In the middle of a panicking village, the swordswoman stood alone, a hand resting on the hilt of her sheathed blade. It shouldn't be long now. Reimu Hakurei would be arriving within moments, acting like saving the villagers was a huge bother, and that Meira was beneath her.
Let's see her think that after I demonstrate my new power. Meira thought darkly, a smile stretching her lips. Those spell cards were practically humming with power, and she had only opened the casing that they came with!
And she could see three people coming now, from the direction of the shrine. Her smile slowly faded as she noticed that Hakurei wasn't among the group. Instead, there was a girl riding on a broomstick, another with a scythe, and the third was the oldest looking, and carried a sword with her.
Who the hell are they? Meira wondered, glaring at the trio. Are they lackey's of that damn maiden?
One of the girls, the one on the broom, pointed at Meira, maybe said something, and the three homed in on Meira's location, eventually landing about twelve feet away.
"So what's a suspicious looking girl doing, standing around while the rest of the village is either vacant or in disarray?" Elly asked, stepping forward.
"Where is Hakurei?" Meira replied.
"We asked a question first!" Marisa interjected, pointing her Hakkero at Meira. "Now tell us, are you with Artimus too?"
Restraining a frustrated sigh, Meira glanced at the group once again, trying to determine if they were even remotely close to a hindrance. Probably not, seeing as she held those powerful spell cards, but if any of these three had a trick up their sleeve...
"You'll be referring to that man in the suit?" Meira chuckled drily, "Well, maybe. I'm just doing him a little favour. Now, I'll ask again: Where is Reimu Hakurei? Hiding back at her crappy little shrine?"
The hell does she want with Reimu? Marisa wondered. "Like hell I'm telling you, ze! You'd better surrender quietly, or your face is redecorating the roads!"
"Scary," Meira replied, now gripping the sheathe of her sword tightly. "Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll cut the answers from you!"
"A blade dulled by impure intentions is nothing more than a toy," Tara replied coldly, drawing her own sword and stepping forward. "That sword is useless."
Meira stared at Tara in surprise for a few moments, then burst out laughing, her whole body shaking as she struggled to control her laughter.
Tara simply watched impassively, with Marisa and Elly bemused, as she waited for Meira's laughing fit to subside.
"Oh my, that's a good one!" Meira giggled, wiping away a tear. "My blade is dulled, you say? Well, why not put it to the test?"
"Fine." Tara replied, her gaze cold and calculating.
"Wow wow wow, wait up!" Marisa spoke up. "Why are you fighting alone? That's not done much good so far, remember?"
"... I know," Tara said calmly. "But I promise, I won't lose to this woman. I can see that she is blinded by greed."
Marisa glanced at Meira in confusion. Greed? How did Tara deduce that?
Meira however, only laughed at the accusation. "'Greed'? Sure, whatever you say."
The women seemed to size each other up as they stepped closer to each other, until they were ten paces apart.
"Don't interfere," Tara told her companions. "You'd best make sure there aren't any injured."
"I'll save you the trouble, I didn't touch anyone here." Meira informed them.
"Is that so?" Tara's cold smile increased slightly in size. "Well, perhaps there's hope for you after all."
"Enough of this, let's just begin." Meira said, and swiftly drew her blade in a wide, arcing motion. Barely a second later, Tara felt something slam into her midsection, and dropped to one knee with a surprised grunt.
Meira grinned as she sheathed her sword again, glaring condescendingly at Tara.
"Hey, you all right?" Marisa asked.
"What just happened?" Elly asked, mostly to herself. She glanced at Meira's blade, trying to deduce what the swordswoman had done. All she had done was draw her sword...
Meira rose to her feet again, her smile returned. "That was an 'Iai Strike', wasn't it?"
"Heh, you've heard of it?" Meira sneered. "Yeah, it's Iaido. The ultimate sword art."
"Is it now?" Tara asked with a laugh. Immediately, she dashed forward, quickly closing the gap between her and Meira, who simply tutted and drew her sword again, swatting at Tara fast enough for the human eye to barely follow.
Tara expected the attack however, and quickly side stepped to her right. Keeping her pace, Tara raised her blade and attempted to strike at Meira's unprotected side, but her opponent quickly switched hands, her blade now in her right hand, and parried Tara's attack.
Odd, I'm sure this person is human, yet her speed is beyond that... Tara wondered with a frown.
Meira simply grinned, and hopped back, gaining space. She swung her sword again, and bullets began to fly from the tip as it arced the air. Soon, a dozen or so bullets were aimlessly flying around the air, obstructing Tara's path.
Using her gained time, Tara sheathed her sword yet again, and used her Iai Strike technique, firing bullets at insane speeds.
Tara was able to avoid the Iai bullets, but barely. Her yukata had already received several nicks and tears from where the cloth hung freely.
"What the hell? Why won't she use her barriers?" Marisa wondered, and Elly glanced at the witch curiously. "Those bullets aren't enough to break her defence..."
Tara, growing tired of the constant evading, swung her own sword, and her own bullets were fired in Meira's direction. Most of them collided with her opponents lingering bullets, but at least they dispersed, opening up the path.
With one of Meira's Iai bullets grazing her left shoulder, Tara gritted her teeth and quickly approached, her blade held aloft as she charged.
Tutting at the assault, Meira held her sword in the right hand, and her sheathe in the left. She would block with the sheathe, then strike with her blade, and hopefully end this pointless battle quickly.
However, just as Tara swung her sword, she feinted to the right, twirling her body and kicking at Meira's side.
With a grunt of pain and surprise, Meira used the momentum of the kick to roll away, quickly raising sword and sheathe to defend herself, but Tara hadn't approached. Instead, she held her blade as if about to swing a bat.
"I don't know what you intend to do with Miss Reimu, but that level of skill isn't even close to being a threat to her." Tara said evenly, and Meira glared at her opponent in response.
"Now, let's end this." Tara continued, her blade glowing a dull, pinkish red as she swung her sword, a tear seemingly opening in the air.
"Zantetsuken: Demon Blade Bullet!"
Large, red orbs began to pour from the tear and shower Meira, who yelled in surprise and tried to swat them away, to little avail.
Tara sheathed her blade, watching as her technique began to fade. With only one stroke, the attack wouldn't last long, but against someone like an arrogant human, it was pretty much overkill. Then again, something about Meira had been off.
"You're finished," Tara informed the heavily panting figure, who slowly raised her head and glared at the woman with a gem in her forehead. "Stay still, and I won't have to use any more force."
"Screw you!" Meira snarled, her eyes darkening slightly. "I have business with that damned shrine maiden! You won't stop me!"
"I just did." Tara turned and walked back to Marisa and Elly, who looked fairly impressed.
"Not bad, Tara!" Marisa congratulated. "You didn't even use your shield thingy!"
Chuckling modestly, Tara replied, "Oh, it wasn't that impressive, I just-" Feeling something was wrong, Tara immediately whirled around to look at Meira, only to find that she was on her feet, glaring daggers at Tara.
"You haven't won!" Meira snarled, a black slip of paper clutched in her left hand. "I won't let you win! You are nothing!"
What the...? Tara wondered what the hell was going on with this woman. She could feel a strange energy around her, something massive and inhuman. That thing in her hand... was it some sort of spell card?
There was no time to ponder, as the card apparently faded from existence, while Meira smirked.
"Let's see just how good his spell cards are," She muttered to herself. "Excal-Blade!"
Meira's sword began to glow with a pale golden aura, as well as a frighteningly black mass of energy.
What the hell is going on with that sword? Tara wondered. She'd never heard of such a spell, but Tara could feel it wasn't an ordinary spell.
Meira swung the blade, and the two coloured energies arced from the blade, shooting at the group rapidly.
Marisa and Elly immediately moved to try and intercept it with their own spells, but Tara swiftly grabbed their shoulders, keeping them behind her as her gem flared to life. Less than a second later, blinding pain filled her head as Tara's barrier was struck.
Meanwhile, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, another battle was underway. Patchouli Knowledge and Hong Meiling were facing off against Mion and Kathy, with the mansion residents holding the upper hand.
Kat, normally able to effortlessly weave through bullets to strike her victim, found herself beaten back again and again by the purple librarian's magic. Patchouli herself wore a blank expression as she effortlessly chained her spells together, throwing what was normally weak, distracting magic attacks with the force of a high level spell.
Mion was unfortunate enough to get into a fist fight with Meiling.
With a fist planted in her stomach, the wind was knocked from her lungs as Mion sailed through the air, crashing into the stone wall that surrounded the mansion.
Choking for air, Mion struggled to her hands and knees while Meiling approached, a cold glare in her own eyes as she effortlessly beat her opponent.
"I feel almost guilty about this." Meiling said, grabbing the neck of Mion's dress and lifting her up. Now Mion's own dress was interfering with her breathing, and her skin slowly turned blue as she fought for breath.
"You don't really seem strong at all..." Meiling muttered, before roughly dropping her to the ground. Spluttering and indignant with rage, Mion clutched at a ribbon tied to her fore arm, desperate to do something and turn the tables.
Meiling chose this moment to glance nervously at the battle between Patchouli and Kat, oblivious to Mion's scrambling for a ribbon. To her relief, Patchouli seemed to be in complete control. Every time Kat so much as snarled, Patchy would throw several dozen bullets, and if Kat tried to approach, she ended up having to eat one the elementalist's stronger spells.
Kat was, understandably, aggravated beyond words at how easily she was shot down. That annoying little thing wouldn't even fill Kat's stomach, and she was keeping her at bay? No, that wasn't right!
"What a pitiful creature," Patchouli spoke flatly. "No mind to call your own, bloodlust is your dominant attribute, and you can't fire even a single bullet. Why do they even keep you alive?"
In response, Kat simply roared and rushed forward again, moving to evade the bullets sent her way. She dodged the first volley, then the second... and was met with a wall of earth that erupted from the ground.
Coughing out the dirt that entered her mouth, Kat struck the wall, only managing to dislodge a clump of dirt.
"I wonder, can you even understand emotion?" Patchouli continued, as if Kat hadn't just lunged at her for the trillionth time. "Can you understand how others feel when you attempt to kill?"
With a soft growl, Kat replied, "Others, food! Feelings pointless!"
"Are they?" Patchouli chuckled darkly. "Are they pointless when those emotions beat you down again and again? Can you guess which emotion powers this?"
From Patchouli's side, a bright, violet laser suddenly burst forth and struck Mion's chest, which sent her careening towards the eastern wall, howling loudly.
With a cold smile on her face, the little librarian made to follow the feral creature when Meiling suddenly yelled, "No, Patchy!"
Glancing at the gate keeper in confusion, Meiling looked horrified, although Patchouli didn't know why.
Meiling made to run to Patchouli, who yelled, "Idiot, don't leave that girl unattended!"
However, the gate keeper didn't seem to hear. Instead, she simply ran to Patchouli's side, then kneeled to the ground, staring at the space in front of the librarian's feet.
"Im-impossible... She was winning..." Meiling muttered with wide, teary eyes.
"...China, what on earth are you talking about?" Patchouli asked, feeling a little uneasy.
Meiling glanced at Patchouli, hatred now filling her eyes. "You bitch! You killed Patchy!"
"What? China, what the hell-" Patchy argued, and found herself hastily ducking a blow to her head, and retreating swiftly, surprise etched upon her face.
"I'll kill you for this!" Meiling snarled, looking positively frightening, and Patchouli never realised that the gate keeper could be so intimidating.
"Hong, it's me! What's wrong with you?" Patchouli demanded to know, and chanced a glance at Mion. the silver haired girl was kneeling on one knee, clutching one of her ribbons in her hand. Despite how strained her face looked, she was smiling in content.
Can she control minds? Patchouli wondered briefly. No, that can't be it...
Patchouli barely avoided another strike from Meiling, and tried to reason with her again. "Hong, please stop! You know me! I'm Patchouli! Patchouli Knowledge! We live in the mansion together!"
"Shut up with your infernal snarling!" Meiling roared, and threw another punch, which Patchouli had to block with her tome. the force of the blow was still enough to send the librarian backwards, and the tome slipped from her grasp as she hit the ground, hard.
Gasping in surprise, Patchouli had the wind knocked out of her, and immediately began to cough and choke at the same time. With Patchouli's numerous health problems, her situation had become rather dire.
Meiling was immediately by Patchouli's side, glaring coldly at her, and Patchouli had never known fear like it. She may have several health problems, but death had never felt like it loomed over her shoulder, anticipating the day she dropped dead. In Danmaku duels, death was clearly a non-issue, even if using her full power proved virtually impossible. But with Meiling apparently controlled or crazed, Patchouli felt like her time was at an end.
With a swift kick to her stomach, Patchouli doubled over and vomited blood, before slowly passing out. Meiling cracked her knuckles, perhaps to finish the ailing elementalist, when the ground suddenly shook beneath them.
Both Meiling and Mion were surprised, and the ribbon-clad girl suddenly gasped in pain, dropping her ribbon and collapsing herself. Sweat was pouring from her body, and she breathed heavily, as if she had strained herself terribly.
Meiling blinked in confusion. From her point of view, the bleeding body of the crazy youkai was slowly fading from existence, and another, smaller body was taking her place.
Horror and realisation dawned on herface when she saw Patchouli on the ground, horribly bruised, blood slowly leaking from her lips, and her skin which steadily turned blue...
"P-Patchy?" Meiling whimpered, realising what she had just done. Somehow, she'd been tricked. "P-Patchy, I-I... don't die, I'll get you help!"
The librarian only coughed weakly, her breathing laboured, and Meiling felt a fresh burst of anger as she slowly turned to face Mion.
"... I'll break you," Meiling promised the struggling girl. "I'll rip your skeleton from your body, and make no mistake when I say that we have ways to keep you alive when that happens. Hope you'll enjoy being my new punching bag."
"Yeah, have fun with that..." Mion gasped. "Meanwhile, you might wanna try putting your friend outta her misery. Letting her struggle to live like that is far more cruel than what I can do."
At those words, Meiling outstretched her hands and fired several, rainbow-like bullets, which arced and struck the defenceless Mion, who yelled in pain as the bullets rained down.
"Funny, these places usually have some sort of secret entrance..." Artimus muttered to himself, stepping through the small hole he'd created in the wall. Dusting his hands, Artimus glanced around the room, seeing that he had arrived in some sort of gymnasium-like area. Several large apparatus lay around the room, and if the punching bags and devices crudely recreated from outworld sources were any indication, this was where the gate keeper would spend her time between her job and sleeping. Artimus wondered if the room even saw any use.
Well, that wasn't important. What mattered was descending to the basement to meet with his promising new team mate. With not a soul to be seen, Artimus casually strolled into the hallway.
He had made his own entrance from the back of the mansion, as close to the area where the basement's entrance would be as possible. If he remembered the layout right, Artimus simply took a left here...
A few minutes later, Artimus reached the foyer, where many doors on the upper and lower floors led off to a myriad of other rooms. None of the doors stood out, but Artimus had an idea of which one to take, and walked to one of the doors. As he reached out to grasp the handle, Artimus felt a cold, steel blade press against the back of his neck, and chuckled.
"Ah, I should have figured you'd be in the way." Artimus said conversationally. Sakuya simply glared at him, worried that he had guessed the basement's location so easily.
"Call your pets off, and I may not kill you on the spot." Sakuya said coldly.
"They aren't my 'pets', Miss Head Maid, and trying to call them off now would only result in a violent temper tantrum," Artimus sighed with mock exasperation. "That, and I'm not too worried about their status."
With disapproval obvious in her voice, Sakuya said, "You don't care for them? How thoughtful."
"Oh, it's not that..." Artimus replied, sounding completely at ease. "It's just that, no matter how badly they may be outclassed, one of them will pull out a trump card and ruin everything. In fact, I suspect your friends are receiving rather hefty damage as we speak."
"Patchouli and Meiling can handle your companions," Sakuya growled dangerously. "Now, step away from the door, and don't make any sudden movements."
Artimus merely chuckled at the threat. "No sudden movements? Why, Miss Head Maid, you should have said that earlier!"
Sakuya was confused for a moment, before a sense of impending danger crept upon her, and she immediately dodged to the side, the pocket watch clutched in her other hand springing open.
All around the maid, time seemed to freeze. Even the air felt still and unmoving. Naturally, this meant that Sakuya couldn't spend too long in this state, or else there were going to be Patchouli-level breathing problems. Not that Sakuya would need to freeze time for that long.
Scanning the area, Sakuya saw nothing that would have set of an internal alarm. Only Artimus was present, and he was currently frozen as well. Had it been her imagination, brought on by a bluff? Well, it didn't matter. Sakuya held the upper hand.
Placing the watch into a pocket in her apron, Sakuya then produced several knives, three held in each hand. the blades were short and straight, designed to be held between her fingers. Sakuya slowly circled Artimus, flicking a knife at him at regular intervals. the blades would stop in the air immediately, but that wasn't a problem. They would regain momentum instantly, when Sakuya stopped her pocket watch.
When each of her knives were floating around Artimus' sides and back, Sakuya stepped back, gripped her watch, and unfroze time. Her knives immediately launched and embedded themselves within Artimus' body. He barely reacted beyond a grunt, and stared at the knives sticking from his arms, back and hips, a curious expression on his face.
"That's a rather interesting power you have, Miss Head Maid. I would love to see it used for greater purposes, but..."
Artimus began to non-chalantly pull the blades from his body, taking no notice of the blood that poured from his wounds.
He's no normal opponent... Sakuya thought to herself. Even a youkai should be slowed by those wounds. Is he a high class youkai?
"Tell me, would you consider helping us out when Flandre joins us?" Artimus asked, and Sakuya's expression immediately darkened. "I mean, it's not like you could hope to defeat me, and no doubt Flandre would be beyond your skills."
"... Flandre would never join you," Sakuya said dangerously, pointing another knife at Artimus. "And even if she did, I've beaten countless vampires in my life time."
"Ah, a vampire hunter?" Artimus chuckled. "My, you are old! Ah, by the way..."
Something wrapped it's arm around Sakuya's neck and under her arm holding the knife, gripping her tightly. Gasping in surprise, Sakuya tried to reverse her grip on the knife and strike her assailant's side, but whoever had grabbed her was carefully positioned to avoid the strikes.
"You seem to have forgotten that sense of danger from earlier," Artimus said in a mock chiding voice. "Tut tut, Miss Hunter!"
The arm tightened around her neck, and Sakuya was fighting harder and harder to breathe, while glaring loathfully at Artimus.
"That should keep you busy for a little while." Artimus said with a chuckle, turning back to the door and opening it, stepping through.
Mistress! Sakuya struggled harder to dislodge herself, and eventually settled for stamping her attacker's foot. Her enemy didn't seem pained, but it loosened its grip regardless. Sakuya took this chance to headbutt her attacker, and she was finally free. Swiftly whirling on the spot, Sakuya raised a blade to her attacker's neck, and stopped when she saw what it was. A shadow.
It seemed to be her own, if the figure was any indication, but how? What was going on? With a quick glance to the floor, Sakuya saw that there was no shadow underneath her.
Is that his real power? Sakuya wondered, glaring at the shadow again. It had no features, which was obvious, but it clearly had a solid body.
"... Would you really try and stop me?" Sakuya asked, feeling a little foolish for speaking to the shadow, but a nod confirmed that it at least understood her words. "Well, too bad."
Sakuya gripped her watch and time stopped once again. The shadow remained still, and Sakuya quickly turned and dashed for the door. Artimus wouldn't have gotten far, and he may still be within the range of her watch...
"However, a black object flew over her shoulder, and Sakuya glanced back to see that the shadow was still moving.
What? Sakuya was shocked to see that her ability did nothing. Then again, it was her shadow... if it shared her immunity, despite not being in possession of the watch, that made freezing time pretty useless.
"Damn it, I don't have time to deal with you!" Sakuya yelled at the shadow. In response, it pulled another shadowy knife from an invisible pocket, taking aim.
With a frustrated sigh, Sakuya took out a knife of her own. "Fine, I'll make this quick!"
Humming merrily to himself, Artimus casually strolled through the basement corridors, quickly coming across a giant, steel door that no doubt barred access to Flandre Scarlet's room. If her power was any indication, the door was mainly used to keep people out. A few tonnes of steel was far from enough to stop the little vampire.
There was no obvious way to open the door, indicating that some sort of spell was required. Well, Artimus didn't really have the time to go through every permutation of an unlocking spell, and instead went for a quicker route.
"Well, let's try and keep collateral damage to a minimum..." Artimus muttered to himself, and clenched his fist, which began to glow a pale crimson colour. "Chaos Arts: Final Fist."
Artimus threw a punch at the door, which immediately disintegrated at his touch. The door steadily dissolved from the point that Artimus struck, below center and to the right. Flandre Scarlet's room slowly revealed itself, with a figure standing watch on the other side. A quick glance showed that it was the Scarlet Devil, and head of the mansion. Remilia Scarlet.
The elder vampire sister wore a steely, cold glare as Artimus stepped inside. He glanced around the slightly messy room and asked, "Why, hello Remilia! I was wondering if your sister was present? I'd like a word with her."
"You're going to die now," Remilia stated bluntly. "I don't know how you bypassed Sakuya, but you will never beat me."
"Ah, must we fight?" Artimus said in mock anguish. "After all, it's not like I plan to mistreat your sister! Hell, we're simply showing her the world she belongs in!"
Anger flashing through her crimson eyes, Remilia pointed her palm to Artimus. "Spear the Gungnir."
Almost instantly, bullets launched from her hand, forming the shape of a spear in the small distance between Remilia and Artimus, which then struck Artimus' torso.
Stumbling back a step, Artimus grunted as the spear-shaped danmaku spread seemed to simply faze through his body, rushing straight down the hallway behind him before dispersing.
"Oof... That's a strong one," Artimus chuckled to himself, caressing his chest. "Perhaps you're title isn't just childish bragging after all."
Remilia smiled coldly, her fangs glinting maliciously. "You want to know why I am the Scarlet Devil?"
"I would be interested to see the reason, yes." Artimus replied politely.
"Very well, you shall die in a glorious bath of blood and realm of devils!" Remilia clasped her hands together, as if in prayer, before pointing her fingertips to the floor and waving her arms in a semi circle before her.
At once, an odd circle of scarlet light formed under Remilia's feet, a demonic symbol decorating the centre.
As Artimus watched with an intrigued look, Remilia muttered, "This is Heaven's Punishment. Star of David, grant me your demonic strength!"
Her childishness shines through, even now... Artimus thought to himself in amusement. There's no need for the pointless theatrics.
Remilia glared at Artimus, her eyes glowing a deeper red than before, as the circle began to shrink and disperse. When it had disappeared, Remilia was grinning coldly, almost sadistically.
"And now, the Scarlet Devil will hand down your sentence." Remilia spoke, and Artimus merely smiled.
"Oh? And the charges?"
"Attempting to abduct and corrupt my sister being the main one," Remilia began. "There's attacking my home, attacking my servants, and attacking me. That, and I hate you."
Artimus laughed merrily to himself, and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the storm of bullets heading his way.
"Enough talk! Die and burn in hell!" Remilia roared, her cold calmness replaced with rage.
Shielding his face with an arm, Artimus was slowly forced back by the bullets, apparently unable to fight back. When he was outside the room, Remilia halted her assault.
Placing a thumb to one of her fangs, she unflinchingly pierced her digit, allowing the blood to run down to her hand.
When she felt the wound was deep enough, Remilia pointed her bleeding thumb to the ground, where the drops seemed to reveal yet another scarlet circle.
"Curse of Vlad Tepes." Remilia muttered, and one by one, blood stained knives began to fly from the circle. forming a semi circle above Remilia, she pointed at Artimus, who still wore an intrigued look.
At Remilia's command, the knives launched themselves at Artimus. He was able to side step and duck them fairly easily, although he was aware that the knives had turned and were shooting for his back.
"By the way, is this how your lovely maid learned her tricks?" Artimus asked conversationally, finding himself barely able to avoid the many thrusts thrown at him. Remilia didn't answer, instead focusing on ending Artimus now.
The blood that adorned the knives began to separate themselves from the knives. Despite his almost frantic dodging, Artimus noticed that the blood seemed to be turning into bullets. Not a second later, the additional bullets joined the assault, and it wasn't long before Artimus simply stopped and allowed the various knives and bullets to strike him.
Has he given up? Remilia wondered suspiciously. No... that can't be it... What're you planning?
Remilia re-doubled her assault, the bloody bullets and knives increasing in speed and ferocity. Artimus merely stood there, his body jerking to the blows.
Remilia held her hand aloft once again, glaring at Artimus. "I summon thee, my bloody spear, Gungnir!"
Bats, arriving from seemingly nowhere, fluttered towards the vampire's hand and began to cluster, forming a vague shape as they gathered. Eventually, a crimson glow emanated from the flock, and they seemed to merge together, leaving behind a large spear, tipped with a blood-stained blade.
Remilia gave the lance a disgusted glance before focusing on Artimus. Remilia never liked the physical manifestation of the Gungnir. It represented a duty Remilia would never allow it to fulfil. However, there was one thing the damned blade could do...
Remilia sped forward, hovering off the ground slightly as she charged. the blade pointed directly at Artimus' chest, she thrust forward the instant a gap appeared in the formation of her knives and blood.
However, Artimus suddenly grabbed hold of the blade at the very same instant, stepping aside to avoid getting stabbed himself. Her concentration broken, the bloody knives dropped to the ground, where they seemed to melt away.
How did he-?Remilia wondered in shock, but was given no more time to ponder. Gripping the spear just below the blade tightly, Artimus merely smiled cheerfully, despite the numerous gashes covering his body.
"A lovely display! I can see why you earned your title!" Artimus complimented, and gave the spear a curious glance. "So, this is the real thing, then? It's got quite a story in the Outside World, but I wonder just what you have it for, hm?"
"Y-you bastard...!" Remilia growled, and swung her free fist at him, intent on smashing his teeth into his skull. Artimus easily caught the blow in his other hand, still smiling happily, as if he were simply teasing Remilia in a friendly game.
"Don't get me wrong, I can tell you have great power within you," Artimus said as the furious vampire tried kicking his shins next. "It's just that you simply won't use it for greater purposes. Your dear sister would be far more willing to help out."
Hissing with utter fury, Remilia struggled even harder to break free of Artimus' impossibly strong grip.
"Also, I apologise for the following action, but I assume it's the quickest way to find her." Artimus said with an apologetic smile, and Remilia suddenly lost all the air in her lungs as a knee was driven into her stomach, just below her ribs.
Artimus let her drop to the ground, where she lost the grip on her spear and clutched her chest painfully, gasping for breathe.
Barely a moment later, Artimus' arm was wrapped around her neck, and Remilia was lifted from the ground, where she desperately clawed at his arm and choked for air, her pale face turning blue.
"Odd, I never expected the dead princess to need air," Artimus chuckled, and peered down the hallway. "Well? You could just tell me where Flandre is. I have no problem letting you live, you know."
Although she couldn't speak her words, Artimus understood what the lips were trying to form: 'Fuck you'.
Suddenly, the torches that lit the basement hallway extinguished themselves simultaneously. Looking horrified, Remilia struggled to free herself and warn Flandre to run. Why was she coming back? She wasn't supposed to reveal herself to this man!
Artimus however, looked pleased. Loosening his death hold on Remilia, Artimus kept her firmly in his grip as he saw the glint of several jewels, apparently hanging from something attached to the figure with blood red eyes, colder than even Remilia's.
"Fl-Fla-dre..." Remilia coughed, trying to warn Flandre away from Artimus, but her words were either unheard or ignored, as Flandre simply kept walking closer and closer, a dark expression on her face.
"Ah, Flandre Scarlet, we meet at last!" Artimus greeted the pretty blonde vampire, who didn't reply. Instead, she cocked her head to the side curiously. "You may have heard of me by now, my name is-"
"The Bad Man, right?" Flandre asked, amusement evident in her light voice. Completely at ease in the presence of two hostile vampires, Artimus laughed.
"I suppose that's what I seem like, eh? But I assure you, what I'm doing benefits you as well."
Flandre giggled at the statement and walked closer, peering at Artimus closely. She licked her lips at the sight of all the blood seeping from the man's wounds, wondering how it would taste. Would it taste better if she ripped his throat out and simply gorged herself?
Remilia looked at her sister pleadingly, trying to form words, but her battle to regain the breathe necessary was proving difficult, and Flandre wasn't paying much attention to Remilia right now.
"It benefits me, huh?" Flandre said in wonder. "That sounds pretty nice, mister! Do I get to play outside? With people?"
"Oh yes!" Artimus nodded. "there are many people to play with, Flandre! In fact, if all went well, I think we could even visit the Outside World and play with the people there!"
Flandre's cold, scarlet eyes widened with glee. "Really! Oh my gosh, that's- that's so kind if you! Oh, how I wish I could accept!"
"And why can't you?" Artimus asked pleasantly.
"Well..." Flandre held her hand outward, palm pacing the ceiling. She peered at her hand intently, as if her reply was written on it. "First of all, you seem to have broken our home. I was told it's bad to break our home, so that's a bad point for you."
Artimus chuckled and replied, "Ah, well that can be repaired, if you like."
"Also, you have friends who are trying to break my friends," Flandre continued, her voice slightly colder and angrier now. "This little devil doesn't like it when her friends are broken. People can't fixed when they break, you know?"
"You want them to live?" Artimus shrugged. "Then they can live."
Her voice dropping in temperature even more, Flandre glanced up at Artimus, loathing now flickering to life in her eyes. "And as if those two bad points weren't enough, you hurt Remi. You hurt the one thing in this world that I won't tolerate to see in pain. That's a cajillion more bad points!" Flandre grinned maliciously. "Do you know why I'm such a naughty girl, mister?"
Looks like thing'll be difficult after all... Artimus mentally sighed. "Please, enlighten me."
"Because sometimes, I go too far," Flandre whispered conspiratorially, a fanged grin forming on her face. "Sometimes, even when a simple 'sorry' is enough, I don't accept that. Sometimes, I want a higher price for retribution."
"Ah, you would like compensation for my admittedly rude arrival," Artimus nodded in understanding. "Very well, what is your price?" He asked, knowing the answer.
With a girlish giggle, Flandre winked at her worried elder sister, and said, "Your life, Bad Man!"
Flandre clenched her fist, and a small explosive sound was heard, rocking the mansion's foundations...
Sorry for the relatively shortish chapter, but I didn't want to lengthen it unnecessarily, especially with a resolution to any of the conflicts. Those will be in the next chapter or two, depending on how things pan out.
Anyway, two things occurred to me this chapter:
1) I ended up pairing the stage 2 boss of the second game with the character that takes up the position in Tsukuribanashi. Seeing as I wanted these two to fight for a while, you'd think I'd recognise that conenction a lot sooner...
2) There is an unhealthy amount of strangling and choking in this chapter. I'll need to make sure to tone that down and find more inventive ways to restrain someone next time.
So anyway, things look pretty bad on the SDM front, and Tara may or may not have broke her brain blocking an attack. Are they okay? Will they survive this fic's unnecessary darkness? Find out whenever the next chapter decides to drop by!