Ready yourselves up for Stage 4, people! Before you read, now would be a good time to pull up dBu's remix of Marisa's GFW Theme: Magus Night! Prepare yourself, and don't look into the operational end of the Mini-Hakkero!

In other news, we have surpassed the 40 000 word mark! Yay me!

– TOUHOU –

Marisa narrowed her eyes as she aimed the Mini-Hakkero, already fueling it with the love magic needed. Pointing the small reactor at the particular person she didn't like in the group, she unleashed her annihilation of love.

"Magicannon – Final Spark!"

"SCATTER!" Cirno barked at the others, though the order was unnecessary, considering most people would never dare to try and stare down a Final Spark. Flitting out of the way just in time, she hissed in pain as part of her wings melted off as she barely grazed it. Forming an icicle sword, she leapt at the witch. "Underworld Sign – Sword of Hades!"

Marisa smiled arrogantly as the massive sword exploded from Cirno's regular sword and arced down towards her. Reaching behind her, the witch's eyes lit up as she tossed the bomb at the seraph. "Magic Waste – Deep Ecological Bomb!"

Unable to stop her swing in time, Cirno cursed as the explosion rang out, blasting her into the ground. Shaking off the dirt, she looked up just in time to see Marisa winding up for another attack. "Black Magic – Event Hori–"

"Black Hole – Unbreakable Grip on Reality!" Karin leapt in front of the seraph, spell card in hand. Flinging out her empty hand and snapping it open, a singularity formed in her palm, every bullet of danmaku that approached instead being sucked into the ravenous void, the light itself twisting and warping around it. Marisa held onto her hat to keep it from being eaten as well. This was what Yukari meant when she said Yuyuko had a black hole for a stomach!?

… Actually, considering the things that ghost ate, it wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Whoa! I'm not taking part in that, ze!" Marisa turned tail and ran.

Canceling her spell card, Karin pulled Cirno to her feet and leapt after the black-white witch. The Seraph of Ice looked exceptionally angry as she flew after the magician. "Get back here, you stealer of precious things!"

Yukari pulled the still-unconscious Reimu onto her back and jumped into a gap, sinking out of sight. She called out to the last remaining team, "Don't worry, I'll just cut off Marisa! I'm not going to do anything with Reimu! Yet."

Byakuren sighed. "That Yukari…"

Darius pointedly ignored her. Instead watching the three girls begin their aerial dogfight, he murmured to Alexa, "Is the spell card ready?"

As ready as it'll ever be, came the response. Alexa's voice began to grow worried. The problem is I couldn't test it in your dream world, so I don't know if there'll be any side effects until we actually cast it.

"Alright then." The new spell ejected from the chamber in the revolver's side. Darius grabbed it and held it up to the air. "Adjudicator – Commissar of the Noble Skies!"

Two massive wings of light and darkness erupted from his back. One angelic feathered wing, made with layer upon layer of danmaku, and one demonic bat wing, formed from an extremely dense single layer. Flapping his wings experimentally, the gunslinger gestured to Byakuren. "Hurry up! They're getting away!"

Coming out of her shock at seeing him suddenly sprout wings and fly, the monk nodded. "Let's go!"

– TOUHOU –

"Graviton Sign – Polaris Crush!"

Fwoom!

"Glad that didn't hit me, ze…" Marisa straightened her witch's hat as she looked at where the cave walls had sunk in from the extreme pressure applied on them. She turned back to her opponent. "So, how've you been doing, baka?"

"Enough baka jokes, Marisa," Cirno said coldly as her sword clashed with the magician's broomstick. That thing was damn strong to withstand this amount of force. The seraph flapped her wings, icicle danmaku flying from them and forcing Marisa into a retreat – exactly what Cirno needed. "Freeze Sign – Perfect Freeze!"

The many-coloured danmaku shot forth from Cirno's palms, scattering about the air as Marisa weaved in and out. As one, every bullet in the air froze and began moving again in a circular pattern.

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Marisa barked as she strafed around Cirno, standing on her broom in perfect balance. She stuck out her tongue and chanted, "Baka, baka! Baka, baka! Baka, Baka!"

"Welcome to the trap, Marisa." Cirno sneered as she melted into a puddle of cold water. Instantly reforming on the ground, she yelled at Karin. "Now!"

"Gotcha, Cirno-nee!" Karin felt the force of Earth's gravity give way to her own power. "Supernova – Collapsing Star!"

Again, the singularity formed behind her, absorbing all of Cirno's danmaku. Flinging it forward, Marisa barely got out of the way of the black hole, narrowly avoiding being sucked into the death trap. Her Mini-Hakkero, however, was not so lucky.

Marisa watched time slow down as the reactor slipped free of her grasp and fall into the black hole, which promptly exploded under Karin's command, scattering Cirno's danmaku everywhere. The Mini-Hakkero was sent flying by the force, the magically reinforced reactor spiraling away into the darkness of the cave. Marisa turned to Karin, who was preparing another black hole, Cirno generating danmaku at her side. "YOU…!"

Tossing aside her broom, Marisa ripped off her witch hat and reached into its depths, drawing a spell card and crumpling up the hat in one hand. She wouldn't need her Mini-Hakkero to fuel this one – not a spell that was powered by the complete antithesis of love. The black-white magician glared down at Karin and Cirno as her hands were suffused with an eerie red-black glow.

"Drown the World – Midnight Spark."

Her former master's trump card activating, Marisa let loose with a wild storm of energy, the resulting laser taking up the entire cave as it streaked out at the speed of sound. Her eyes blazing with fury, Marisa felt the backlash sending tendrils of runoff magic flying past her, smashing apart the domed ceiling above the Former Hell Capital. The enhanced version of the Evil Spirit Mima's already disgustingly overpowered Spark Series laser, it carved a trench countless thousand feet deep under Former Hell, a rush of magma bursting out as Marisa smashed apart the mantle of the Earth itself, pumping more and more energy into it until she could no longer support it. Her scalded hands falling uselessly to her sides, Marisa fell to the ground, barely even standing.

"Fuck you, ze…" Marisa spat as she stared down the colossal pit she'd formed. Far, far below her, she could see the faint glow of magma as it bubbled up. Taking exactly one step back, Marisa watched as the geyser of magma spouted into the air, raining fiery death all around her. A single drop landed by her boot, which she promptly ground into the earth. The witch smiled ruefully. "Mima-sama would've been proud of that if she were here to see it."

Some might call it overkill. Marisa tended to stuff her Mini-Hakkero down their throats and ask them if they still thought it was overkill. With a crumbling noise, said Mini-Hakkero had been dislodged by Marisa's ferocious attack, plummeting from the ceiling and landing softly in Marisa's hand. She stared at it for a moment before scoffing and pocketing it, flexing her hand as she felt the dark energy her master had always used arcing through them. "Damn, Mima-sama… You always told me hate was a better fuel than love. Guess I should've listened, da ze."

Darius and Byakuren flew down to where they'd last seen the witch, and promptly plummeted to the ground in shock, having seen Marisa unleash her Midnight Spark. Byakuren was at a complete loss for words, whereas Darius decided to throw caution to the winds and declare what they were both screaming silently in their heads.

"Holy shit."

– TOUHOU –

"Foreign contaminant detected! Immediate extermination of contaminant required!"

"Do you even know what that means?" Cirno rolled her eyes as she hefted Karin onto her back. Being a fairy had its perks, one of which was resurrecting after death, and her recent power boost effectively revived her instantly, hence the reason she'd chosen to take Marisa's improved Spark attack head-on and shield Karin in the process. While it was enough to prevent fatal injury to the gravity manipulator, it would probably leave her unconscious for at least another hour, and at most a whole day. As for who she was talking to…

Well, let's just say that Utsuho's fusion reactor is really, really big.

The ditzy hell raven scratched her head as she thought about Cirno's words. "No… but Satori-sama told me to say it if any strangers came down here and to chase them off. So; foreign contaminant detected! Immediate extermination of conta–"

"I'll give you a pack of boiled eggs if you don't."

"Ooh! Eggs? Where?" Cirno rolled her eyes at the nuclear girl as she flew about her fusion reactor, struggling futilely to find hidden eggs that didn't exist. "I want eggs!"

"If you let us go, I promise I'll come back with a full basket of eggs for you in a week."

"Okay!" Utsuho chirped as she flew off.

Cirno shook her head. Now that she actually understood exactly how much of Utsuho's brain capacity had been taken up by nuclear physics (she understands nuclear physics but doesn't understand metaphors?), it made sense why people called her a sixball…

Hefting the unconscious Karin over her shoulder, Cirno flapped her wings, flying up to the surface of the reactor while taking care to avoid the rain of tiny suns from above.

– TOUHOU –

Byakuren couldn't even be bothered to point out Darius' swearing. "Marisa… did… all of that…?"

The gunslinger gulped. "I think so…"

The black-white magician turned, a red glint shining in her only visible eye. "… You wanna be next, ze?"

Marisa raised a hand and let it crackle away with the starts of another Spark attack. "You get five seconds to say your last words."

"Now what?" Darius whispered to Byakuren.

"I don't think any of our magic could hold up against Mima-sama's magic series," Byakuren whispered back.

"Lexa, any ideas?" Darius murmured to his revolver.

Nothing. Just pray that Marisa holds back just enough to keep us alive.

"We're screwed."

"I've just given up on your language, Darius."

"Sorry…"

"Done yet?" Marisa raised an eyebrow. "If you are, good. If you're not, I don't care, ze."

Raising her hand a little higher, she opened her clenched fist, releasing the contained spell. "Bewitched Weapon – Dark Spark."

"Solar Sign – Master Spark."

A golden beam of light clashed with a red beam of light, the two lasers cancelling each other out. Marisa turned around fully in shock as Yuuka Kazami slowly fluttered to the ground, closing her parasol. "Hello, thief. I'd been wondering if you'd even last long enough for me to gut you personally."

"Put a lid on it, Kazami," snarled Marisa. "You're not even a part of this fight, da ze!"

"Oh, I'm not?" Yuuka exclaimed in mock surprise. "How terribly rude of me! Flower Sign – Gensokyan Blossoms."

Waves and waves of danmaku emanated from the flower youkai in the shape of countless petals and flowers. Sneering, Marisa tore through it all with a swipe of her hand. "You call that a spell card!?" The witch taunted her. "I've crapped spells stronger than that! Daemon Sign – Nightfall Spark."

"It doesn't matter if you're using any of Mima's Sparks." Yuuka opened her parasol and deflected the laser with ease. "You're merely copying her copy. It cannot surpass my Sparks. Flower Sign – Giga Spark!"

The colossal laser blasted forth from the tip of Yuuka's parasol. Marisa held her hands out in front of her, crackling with energy once more. One hand gripped the Mini-Hakkero, the other glowing with sheer energy. "Kirisame Arcanum – Magus Night!"

Simultaneously, a Final Master Spark and a Nightfall Spark blasted from each of her hands, gold and red whipping around each other and crashing into Yuuka's Giga Spark, easily overwhelming it. Eyes widening, Yuuka drove her parasol into the ground and used it as leverage to swing her way to safety, both Sparks blasting past her at incredible speed.

Marisa slammed her hands into the ground, a pillar of danmaku exploding from her point of contact and racing towards Yuuka, who sidestepped it. As she brought her parasol to bear on the magician, Marisa had already closed the gap between them, her broomstick in hand once more, the Mini-Hakkero jammed into it and spouting streams of danmaku as Marisa slammed it across Yuuka's face with such force as to send her spiraling into the nearest wall, burying her under a pile of rocks.

Not even giving the flower youkai a chance to recover, Marisa tore out her Mini-Hakkero again and, completely ignoring the way it was originally configured, fueled it as if she were empowering a Midnight Spark. The Mini-Hakkero reacted immediately, shaking uncontrollably in her hands and steaming as red light seeped from its cracks. Quickly pointing the reactor at Yuuka, Marisa blasted a fused Spark formed from both a Master Spark and Dark Spark, the raging storm of love and hate instantly blasting Yuuka high into the air. Leaping back into the air after her, Marisa grabbed her broom again and brought it down in an overhead blow that could've split rock, catapulting Yuuka back down to earth before she even had a chance to recover.

Pichuun~

The almost chirp-like sound signified Yuuka's defeat as Marisa touched down, limping slightly. Barely sparing the astounded Myouren Team a glance, she immediately grabbed her broom and jumped down into the pit her initial Midnight Spark had made.

Rushing to Yuuka's side, Byakuren leaned down and ran a hand across Yuuka's temple. Sighing with relief, she said, "Yuuka-san's alright… just unconscious. Marisa's gotten so much stronger…"

Darius nodded grimly. He hadn't seen much of the precious thing thief, but even he could tell that the witch was far, far stronger than she should've ever been…

"Oh, dear. This won't do at all." With a popping sound, Yukari poked her head out of a rather small gap and looked at the two. "On one hand, we've got our Stage 4 and Stage 5 miniboss down there. On the other hand, we've got our Stage 5 and 6 bosses up here. Whatever shall we do?"

"What are you talking about?" Byakuren raised an eyebrow.

"Where were you the last twenty minutes!? You were supposed to be helping us defeat Marisa!" Darius pointed Alexa into her face.

"Whoops, my bad~" Yukari giggled. "I just got a little distracted with Reimu-chan is all~"

"Honestly, I'm starting to wonder how you two ever solved the Imperishable Night incident," Byakuren sighed.

"So, our options come down to this." Darius hummed thoughtfully. "One of us has to go down and face Marisa. The other has to face Rinnosuke and his stage 5 boss. Cirno and Karin are missing, and Yuuka's… incapacitated. What to do…?"

"Isn't it obvious? You two chase after Marisa, because Reimu probably wouldn't have the will to beat down her best friend again, and you two probably aren't armed for the stage 5 boss. So Reimu and I will fight the stage 5 boss and stall Rinnosuke while you catch Marisa and come to us." Darius and Byakuren stared at the gap youkai in shock. "What? Just because I act stupid a lot doesn't mean I am stupid."

"The scary part is that plan would probably work."

"Oh, get going."

As Yukari sank back into her gap, Byakuren frowned slightly. "Something's not right with Marisa-san. There's something off about the way she fought."

"What do you mean?" Darius looked at the monk as they began carefully descending the steep slope.

"Marisa is usually never that aggressive. It's possible something is manipulating her, or even playing us all…" Byakuren looked him full in the eyes. "Darius, we have another incident."

– TOUHOU –

Yo dawg, I heard you like incidents, so I put an incident in your incident, so you can solve it while you solve it.

IN(CIDENT)CEPTION

But seriously, I'll be trying on a new 'divergence path' for a change. Next 2 chapters will be based around the Border and Myouren Teams' halves of this double incident!

In other news, I know that Mima's infamous Twilight Spark is probably one of the most hands-down broken powers in existence. But really...

Twilight. Spark.

Vampire Pony?

I'm sorry, I just couldn't settle with it (no offense to you, kinder half of the brony fandom). Also, I like breaking down the rules of logic and trampling them into the ground.

More recently, I happened to go down with a very nasty case of the flu (on Friday 13... the irony is delicious), so the next chapters may be delayed. Sorry!