Chapter 10: A Warrior of Worlds
Back at the mysterious place Janus stood there in front of the screens displaying worlds. "You always have to give people a chance." Spell's words constantly replayed in his head, "If only he knew…" Janus quietly said to himself. Janus walked over to Emerald and Mercury, "So… have we found anything good on TV?" Janus asks, "Well…. no." Emerald said sounding somewhat bored. "Nothing? There's an infinite amount of worlds out there, each with their own unique timeline, and you two say you can't find anything?" Janus said angrily. "What Emerald meant to say was that we haven't been looking hard enough!" Mercury said sounding nervous. "Alright… if you want a description of what exactly I'm looking for, try and find a world with action and something cool, like… I don't know robots or mutants or whatever." Janus says trying to think of something. Mercury and Emerald nod and quickly get back to looking at the TVs. "Hmm? Where did Nui go?" Janus says as he begins to look around the room, "I hope she isn't doing something she'll regret later, if she ruins the plan then I don't know what I'll do…" Janus says as he exits the room.
Back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, everyone arrived back from the fake Mitakihara. "Ruby!" Yang shouts as she runs over to the group, "I was worried about you! Are you okay? Did that power work like that Lady said it would?" Yang asked sounding nervous. Ruby smiles, "Yep! I even saved everyone too!" Ruby laughs a little, "and Spell turned into a girl." Ruby says continuing to laugh. "She hasn't shut up about it the whole way here! Question after question, and now I just don't even bother to answer..." Spell says, with a clearly exhausted look on his face. "I mean…" Yang laughs a little as well, " that does sound pretty funny." Yang says also trying to contain her laughter. "What's so funny about it? Do I need to remind you about-" Ruby stops him, "T-That's enough!" She says, clearly trying to shut Spell up. Sakuya walks out from the group, "If you're all done talking about gender changing rings, I'm going to start making food for you all. Now would be a good time to discuss strategy or things you may have noticed during our encounter with Janus." Sakuya turns around to face Spell, "Also Spell, Mistress Remilia will be here shortly to speak with you, she has a few questions about that man." Sakuya says as she begins to walk back to the entrance. "As long as it's just that and not what my cup size is, Ruby, then I'll answer what I can. I don't even know that much about him though..." Spell says. "Hey Spell." Reimu looks over, "Just who are you anyways? That's a lot of power for someone who looks like an outsider…" Reimu says looking confused. "Outsider? What, do I really dress like a hobo or something?" Spell asks, quite mockingly. "No, she means someone from the outside world, beyond Gensokyo is a normal place, like the stuff you'd see at Mitakihara, she wants to know why you have all this power for someone who just looks like a regular human." Sanae explains. "Oh, okay that makes much more sense. So, this Gensokyo place we're in is kinda like a spirit world? That explains why I feel like I'm a full strength here, no rules!" Spell says, now excited to try out some moves. "Well. I can promise that I'll show you the rules of this world, abuse your magic too much and me and everyone else would have to subdue you." Reimu explains. "Wait, so you guys have rules? Like, written rules? This is a first… Don't worry, I'm not going burn and pillage any towns or something like that. No need to place me under surveillance and whatnot." Spell says, trying to dodge the rulebook. "Yeah, the rules here are kinda lame honestly." Marisa says taking out the Mini-Hakkero, "I bet I could be a lot stronger if I was allowed to make some huge adjustments on this!" Marisa says showing off her weapon. "Hey, you're the one with the furnace weapon right?" Yang asks, "Yep! Marisa the ordinary magician at your service! Whatcha' need Yang?" Marisa asks. Yang takes off her weapons from her wrists, "Do you think you can do anything with this? Or our other friends weapons?" Yang asks curiously. Marisa grab both gauntlets and examines them, "Well, this is a little out of my league… but, I do know a certain someone I could talk to for something like this." Marisa explains. "Yes!" Yang says excited to get an upgrade. "Now Spell… as I was saying," Reimu walks over to Spell, "How are you so str-" suddenly the sky above the mansion is covered with Red Mist, "Oh come on!" Reimu shouts getting annoyed. "Ah, that's probably not good. Sorry we got so off track, but I guess we'll have to continue this later!" Spell says, getting ready to summon his sword.
Out of the entrance Sakuya and Remilia appeared walking towards Spell and Reimu, "Are you Spell?" Remilia asked sounding doubtful if this was the person Sakuya had told her about. "Nah, you're looking for that guy over there." Spell says, pointing at Jaune. "Me?! No way! He's Spell!" Jaune said sounding scared. Remilia gave a confused look at Sakuya and turned back to Spell, "Well Spell, I'm Remilia Scarlet, owner of this mansion." Remilia says still somewhat doubtful about Spell. "Look, I took the time to cover up the sky so I don't get burned, so do you know anything about that masked man?" Remilia asked now sounding curious. "The people in this place can't take a joke…" Spell says quietly to himself, "Okay, here goes…" Everyone turns to listen to Spell, wondering what he knows about their foe. "...I got nothing." Spell says, shrugging his shoulders. Remilia crosses her arms and begins to think, "I see, to be honest with you all, I invited him over for dinner earlier, wouldn't tell me a thing other than vague answers about his plans…" Remilia said sounding somewhat disappointed. "Wait, you invited that guy over for dinner?" Yang asks sounding shocked. "Hold up a sec! While I plan to ask you about that fully later, I do know SOME things about him. Just stuff I've learned from encounters with him though. Geez…" Spell says, trying to regain his place in the conversation. "Oh? Please continue, this information means a lot to me." Remilia says now sounding even more curious. "Well, his big reason for doing all this crap is that 'he want's to save worlds by destroying them.' Kinda like a reset thing, but I know from experience that that never works." Spell says, now more serious than before. "Resetting worlds by destroying them…" Remilia says shaking her head, "Is that really all you know? You're not withholding information from us are you?" Remilia continues to question Spell. "Oh, I got plenty more. I've noticed things from our battles in the past… He has certain ticks in his personality, he's always up to the same thing. He treats everything like it's a game, and he's playing with a guidebook in his hands. He has a thing for, how do I put this… Grand plans? Nothing is small scale with him, it's go big or go home. Like in the Vale Arena, he was loving every second of that. And why he picked that biggest tower in Mitakihara for his plan too. One thing I have noticed though… If you want to piss him off, ask about his family. He doesn't like that one bit." Spell says, "But, that's all I've got. No idea who's under the mask or where he came from. Only that he creates a lot of paperwork for me…"
Remilia unfolds her arms, "Never ask about his family?" Remilia looks at Sakuya, "I don't know either…" Sakuya says now looking at Spell. "As I'm sure it's been said before, Remilia holds a power similar to Janus, however her mist is nonlethal and only covers places like the sky you see above us." Sakuya explains, "It's meant to block out the sun, it's so that me and my sister can walk outside without losing power and at worse, dying…" Remilia also continues to explain. "That's a shame… I was going to say that we should all go to the beach after we win, but I guess that wouldn't be fair." Spell says, trying to lighten the mood.
Remilia let's out a slight laugh but continues to remain serious, "The thing is though, only me and my sister and a Celestial can use magic like that. However she never uses it and the other person's mist was different. We never quite knew our father… so it led me to believe it was a family thing… but if that's the case…" Remilia says looking worried. "Sister? Where? Who?" Spell asks, looking around at the group. "Woah! It really is safe to go outside again!" A voice says from behind the group. "Oh no…" Marisa says sounding worried. A blonde girl in a red dress with a yellow tie ran outside, like her Remilia she had wings, but they were decorated in crystals. "Why didn't you tell me big sis?" The blonde girl asks Remilia. "H-hey! Who told you it was like this outside?!" Remilia asks sounding confused and worried, "huh? Oh! There was that one girl in the white dress with pretty hair! She went back inside after having tea with another girl in a dress!" The girl explains. "Flandre, this really isn't the time to play, something bad is happening." Sakuya explains. "It almost sounds like you don't want her out here." Spell says, sounding surprisingly serious, "Flandre, was it? How old are you?" Flandre looks at Spell smiling, "Me? I'm 495 years old, I've been staying in the basement like big sis told me too!" Flandre explains sounding cheerful. "Oh really? That's interesting… Why does she ask you to stay down there?" Spell asks, being as friendly as possible.
Reimu sighs, "Like most people in Gensokyo, everyone has a unique power… Yukari's is portals, Remilia's is changing fate and red mist… Flandre's however-" Reimu is interrupted by Marisa, "She's really really strong! Her danmaku is crazy and she can destroy anything! Me and Reimu barely made out alive when we encountered her!" Marisa explains sounding nervous. "I see…Well, I don't know what the hell a danmaku is , but I get the idea…" Spell says, now clearly angry. He turns to Remilia, "your solution to this is locking her in a damn basement for her whole life!?" Remilia and Sakuya give Spell an angry look, "We never had a choice back then… she acted like a child and she still does too. If people found out about her power and if she were to ever leave… I feared what could happen to her." Remilia said sounding sad. Spell calms down a bit, now realizing that Remilia does feel remorse for Flandre's situation. "Well, the only reason she's acting like a child now is because she never got to become an adult. She never got to experience life and learn what kind of person she is. I'd be the same way in her scenario…" Spell says, as if he's remembering something, "That's why someone should show her. It may be dangerous for you two to go outside, but just bring an umbrella or something." Spell says, sounding like an old man. He turns back to Flandre, "You said you wanted to play, right? Do you like games?" He asks. Everyone from Gensokyo looked at Spell like he was crazy, "Hey, Spell? I don't think..." Marisa was cut off by Flandre, "Yep! I like playing danmaku with the people at the mansion here… although they aren't really that fun to play with, they tire out from all the dodging… I think…" Flandre explains. "Well, I don't know how to play this, "Danmaku." But, have you ever played tag, or maybe hide and seek? You know, a nonviolent game?" Spell asks, completely serious despite noticing everyone's shock. "Well, before me and big sis came to this place we played a lot of tag! It's been forever since that though…" Flandre says thinking back to her past. Spell slowly walks over to Flandre, and he pats her on the head. "You're it!" He shouts, then lifts off the ground and dashes away at breakneck speed. "Hey!" Flandre shouts chasing after Spell at high speeds as well. "Oh… there they go…" Sakuya says watching them fly off. Remilia and Reimu sigh, "He didn't even answer my question…" Reimu says sounding annoyed, "I was gonna ask him something too…" Remilia say also sounding annoyed.
Back at the mysterious place Janus watched the TVs, "Hmm? Is that…" Janus observes the TV viewing the Mansion, watching Spell and Flandre play tag. "Florina…" Janus says watching. A voice runs through his head, "Once you get back from saving people, we'll play again right?" The voice in his head said. Janus clenches his fists, "Yes… it's a promise…" Janus walked away from the screen and shut it off by closing a book that controlled it.
"So, is it good?" Spell says, walking down the path back to the mansion. Everyone turns to look, and they see Spell and Flandre walking down the path. "Yeah! I've never tasted something like this before!" Flandre says, taking another sip of her soda. "Spell? You're alive!?" Marisa asks amazed at what she's seeing. "Well, yeah? It was just a game of tag. After that, we went to the 'outside world' and I got her a drink and some snacks. She was really good and we had a lot of fun!" Spell says, looking proud. Remilia looks at Flandre and Spell, "Well, as long as everyone's okay…" Remilia looks up at Sakuya, "Shouldn't the food be done by now?" Remilia asks, "Yes, I'll go get it done right away." Sakuya says looking back at Remilia. "I'll show you all the way." Remilia says as she turns to look at Spell. "As for what I was going to say earlier however…" Remilia gives Spell a serious look, "Do you think it's possible… that Janus is somehow related to me and Flandre?" She asks looking concerned and remembering her and her sisters power. "Well, do you guys have anything that someone outside your family could also have? Like… A power source? You know what I mean…" Spell says, trying to understand the situation himself. Remilia shakes her head, "No… the only thing that makes me believe this is our similarities with the red mist, but…" Remilia looks at Flandre and then back Spell, "I don't know…"
"Wait a sec… You said that you can't be in the sun, right? Does that mean you're a…" Spell asks, trailing off because he doesn't know if they use the same word to describe someone with a "sun allergy." "Vampire? Yes, me and my sister are Vampires, we don't die from the sun though. Our power is weakened however, we could die if we stayed out there for a day or two though." Remilia explains. "Well, then maybe Janus has a reason to wear a mask and cloak that isn't hiding his identity? Just sayin'." Spell says, as he take a bit of a chocolate bar he got earlier. "Well then, I'm not quite sure what to believe…" Remilia turns around towards the mansion, "Let's go eat for now, I'll think about this later… I actually am quite excited to see all the seats being used at the table, I've never had this many guests before…" Remilia explains as she walks back to the mansion. "Oh, Flandre!" Spell says, as if he remembered something, "When this is all over, you're coming to my place to hang out! I have all sorts of fun stuff we can do!" Flandre smiles back at Spell, "Sure! That sounds fun!" She said as everyone walked back inside.
At the table everyone from the group gathered around to eat. "Woah, I've never seen this much food on a table before." Jaune said looking around. "Roswal's mansion never had a table this huge!" Rem said sounding amazed. " Reimu was struggling to eat her food, she still needed to ask Spell that question. "Hey, aren't ya gonna eat Reimu?" Marisa asks, "Yeah, it's never good to waste food." Kyoko says shaking her head. "Yeah I will… it's just…" Reimu looked over to Spell who had a decent amount of food on his plate and was still eating. "Spell, why are you this strong? You didn't answer before…" Reimu asks. "Oh crap! I totally forgot about that, sorry!" Spell says as he finishes the food in his mouth. "It's a good thing we're all sat down, because even the short version is pretty long." He says, now taking a break from eating to pace himself. "Well, as long as we all get a good explanation it's fine…" Reimu says. "Yeah, how are you this strong anyways? We've been wondering that ever since you showed up to our place as well. I remember you telling us that you travel to other worlds and strong over time, but..." Blake asks. "Woo! Backstory time! So, about… uh… 3 or 4000 years ago, I got hired by the creators of everything to stop worlds from being destroyed before they're supposed to." Spell says, nonchalantly. Everyone looks at him, speechless.
"Uhh… could you repeat that?" Jaune says sounding surprised. "Basically, picture this. A world that exists outside normal reality, where the original gods who created all worlds, universes, dimensions, etc. live. That's where I come from. After making a deal with my boss, The World Spirit Faelyn, I was unknowingly granted immortality in exchange for serving under the gods and keeping worlds safe, one by one. See? This is why I never try to explain myself, it's way too complicated…' Spell says, taking another bite of his food. "Well, I think I get it… kind of…" Reimu says thinking to herself. "But if that's the reason…" Reimu jumps up out of her chair, "I really, really want to see if you actually work for gods! Only a few people I know get that title, and I've beaten some myself before!" Reimu says sounding serious and ready to test Spell. "Look, I don't know what you mean by 'titles,' but have you ever met someone known as a 'Half God?'" Spell says, curious about what she meant. "Hmm? The closest person we have to that is Sanae over there, she's a descendent of the Goddess Suwako." Reimu explains, "But even then, fighting her wasn't that bad." Spell sighs, as he know this is going to be complicated. "Well, she's not actually a Goddess or Half God by the standards I know. I mean, there are Gods other than the original gods, but they aren't nearly as high ranking as even me. I'm a Half God myself, a mortal who was granted immortality and recognised by the Old Gods (which is the official title of the original gods) as a hero. So, that's what I am. A Half God with near infinite potential and a lot of years behind him. There you go. If you're confused, I can write it down." Spell says, finally finishing his long and complicated monologue. "Well, I understand but… that doesn't stop me from wanting to explain the rules here and test you!" Reimu said still sounding curious about Spell's powers. "Our food's gonna get cold, so can it wait until later? You know, whatever it is you're talking about?" Spell says, sounding tired. Reimu crosses her arms and sighs, "Alright, but after that I'm gonna show you." Reimu says sitting back down, now starting to eat. "Maybe I'll have a nap too…" Spell says, ignoring Reimu. "Hey!" Reimu shouts as some people at the table laugh at Reimu's reaction.