst of bloodred magic at Reimu. Some, she dodges, while others she deflects with the gohei or one of the Yin-Yang Orbs. The bats swarm around Reimu quickly, snapping at her with little jaws, so she fends them off with another barrier, giving herself a moment to pull out another handful of ofuda.

The bats gather and reform into Remilia, who cracks the barrier with a kick. Instead of following up with another, however, she flies back and fires a burst of magic straight at her. Reimu can't move fast enough to save her barrier, even if she dodges every projectile. Her barrier is chipped off, little by little, and as soon as it disappears…

A scarlet chain whips out of the bullets and wraps around Reimu's wrist. She doesn't have the time to process it's there before she's pulled forwards, through the hail of danmaku - Remilia pulls her into as many bullets as possible. She's quickly face to face with her again, a moment that seems to drag on for a tiny moment before Reimu feels Remilia's fist slam into her stomach.

Ow, broken ribs, broken ribs! Remilia then turns around, swinging her through the air, and throws her into the mansion. Into the mansion quickly becomes through the mansion, and Reimu skids over the ground, splinters of broken wood in her skin. She kicks off back into the air just as another blast of scarlet magic vaporizes the ground where she had been before.

"What's wrong, shrine maiden? I'm just playing!" Remilia's smug voice rings in her ears, and Reimu catches her in the corner of her eyes, flying high above with the Moon behind her. "Come on, you couldn't have beaten Patche and Sakuya fighting like this!" Reimu rubs blood from her face and scowls, glaring up at her.

She jabs her gohei at her and floats up further, yelling, "You're not the only one who's playing!" While Reimu can't make out her face, she can see her grinning condescendingly in her head, and the thought floods her body with rage. She shoots at Remilia. The distance between them disappears way faster than Reimu thought possible, and it's only when she's swinging a kick at Remilia's head from behind her that Reimu realizes she teleported without intending to again.

Remilia's hat is knocked from her head, and it drifts through the sky, carried away by the breeze. The vampire whirls around, with a confused, surprised expression - before she can retaliate, Reimu kicks her in the face again, and then swings one of the Yin-Yang Orbs down at her head.

To her surprise, Remilia catches it, claws scrabbling against the surface of the orb as Remilia forces it back, straining. "Heavier than it looks, huh?" Remilia just growls in response, catching the other orb as it flies at her with her other hand. Of course, that leaves Remilia herself open, something that Reimu takes advantage of, with a flurry of close-range ofuda shots.

What would be painful normally is agonizing for a youkai, and, hissing in pain, Remilia withdraws. Reimu doesn't expect what comes next, which is Remilia tearing the ofuda from her body. She doesn't touch them directly, no, she just rips out the flesh where they stick. It makes Reimu a bit sick.

The wounds heal rapidly, exposed muscle and ragged skin turning back to soft, untouched flesh. Reimu grabs an ofuda to throw at her, but Remilia grabs her by the wrist. Then - snap - Remilia crushes her wrist in her hand. Reimu muffles a small shriek by biting down on her lip, an effort that quickly becomes pointless when Remilia rakes her claws over her cheek.

Reimu feels blood trickling down her face, and Remilia's claws slicing through her brow, narrowly missing her eye. She tries to pull away, but Remilia pulls her back in, slamming her head into hers. Reimu's brain rattles in her skull, and she stops thinking. She clenches her fist, gripping the purification rod tightly, before ramming it up and forwards.

Straight through Remilia's eye. There's another sharp, shrill sound, but Remilia doesn't pull away, instead pushing herself closer, claws digging into her wrist. Remilia opens her mouth, fangs gleaming, and Reimu has a startling moment of clarity. She's going to rip out my throat. Her heart pounds in her chest, terror grasping at her limbs. She's not strong enough to pull away, but she has to do something, anything - thought gives way to instinct, again, and she blacks out.

When she comes to, Reimu finds herself in a place that is, happily, not Remilia's grasp. She's a couple meters away, ragged and limping through the sky. Remilia is hovering a few feet away, struggling and tearing ofuda from her skin, before ripping apart a barrier that shimmered around her. "You're full of surprises," Remilia snarls, turning around to face her. "I am too!"

She stretches out her hand, and in her arm, a long, bright red spear manifests in her grip. "HAKUREI! LET'S SEE HOW YOU STAND UP TO MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!" She puts a hand to her chest and rises up, flapping her wings. "Try dodging this! DIVINE SPEAR - GUNGNIR!" She hurls the spear at her, and it shoots through the sky to impale her.

God, what kind of self-absorbed asshole shouts out her attack names - Reimu stops that thought quickly, as soon as she realizes that this spear is absurdly fast. She teleports back, this time intentionally, just before the spear hits her. It bends in the air, turning to face her, and then shoots at her. Reimu dodges again, but it turns back to her. Huh. Reimu pulls up a barrier just before it hits her again, amplifying it as strong as much as she can.

Even then, it barely holds, cracking bit by bit. The spear is followed by Remilia, grinning widely. "You can't run away from this, Hakurei!" She pulls back her fist and shatters the barrier with a punch. The spear shoots closer, and closer, an inch from her forehead. I'll die. I'll die. I'll die. I'll die. I'll die.

The spear passes through her, like she's air. Remilia blinks, expression contorting to shock. "W-what?" Reimu kicks her in the face, noting with an excessive amount of satisfaction that she's knocked out a fang. Remilia pulls herself back towards her, throwing another punch at her - Reimu floats forwards, letting it pass through her chest, and then punches her in the face.

Remilia staggers through the sky, and catches her spear as it flies back through Reimu, who takes the moment to regain her breath and quickly heal her more serious wounds. It feels nice to be able to move her wrist again, even if it hurts. It must be a timeout spell card. "And what's this?" she asks, voice dripping with evidently restrained rage. "Another surprise up your sleeve?"

"I guess you could say this is my ultimate attack," Reimu grabs as many ofuda as she can hold, and bends barriers around them, ready to fill the area with bullet and bullet and drown Remilia in them. "It doesn't have a flashy name, unfortunately. Nothing as fancy as Divine Spear Gungnir."

Remilia fakes a laugh, and twirls the spear in her hand. She's looking around, taking note of every barrier. "Hmm. Wow. You've really got a spread, huh? Are barriers your thing?"

Reimu grunts in the affirmative. She's running out of time to use this… thing... legally, she has to stop screwing around. She releases every bullet she can, and Remilia sighs, before she shrinks down to the shape of a single bat, letting her spear fall from her hands. It shoots back up to pierce the barrier as Remilia, small and fast, dodges wave after wave of ofuda, squeaking.

This isn't working. Remilia's too tiny and too good at dodging. So, Reimu leaps forwards, throwing a kick at the vampire bat. Remilia flies out of the way, and in a small, squeaky voice, yells, "You'd kick a tiny, defenseless vampire bat? You're the real monster here!"

Reimu's own bullets pass through her and shoot towards Remilia, who continues to dodge with almost contemptuous ease. "Come on, Hakurei! Surely you can do better than this!" She stops flying suddenly, as she runs into a barrier that had appeared right in front of her. Reimu whacks her with her purification rod, knocking her straight into the dimensional barriers around them… which proceed to shatter.

Remilia's spear shoots down to her, and, in her human form again, she catches it and spins it around, backing off. It disappears, a moment later - timed out. And then - Reimu lets herself phase back in. She was probably pushing that time limit a bit far, so this is a good place to stop. Probably.

"So! Our ultimate attacks seem to have failed, huh?" Remilia spreads out her wings. "Well…" She clenches her fists, and then spreads her arms. "I still have a bit of something left up my sleeves." Remilia glows, bright, with scarlet magic, which she allows to build up, slowly. "I am Remilia Scarlet! The Scarlet Devil! And this tiny little world you call home - this world will be mine! Scarlet Gensokyo!"

The magic that bursts out of her shifts into the shapes of countless, glowing red bullets. Oh, great. Once again, the sky - everything but the Moon - is blotted out by the danmaku, wave after wave after wave, shimmering and waving in the sky. Reimu weaves through them as best as she can, but they brush over her clothes, singing her and burning her skin.

The bullets wave and shift in impossible ways, in such a way that Reimu can only barely make out their positions. Some brush closer than others, ripping over her stomach or arms and singing her skin. Some hit harder - Reimu feels her already damaged ribs crunch further.

Reimu still manages to throw more and more ofuda her way, but Remilia dodges them anyways. She's faster, still, and she has more energy to spare. Reimu doesn't want to risk trying to outlast this; even if she does, that'll leave her, increasingly injured and exhausted, to fight hand-to-hand with an immortal, ever-regenerating vampire.

She can't let that happen.

Reimu shoots through the bullets, throwing ofuda after ofuda at Remilia while weaving closer and closer to her. Remilia dodges them, shifting her own bullets to wrap around Reimu, while leaping closer. Reimu doesn't move away; instead, she shapes a handful ofuda behind her back, into a simple clone body.

She teleports behind it, and lets Remilia hit it. She tears through the duplicate, made up of ofuda, and squeaks in confusion. "W-what?" Reimu slams the Yin-Yang Orb into Remilia's head, throws an ofuda into her face, and then - she pulls out her last spellcard.

"Divine Spirit. Fantasy Seal." She moves around Remilia, even while just moving in a straight line, surrounding her in bullets of light and ofuda. The explosion of light blots out everything in view, blowing the red mist out of the sky, and knocking Remilia out with it.

Reimu touches down on the ground beside Remilia, as the scarlet sky falls to the ground, like little red droplets of blood. She ignores the screaming pain in her legs. "Remilia Scarlet, exterminated." She tries to throw an ofuda at Remilia's head, but her arm hurts too much to move it unnecessarily.

In response, Remilia grumbles and slowly rises up to shaky legs. They're in a similar condition, now - wounds from a spell card like that wouldn't heal easily, even on a vampire. She glares at Reimu, eyes smouldering through rage, and then raises her head, taking a long, empty breath. "Well fought," she says, in a surprisingly even, steady voice. "I don't accept this outcome, but… I'll clear the sky," she gestures to the already clear sky. "... Or you will. Whatever."

"Don't cause any more trouble," Reimu bonks her head with the purification rod, "Or else I'll have to exterminate you again."

Remilia snorts, and turns around. "Mm. I'd like to see you try, human." She flies up through the hole in the side of the mansion, and disappears within, not without turning her head to look at Reimu. "This isn't over. You've cleared the sky, but I won't bow to you or any other authority in this land. Remilia Scarlet will return, and next time, Hakurei, I won't lose!"

Yeah, whatever.