Defend the Library PatchCon
Written by Barasia.
Disclaimer: All Touhou characters belong to ZUN. The concept of PatchCon belong to Tasofro. The ideas and original fanon however belong to me! XD
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Chapter 11 Sacrificial Casualty
Soon, Meiling who is hauling the cart of wood and injured maids arrive at the gate.
"What happened?!" Patchouli approaches and demands of Meiling "Where's Koakuma…and where's Sakuya!?"
"Sakuya tried to stall the incoming wave, and…I thought Koakuma was right behind us…" Meiling says with a timid huff.
She looks behind, and didn't find Koakuma anywhere.
"Dammit! They should have obeyed orders and just retreat! Trying to act like heroes will just get them killed!" Patchouli stands at the gate, and she can see a cloud of dust in the distance, a battle is taking place, but the cloud hides what ever is going on within it.
"Should I go back there to help them?" Meiling asks.
"No! Stay here. We can only hope they return…" Patchouli says in a dreadful tone.
"Remilia! What can you see?!" Patchouli calls out.
Remilia is at a window with her telescope and trying her best to spot any distinguishable activity in the cloud of dust.
"Koakuma and her dolls seem to be approaching the cloud. I can't see Sakuya or what kind of dolls she's fighting with so much dust flying out there." Remilia calls down to Patchouli.
Koakuma runs towards the cloud of dust. Her small army following closely behind.
"Hang on Sakuya! I'm coming!"
"Argh!" Sakuya cries in pain as she endures another cut.
She is surrounded.
Trapped.
Her dress is torn in many places, and soaked red from many cuts and slashes. There are cuts on her face, her arms, legs, and body all around.
The Komachi swarm is encircling her, sprinting at high speeds, kicking up dust from the dirt road everywhere. This makes Sakuya very confused, as she cannot keep track of all of them at once. They appear simply as moving blurs among the dense cloud of dust.
While Sakuya tries to defend herself in her front, there would be other Komachis taking the opportunity to attack her vulnerable exposed back.
Every second that pass, a Komachi would strike her like a snake would strike from a distance and recoil back. They would jump in, slash, and get out, continuing to encircle.
Sakuya tries to defend each attack, but it is impossible to defend against simultaneous attacks.
Then, in a critical split second, she hears a distant voice belonging to Marisa.
"Now! Attack!"
All the Komachis suddenly closes in at her all at once.
"Time Sign Private Square !!"
The world around her turns into monochrome grey, Komachis stop in midair, and the dust particles suspend in the air. The sky has become grey in color.
All except herself, which somehow Sakuya can see herself in full color.
With the brief time stop, Sakuya limps in pain out of the death trap the Komachi swarm has set up. She looks back and she can see the Komachi's leaping in midair at where Sakuya was standing, some even leaping to the height of her face intending to strike her head.
She can see a small stream of blood from her cuts suspend in mid air, the only thing besides herself that still maintains its color. The ground where she once stood was also colored red from her spilt blood.
The sight of her blood among the grey "world" makes her aware of her mortality and the damage she is taking.
"Ohh…I've lost quite a lot of blood." Sakuya mutters, feeling faint and her breathing erratic.
The pain in her injuries sting unbearably. Komachi's scythes are so sharp that Sakuya's skin and clothes simply part with the slightest touch.
With so much pain and blood loss, Sakuya knows she cannot hold the spell for long, before exhaustion took her.
The grey "world" around her seems to slowly fade back into color, showing the she cannot hold the spell longer.
As a last effort, she uses her knife, and position it aiming at the backs of the Komachis which are facing inwards to the circle.
When a knife has been positioned for each Komachi, the "World" finally restores its full color, and time resumes.
Surprisingly, most of the Komachis simply twist around, and deflect the knives again with their scythes. Some knives manage to stab into several doll's back, but it didn't take them down, with a knife on their back, they simply turn around to face Sakuya.
In just a second, the Komachis immediately dash towards Sakuya and resume their previous strategy, surrounding Sakuya and trapping her, slowly killing her.
Oooh….I can't use another spell card…I'm too tired. Sakuya thought to herself, and contorts in pain as she feels another cut.
Damn it. While I'm sure the rest of them would have made it, I've put myself in an inescapable situation foolishly.
As she hears another distant voice "Attack!" her last thought is: I'm sorry mistress.
Marisa chuckles to herself, as she sees Sakuya fruitlessly fend off the attack from the Komachi swarm.
Sakuya clearly wanted to buy "time" for the rest of the group to escape.
So, if I cannot get to the rest and get what I want, I shall increase the price!
Knowing first hand that the Komachis were able to handle Sakuya's knives, Marisa intended to trap Sakuya, and weaken her as soon as possible.
By swarming around Sakuya, it closes any means of retreating with the exception of her spellcards. And by using her spellcards, it will take out a huge strain in her stamina. She will not be able run very far during time stop with that sort of exhaustion. Thought Marisa with a satisfied smile.
"Huh? Whats that?" Marisa hears a voice from a distance.
She was too absorbed into observing the fight, that she didn't notice Koakuma's army approach at full speed towards Sakuya and the Komachis.
"Attack!" Koakuma shouts.
The Komachi army stops their attack and turns to face the incoming army.
A swarm of knives descend upon them in the open.
Sakuya looks around in surprise as a volley of knives rain down around her.
The knives did not even fall on her, simply around her. A testament to the skills of the Sakuya dolls.
As the Komachis try to deflect the raining knives, blurs of green crash into them at full speed.
The two armies engage.
It took a second for Sakuya to register that it is time to make a run for it.
"Sakuya! You're hurt!" Koakuma exclaims as Sakuya approaches in a tired run.
"Come on! Lets get out of here while we can!" Sakuya says.
"You're badly hurt, and you can't run that fast. I'll carry you!"
"Wha? There's no need for- oof!" Sakuya is cut off as Koakuma suddenly sweeps her up from her feet, and runs quickly towards the mansion, with Sakuya in her arms.
Koakuma being a demon has more physical strength than an ordinary human, which matches a Youkai.
But not as strong as Meiling in the least.
Sakuya merely blushes in embarrassment, before looking behind at the battle between the Komachis and Koakuma's faithful army.
"Koakuma…"
"Yes Sakuya?"
"I don't recall one of us thanking you yet. So…thanks…for saving me. For saving all of us."
"Hmm…..then you can consider your time 'debt' repaid, eh?" Koakuma grins joyfully "and I can't really take all the credit. You showed professional management of the maids back there."
"Of course" Sakuya smiles, then looks back at the battle and says "do you think your army can survive the battle?"
Koakuma's expression darkens at the thought of the fate of her army. The decision to sacrifice the doll army to rescue Sakuya should be a logical and plausible solution.
But there still remains a slight tinge of guilt…
But what are several doll's lives compared to my friend's? They ARE just dolls…right? Thought Koakuma.
"I don't think they'll be coming back to us…..for now, I've just bought us more time. I really hope Patchouli has some reinforcements ready…"
It is clear which is more powerful. Even with the combination attack of the Sakuya's knives, and Meiling's melee attack, the Komachis are lethally armed which gives them a big edge in the battle.
Sakuya dolls, from a distance, use their knives to distract them, and slow their movement. The Meiling dolls take advantage of this and engage the Komachis, with little success. The Meilings can only manage to make their opponent fall down, but the Komachis simply get back up again, and resume fighting.
The Meilings are outpowered.
The Komachis will eventually score a deadly hit, disemboweling the Meilings with their razor sharp scythes, and start to attack the remaining Sakuya dolls.
The battle is over within two minutes.
Koakuma's army is destroyed.
"Smart girl…" Marisa mutters to herself with a frown as she watches Koakuma carry Sakuya well away from the battle and nearing the Mansion's gates.
"Oh well…I suppose that's the end of Koakuma's army…Let's proceed with the invasion!" Marisa exclaims to herself, with some satisfaction that Koakuma's irritating army is annihilated.
Marisa and the Komachi army make their way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Patchouli and Meiling are waiting at the gates when Koakuma finally arrives.
"Meiling, shut the gates" Patchouli orders as Koakuma enter through the thick wooden gates.
Meiling then pull the gates shut, and places iron bars on the locks, sealing the gates from the inside.
As Remilia comes out of the mansion through the entrance, Koakuma drops Sakuya to let her stand, saving her from further embarrassment in front of Mistress Remilia.
"Koakuma! That was very impressive! Well done!" Remilia congratulates Koakuma.
"Yes. Good job Koakuma. You did exceedingly well." Patchouli says proudly.
"But…the doll army is destroyed! And Marisa still has her army! She will arrive here any minute now. I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop her, there was simply too many of them."
"Exactly, Koakuma. You just defended against a formidable army with just a small force. And with the time you bought us, I was able to fully set up the Mansion's defenses. Look around." Patchouli gestures at the top of the Mansion's tall walls.
Koakuma didn't notice it before as she came into the Mansion.
Hundreds of dolls line up on the front walls.
She can recognize some of the nine-tailed dolls from before, among other numerous dolls.
The majority of the dolls is of one kind and seems to stand out to her. Dressed in a black shirt, purple skirt and a red tie, the doll has long purple hair, and on top of its head looked like long rabbit ears.
The weapon it is holding is the most peculiar thing. Each seems to be holding a long tubular object.
I wonder what it is…
Another group of dolls catch her attention. It is a small group of dolls that are floating in midair. Dolls of Patchouli herself.
"Those are flying dolls!" Koakuma comments.
"Yes, we have our own flying squadron this time. Now…let's watch the massacre." Patchouli says.
Massacre…Koakuma didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea.
End chapter 11
Authors Notes: Real time progress can be found in Maidens of the Kaleidoscope website, at the Fanworks section.
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