I am now on the wall watching over one of the mechanics that is repairing one of the many sentry guns that protect the area. The walkway has sufficient room for us to move between pillboxes during combat. Now it is convenient for us to patrol the area.

Hong Meiling has a worried look on her face, as if pondering the future. The gold star on her cap shines as the evening sun bathed her figure. In all of my travel, she's the only one in the SDM high-ranking officers that possess an insanely curvaceously body. The wind picked up its pace, blowing her hair behind like trailing whiskers of dragons

Meiling: Mistress Remilia met me that day. I thought she gonna fire me or something. They may not know it, but I knew what they say about me. I am a lazy gatekeeper that kept sleeping on the job. [She sighed] well, can't blame them for thinking that way. They always have a knack for finding me sleeping on the job no matter the time or the location.

Turn out, she told me to mobilize some of our maids and barricade the area. She also suggested that we try use one of the guns Alex and Nitori conceived.

At first we thought it's a joke. We knew that barricading the place is a good idea. But using the guns itself? What are they thinking? We fought using Danmaku bullets and hell, it was even powerful enough to knock out any oni or youkai coming here. The Danmaku should be sufficient enough; it can fire millions of bullets at the same time outta nowhere and it is nonlethal, like a crowd control water cannon you have in the outside world. What kind of enemy that we need to use guns?

Hito: Why are you against it?

Meiling: Guns are heavy and loud, louder than any Danmaku bullet could make. Plus unlike Danmaku it is lethal. Yes we may have shot thousands of fairies and youkai with Danmaku but we never meant to kill them. In fact, killing them has a negative effect on Gensokyo! This bullet actually kills you! And if we accidentally killed anybody in Gensokyo, we'll be in deep shit.

Hito: Why?

Meirin: Before The Spellcard Rules were implemented, the fights are real and the stakes are high, often leading to death. This creates a huge tension between youkais in Gensokyo, making it a ticking bomb waiting to explode to an all-out war. The creator, Reimu Hakurei thought that if she can create a way for Youkais and Humans to settle their differences without injury yet still cater to the violent tendencies for other youkais it might improve the relationship between Youkai, preventing more incident and unnecessary death.

Hito: So you're telling me Reimu, the Reimu Hakurei of the Hakurei Shrine created the successful Spellcard Rules to promote peace among each other?

Meiling: Yeah, why are you asking? It is bothering to you?

Hito: [Vietnam War flashback of the Hakurei Shrine maiden blasting Baron of Hell with dual rocket launchers at Hakurei Stronghold, her manic laughter still rings in his ear]

Meiling: [she giggled cutely] ya must be surprised to see her so bloodthirsty and ready for combat; but she's nice once you know her, unlike a certain magician…

[She shivered] I don't know what possessed her to use Master Spark on me every time she met me. As if she were keeping them bombs just for me only. I tried asking her, but she won't say a word at all…

But you know I can't refuse her orders, so I mobilize them and armed them. Most of them were surprisingly willing, most carrying shotguns and assault rifle to the battle. Maybe because the rumours at the Forest make them extra paranoid or something? [She sighed] If only Cirno doesn't try to investigate the place… Poor girl came back delirious and burned up, if isn't for Rumia's assistance she would be killed for sure.

[She sighed] That extra armament is what saved our ass that day. Danmaku didn't do shit on them. [He saw my sceptical stare] Yeah, really. Remember, those were more of a show game than a real combat system and the only time we can get real hurt is when we start using our fist during close-quarter combat. At most it only blinded them for a while, sometimes it even powered up some demons!

Hito: What?

Meiling: Yeah, it does! Those Hell Knights and necromancers and other magic user demon somehow got extra boost every time they get hit by Danmaku bullets. Hell, the only way you can kill them by Danmaku is by filling them up with so much energy that they imploded themselves.

[Sigh] That consumes too much energy. We lost many good magic maids because they were too tired after casting multiple spells for hours without rest.

Hito: Yeah I remember that; many fairies we fight side-by-side always ends up unconscious in every engagement in the early days. Fortunately they've adjusted themselves to the demon's attack.

Meiling: Yeah. So, have you fought in any other engagement?

Hito: Towa City Clean-up Ops, Gensokyo's Sanzu River Siege and Hakurei Stronghold Siege. Although in my opinion the Towa Ops is more of a fuckup than anything else…

Meiling: Damn I'm impressed. I'm just a guard at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Never went to any major engagement at all. But I dare say that 8 months of constant sieges in this place is enough for a medal.

Hito: [remembers the poor machine-gunner's arm] Yeah… So, what happened next?

Meiling: we were scared shitless. We poured Danmakus after Danmakus at those bastard yet they didn't fall at all! In fact it only blinded them for a few seconds. They all gradually opted to use the guns. It worked very well against them. We were finally killing them, but not fast enough! [Smiles] that's when I became a real captain.

Hito: What?

Meiling: [giggles] believe me, I wasn't trained in China only to sleep most of the time, it's just that they always saw me as a lazy gatekeeper that in due for firing. It doesn't help that they caught me most of the time when I was SLEEPING…

[She groaned] I am trained as an elite combat officer in China, so of course I knew how to strategize like a proper captain. Realising how easy it was to blind them with Danmaku I told the maids to distract them with flashy Danmaku THEN shoot them with real bullets.

[She clapped her hands once] Instant success. They were blinded by the light show of several Special Spell cards, giving us ample times to blast them off the face of living realm. Plus I also the one doing most of the killing, the rest just throwing lights or missing completely. Remember, they're not trained militia with years of combat; they were just maids with domestic work training that was thrown in the middle of the battle because they have a little firearm handling and were carrying guns.

[Shrugs] In my training years there's not even a bloody flintlock musket created yet; but hey, crossbows is not much different than a recoilless SMG anyway. Plus Alex did teach me how to shoot them, so coupled with my past as a warrior and a good gun in my hand I easily massacred the demon horde.

[She took a deep breath] Long story short; that's how I was promoted to become a captain and how we survived the first attack.

[She just stood there unmoving, eyes staring into the sunset as her face shows deep concentration. A moment later, she turned to face me] what?

Hito: What?

Meiling: What?

Hito: What?

Meiling: What are you waiting here for? Didn't you have anything better to do?