The group of heroes looked around the area surrounded by portals, "Alright." Marisa said taking a step forward and looking around "We have some options this time… So I'd say-" Marisa stops and looks at the giant portal, "That one!" Marisa shouts as she runs straight towards it. "Marisa!" Reimu shouted, "There she goes again…" Sakuya says shaking her head. Before Marisa could reach the portal she was pushed down on the ground by an invisible force. "Ow…" Marisa said slowly sitting up. "Guess it needs a key? Check under the doormat." Spell says, jokingly. Reimu looked around, "Maybe this is a sign we need to look at the other portals first." Reimu said thinking about the situation. Marisa slowly gets off the ground, "but which one do we go to first?" Spell smiles, "I dunno. I guess you should just keep running into them until we find the right one." Noel looks over at the one closest to the huge portal, "What if we go over to that one?" she asks. Reimu nods and the group walks over to the portal, but unlike Janus's other portals, this one had a vision of the area, in it could be seen a walkway with lots of flying ships in the background. "I recognize this, this somewhere close to academy!" Noel says sounding happy to see a place she's been to. "I guess we should go in then?" Sanae asks. "It's a far cry from the last academy we were at, that's for sure." Spell says, examining the portal. "Well, I guess this is where we go. Ready everyone?" Reimu asks. The group nods and enters the portal and enter the new area.
Everyone takes a look around, "woah, this is just like when we first arrived at Beacon, remember all those flying ships Reimu?" Marisa asks, Reimu nods "Yeah… wait." Reimu quickly turns around, "Where's Noel?" Reimu asks sounding worried. "She said she knows the place. Maybe she's looking for help?" Spell says, now looking around. Suddenly the portal opens again, now showing a vision of Noel in the area they were earlier struggling to get inside the portal. "She's blocked off, like the giant portal." Sakuya says. "Well, there goes our Tour Guide… Does this mean the big portal leads to Gensokyo? Spell says, poking at the portal. "I don't know… But right now..." Reimu turns around, "Janus wants us here for a reason, so there's something going on." Reimu explains. "Yeah, but what? There's not a lot of people that stand out here, if anything we stand out the most." Sanae explains. "Well, we could try wondering around aimlessly until we find… something. You know, unless one of you has a better idea." Spell says, still looking around. Marisa sighs, "You're not wrong, let's start walking around then." Marisa says as the group begins to walk forward.
A few minutes have passed and the group still hasn't found anyone of interest, "Jeez, everyone here dresses the same! All in uniform and stuff." Marisa says sounding annoyed. Sakuya continues to look around, "Noel did say something about an academy, maybe that explains the clothes they wear… although I am curious why no one has questioned why we are her-" suddenly, Sakuya accidentally bumps into someone. "Oh my! I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention!" Sakuya quickly apologizes. The man Sakuya bumped into wore a black coat with a white shirt underneath, around his neck was a black tie and he wore a black fedora. The man shrugged, "oh, It's fine.. I'm a bit busy today so maybe it was my fault. Although, you and your little group here don't exactly look like they belong here... " The man smiled and looked over at Reimu and Spell, "Well, sorry for the interruption, I have somewhere to be.. I'd question you all, but I guess I'll let that slide." The man walked away from the group still keeping a smile on his face. "Hey Spell… did something about that guy… bother you?" Reimu asks sounding deep in thought. "Well, considering he's the only other person here who isn't in an academy uniform, he must be important to the plot." Spell says, watching the man walk away. Reimu keeps an eye on the man too, "Yeah but… didn't he seem like familiar or something. I have this feeling like we've seen him or something already." Reimu says now sounding curious. Marisa laughs, "Maybe you're just overthinking it, he didn't seem very familiar to me, right Spell?" Marisa asks. "Either way, we can't start something here. There's people everywhere…" Spell says, gesturing to people surrounding them. "Let's follow him then. If he's really up to something we can see for ourselves." Reimu suggests. "Yep, let's shadow the guy when all of us are blending in so well already..." Spell says sarcastically. Sanae shakes her head, "There has to be something we can do! It won't be long until he's out of our sight!" Sanae says sounding nervous. "Well, I could turn invisible. But only in bursts and you guys would have to grab onto me in order to also be invisible. We'd bump into people. But, now that I think about it… Does he want us to follow him?" Spell says, noticing that even though they've been debating for a while, the man is still close by. Reimu and the others look over and notice that the man was still there. "Yep, he's our guy, isn't he?" Marisa asks. "Well should we follow him?" Sakuya asks. Reimu shrugs, "We're pretty much walking into some sort of trap but yeah sure." Reimu says sounding a bit annoyed. "And here we go again. The wonder Group go to face the enemy head on, again..." Spell says, sounding somewhat tired. Everyone walks over to the man and as they started walking over, the man continued walking away.
The group followed the man into a wide and long alleyway, with the building surrounding them being as tall as skyscrapers. "Yep, this is a trap." Reimu said as she continued walking. The man stopped and turned around, "You know.. I don't think anyone is gonna see us here. I was wondering when you all were gonna start following me." The man said with a carefree tone. "Well you didn't exactly make it make it easy for us all to move around unnoticed! Everyone was in grey suits so we're sat here looking like some bootleg rock band!" Spell says, not even caring about the trap. The man laughs, "Well it doesn't matter, not anymore. You are all right on time…" A portal opens up next to Reimu and the group and Madoka and Homura fall out. "Ow… that really hurt." Madoka said brushing herself off and standing up with Homura. "What? That's it? You just gave us more people to fight you with! I mean that is… if you're looking for one." Marisa says confused. "Brainwashing? That didn't really work last time." Spell says, moving the fingers on his right hand. Madoka and Homura look at Spell confused, "Brainwashing? What are you talking about?" Homura asks confused. The man laughs, "No, you see I was just giving you more players for the game… At least that's what "he" told me to do…" The man explains. "Game?" Reimu asks. "Did you not hear all the game references I've made? This is all one big game to Janus. And it seems he thinks we need a handicap." Spell says, somewhat mad at the fact that Janus thinks he's already won. The man laughed once more "You guys are really making my day you know that? Anyways, here's what's gonna happen." Suddenly from the rooftops Oriko and Kirika jump down surrounded by a red aura with glowing red eyes. "Oh great, these two again?" Sanae says as the others get ready to fight. "And that's not all, I suggested one more tiny rule to this… I'm sure you all will love it!" The man says as a portal opens up beside him. "Ouroboros!" The man shouts as a green chain shoots out from him into the portal, quickly he grabs onto the chains and pulls onto it, pulling out a girl with long blonde hair and and a blue outfit similar to Madoka and Homura's. "Hey! What the hell is this?!" she shouts struggling to break free. "Finally, after all this time, I'll be able to get rid of Trinity." The man says sounding excited. The girl looks over now angry and confused, "What?! Have you forgotten already or something? Trinity isn't-" The man pulls on the chain tightening it. "Yes, yes I know isn't actually you. I understand." The man looks over at Reimu and Spell again, I'd say you all have a few minutes before Ouroboros completely drains her life's energy, having it around you like that for a while is quite deadly…" The man explains. The man looks at Spell, but then cocks his eyebrow in confusion. Spell is standing at the back of the group wide-eyed and not saying a word. He shakes his head, "Sorry, I just had to process all that. First, Madoka and Homura out of nowhere, then the two others we fought before, then you have chains like Terumi all of a sudden, and now it's race against time to stop you before that OTHER girl has her life drained in order to stop something called Trinity from being destroyed. Have I missed anything?!" Spell says, clearly annoyed. The man thinks for a second, "Hmm, no. Wait!" The man removes his hat, "It's a bit rude to just start all this without an introduction, The name's Hazama, and I'd explain the whole chains like Terumi thing, but it'd take a while." Hazama puts back on his hat, "Now… Let's Begin!"
Kirika quickly uses her magic to slow everyone down as Oriko jumped back and began to shoot out vines that surrounded the area, limiting everyone's options to dodge. "This isn't good!" Marisa shouts. "And what part of this gave you that idea?!" Spell says, once again, sarcastically. Kirka jumped into the air and knocked Sanae and Sakuya back into a vine quickly trapping them. "Two down already? I thought you guys were really strong or something?" Hazama says with a sarcastically. Reimu slowly attempts to pull out her talismans, but is hit and knocked back by Kirika, as Reimu is hit back she lands on the ground almost touching a vine. "We can't do anything like this!" Reimu shouts. Marisa slowly turns her head to the side to look at Madoka and Homura, but to her surprise, only Madoka was there. "Wait, where is-" Marisa says before getting hit back into a vine. "If we can't fight in weird battle dome… If I try burning the vines, Madoka will get hurt. But how much longer does Trinity girl have left? Who do I go for? I know!" Spell quickly disappears in a cloud of dust, leaving a hole where he was standing. Hazama shakes his head in disbelief, "Where the hell did he go? And what the hell is that hole?" Hazama shouts. Reimu finally gets up off the ground, "He sure is full of tricks isn't he?" Reimu says sounding a bit surprised. Suddenly, the ground starts to shake. A scream is heard outside of the vine dome, and the vines start to dissipate. "If you can't fight above ground! Fight underground!" Spell says, standing next to an unconscious Oriko. Hazama and Kirika quickly turn around. "Are you kidding me right now?!" Hazama says sounding annoyed. Kirika looks at Oriko and then at Spell, Kirika charges at Spell while screaming in a fit of rage, but before she can even get close Homura appears with a Stun Gun and shoots Kirka. "I didn't even do anything! I just popped out of the ground and the poor girl had a heart attack! Also, where did you get a stun gun?!" Spell says, trying to get a grasp on the situation. Homura turns around to look at Spell, "would you prefer I shoot her with a real gun?" Homura asks. "No comment. So, does someone wanna cut those chains before Trinity girl passes out?" Spell says, only now just remembering that someone else was in trouble. "Are you kidding me?!" Hazama shouts, now completely losing his calm yet carefree tone. Hazama releases the chains from the girl and shoots Ouroboros at the side of a building as it quickly bounces around the area wrapping itself around everyone. "No way am I letting this slide! You are all losing here! You hear me! All of you!" Hazama shouts. "Jeez, you need to calm down… But I probably shouldn't be saying that in a position like this.." Marisa says sounding like she's in pain. "Guys… There's no reason to panic or whatever. We're not meant to lose here. You think Ol' Janus would be satisfied with this Blues Brothers reject beating us?" Spell says, wince slightly at the pain of having his soul take a beating. "What did you just say? Janus was right about you, you always know how to get on someone's nerves huh?" Hazama says now pulling on the chains harder. Reimu looks over at where the girl landed, she wasn't there anymore. "Huh? wait... " Reimu smiles and looks back at Hazama. "Spell's not wrong, I mean with an outfit like that you're just asking to be a reject." Reimu says jokingly. "Are you serious right now?" Hazama shouts. "How about this? You wanna play a game?" Spell says, as he manages to get his hand to slip past one of the chains. In his hand was a coin, "I'm gonna flip this coin. If it's heads, I win. If it's tails, you win. How's that sound?" Spell says. Hazama looks at Spell confused, "I don't know how a simple coin flip will save you all, but if it helps you rest, sure let's play." Hazama responds. "Glad you're willing to play! Now then, keep a close eye on the coin!" Spell says, as he flips the coin a few meters into the air. While the coin in in midair is falling, Hazama is hit by a spiked bat, releasing everyone and knocking him out cold. The bat quickly transformed into a staff and the one using the staff was the girl. "Have you just completely forgotten or something!? Trinity isn't here anymore! She's gone! G-O-N-E! Gone!" The girl shouts. The girl calms down, "Luna, calm down it's over now." She says to herself in a slightly different tone. "Uh, are you okay?" Reimu asks. Spell walks over to Hazama, with the coin in his hand. "Well would ya look at that! It's heads. Looks like I win. Nice swing by the way, but I figured you could use a distraction." He says, looking over at the girl. "Thanks, but it wasn't me though, it was Luna." The girl explains. "Wait, then who're you? You have a twin or something?!" Spell says, now even more confused despite just being done with the last confusing situation. "Guess again Spell." Janus appears behind everyone, "To keep things simple, this girl here is called Platinum by a lot of people, mainly because it's simple that way. Right now you're talking to the other soul in her body." Janus explains. Reimu and Spell look over at Janus confused, "What?" Reimu asks. "It's a really extreme case of multiple personality disorder. Because it's actually two people sharing a room." Spell says, trying to explain it himself. Janus claps his hands, "Exactly. Now…" Janus quickly teleports over to Hazama. "Man, he would be pissed if he found out I gave him the person he wanted…. But from a different time!" Janus laughs to himself. "Wait what? What do you mean?" Reimu asks. Janus snaps his fingers as a portal appears underneath Hazama, "You see… all of you are currently in the past, and Platinum here is from the future. Hazama wanted Platinum dead because she originally had three souls, one soul he didn't really like." Janus explains. "Why is it never simple? Seriously, couldn't have been she just hasn't seen her therapist in a while or something? But no, it's MORE time travel and people with multiple souls." Spell says, not even sure what to think anymore. Janus shrugs, "It's only gonna get more confusing with this world Spell, hopefully the people I send after you all don't overwhelm you with a history lesson." Janus says jokingly. "Is it ever simple for you? Trying to keep track of everything gets a bit annoying, I don't think I can handle another book of knowledge or something." Marisa says sounding annoyed. Janus shakes his head "What you're not happy with this world as the finale? I had options you know, A world filled with tons of weird genetically enhanced people, maybe I could create my own world but I did that already, long story. Or perhaps I could've been boring and fight you all in Gensokyo. Which one of that would you prefer?" Janus asks. "I'll take the one where we fight you and win! That one sounds good!" Spell says, raising his hand like a kid in a classroom. Janus laughs as two portals appear,one behind him and the other behind the group. "Too late, everything's all set up, see you all later, round one out of four is finished, where will you all lose at I wonder…" Janus says as he leaves. Platinum runs after Janus but was too late to catch him. "Hey! Are you just gonna leave me here!? I don't even know these people!" She shouts. "Well, you heard him, we got three more left." Homura says walking away from the group and towards the portal. "You know. I thinking you guys can handle the next one. I'm gonna try to find a bathroom or something in the next place. Maybe take a nap." Spell says, slowly walking through the portal. "Hey, wait up! You can't just leave us like that!" Marisa shouts going after Spell as the rest follow except for Platinum, who was still trying to figure out where Janus went. Platinum turns around and notices everyone had left and quickly runs into the slowly closing portal, "W-wait for me!" Platinum shouts as she runs in.
"Lewis! How could you do such a thing?" a girl with an outfit resembling Reimu shouted. She stood in front of Lewis who was in his black robe and mask, the area around them was completely destroyed, no other person could be seen in sight. "There's barely anyone left… how could you?" The girl asks. Lewis looked at the girl and spoke with a sinister tone, "Why haven't you just given up? Almost everyone you knew here is long gone… the Gensokyo you know is gone and in it's place a much more peaceful one will be created." Lewis said now walking towards the girl. "I'll never forgive you for this! You won't get away without punishment!" The girl shouts as she pulls out talismans. Lewis laughs. "You're nowhere near as strong to beat me Shrine Maiden…"
"Hey! Janus! Snap out of it!" Terumi shouts. Janus quickly shakes his head and looks at Terumi, "My apologies, I was deep in thought." Janus says as he opens a portal and leaves. "Okay…" Terumi says sounding confused.
Everyone arrives back at the area with Rachel and Noel, the area itself now looked a lot more colorful than last time they were there. "Huh, I guess Rachel and Noel managed to clean up the place huh?" Marisa says jokingly. "Hey! Madoka! Reimu!" a familiar voice is heard in the distance. Reimu and Madoka look around and to their surprise, Sayaka and the rest of the Holy Quintet were also here. Sayaka and the rest of the Holy Quintet run up to Reimu's group, "I've been wondering where you guys have been. What happened?" Sayaka asks. "It's a bit of a long story, maybe Spell can explain it for me." Reimu says still trying to get out of explaining things. "Thanks a lot Reimu… Right, so after we all got separated… We ended up here. And now we basically have to go through all these portals and do something in each one. It looks like doing that will lead us to the others who went missing. That's all, I think..." Spell says, shooting Reimu an annoyed look. "Hey! You guys are okay!" Noel and Rachel also run over to the group. "I take it you fixed whatever needed to be fixed?" Rachel asks. "Yeah, we beat some guy up and found our friends! Also.. you wouldn't happen to know someone named Platinum would you?" Marisa asks. "Oh?" Rachel looks at the back of the group, where Platinum stood looking around still looking confused. "Trinity wouldn't happen to be with you, would she?" Rachel asks. Platinum lets out an annoyed sigh, "No, she's not." She replies. Rachel shakes her head looking disappointed, "Thought so." Rachel says now walking away to look at the other portal."I'm sorry I couldn't go with you guys, I don't know why I couldn't be let in." Noel says sounding sad. "You said you recognised the place. If you were with us, then we most likely wouldn't have bumped into Hazama since you would have lead us somewhere else. That's not how the game was meant to be played." Spell says, looking at the portals around the area. Reimu looks over at the portal Rachel was looking at, "I guess Janus wants us to only go with certain people then. Next time when we all go in, I wouldn't be surprised if we were missing a few people." Reimu says now beginning to walk over to the next portal as the rest of the group followed.
The group arrives at the next portal and take a look at the vision of the next area. A arena was shown, somewhat similar to what the arena looked like at the Vytal Festival. "Another arena? Maybe this time, we can actually fight in it!" Kyoko said sounding excited. "Well, I had to fight in the last one. Freaky lookin' Grimm..." Spell says, yawning as he speaks. "You're not getting tired, are you Spell?" Reimu asks jokingly. "I might've used a little too much energy these past few… how many fights has it been? I kinda need to recharge..." Spell says, sounding somewhat embarrassed. "Do you think Janus is trying to wear Spell out? He seems to be putting out all he can now." Sanae asks. "That could be possible…" Mami says thinking to herself. "It shouldn't matter if you guys are all here. Whatever fight comes up next, I'm sure you can handle it!" Spell says, reassuringly. "Well then! Let's all go in and see who's allowed in!" Marisa says as she walks towards the portal and is pushed back by an invisible force. "Guess it's not me." Marisa says sounding a bit embarrassed. Reimu laughs a little as she and the rest of the group enter the portal.
As Reimu enters the arena she quickly turns around and looks at who she had. "All right. Spell, Sayaka, Mami and Kyoko made it… I was expecting a bit more people this time…" Reimu says sounding a little annoyed. "Wait, Spell? Is that you?" Spell quickly looked around the arena and right behind him was Ruby. "I was wondering where you went. Geez, don't scare me like that!" Spell says, breathing a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness you're all here! It's been crazy here! These people act like they know me or something and there's this guy who kinda looks like you but not really and then there's this one cool guy with a really huge katana and-" Ruby stops for a bit to calm down, her mind still racing from all the recent events. "You're rambling again… But back up a sec, 'someone who looks like me?'" Spell asks, now confused. Ruby shrugs, "I mean kinda, he has the same hair color and red eyes thing. But I don't think-" Ruby is quickly cut off by the sound of a loud door opening up behind everyone. "He won't be showing up anytime soon... " A sinister voice said coming from the door that had opened up. Out stepped out Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, all of them having the same red aura like Oriko and Kirka. "Oh crap… I was hoping to have some more time before the next fight..." Spell says, clenching his fists. Reimu rolls her eyes, "Great, I wish I could've fought you three back then so I know what you could do, but I guess things can't be that simple can they?" Reimu says sounding annoyed. Sayaka takes a step forward next to Reimu, "But hey, just like last time, you have us." Sayaka says drawing her sword with a smile. Cinder laughs "I'll make sure you all end up in ashes… just like her." Cinder waves her hand as a group of arrows covered in fire is shot at the group, everyone quickly jumps back and readies their weapons. "I've got another fight left in me. Especially for you, Cinder..." Spell says, as lightning bolts travel over his body. Cinder now begins to levitate in the air as her eyes glow with fire. "Emerald! Mercury! Take your positions like we planned!" Cinder shouts. Mercury quickly runs at Ruby as Emerald jumps back mysteriously disappearing. "Where did she?" Kyoko shakes her head and quickly runs over to Ruby, she slams the bottom of her spear on the ground as a magic shield protects both of them, however, Mercury still continued to run into the magic and as he did, he disappeared. "What!?" Kyoko says looking around, before she was quickly hit from behind by Mercury. Sayaka looks over at the scene, "Wasn't Ruby just…" Sayaka looks around for Ruby, who was standing next to Spell. "Hey Spell, I know you're charging up for something, but are you seeing this?" Sayaka asks. "No, and that's the problem. Where'd they go?" Spell asks, breathing somewhat heavily. "That's right Spell. Where did they go?" A voice from behind Reimu asks. Reimu quickly turns around and somehow Janus was waiting behind her. "Get out of here!' Reimu swings her Gohei at Janus, but as she did he disappeared and was hit by one of Cinder's arrows knocking her down to the ground. Reimu slowly gets up, "Please tell me you have a good idea of what the hell is going on Spell!" Reimu shouts. "I don't know?! How would I know?!" Spell shouts, clearly worried. Cinder laughs, "If only you all could see the look on your faces… believe it or not, you are all overreacting." Cinder says now taking a few steps forward towards Spell and Ruby. Ruby quickly jumps out in front of Spell, changing Crescent Rose into it's gun form. "Stay back! I don't know what's going on at all! But don't think I won't shoot!" Ruby shouts. Cinder ignored Ruby's warning and continued walking forward, Ruby shoots at Cinder and as the bullet lands Cinder splits into two of herself. "Huh, wasn't expecting that. Ruby, can you buy me two minutes?" Spell asks, his hair starting to stick up as if it was charged with static. Ruby nods and runs back away "Hey Cinder! It's me you want or something like that right? Come on after me then." Ruby says trying to get her attention by shouting. Meanwhile Mami looked around and slowly backed up the arena trying to find Mercury. Mami then accidently bumps into someone and on reflex quickly takes a shot, without realising it she shot Mercury's head straight off his body. Mami stood there in shock for a moment, before somehow his head managed to re-appear, "Boo." Mercury says as his face warps into something resembling a witch from Madoka's world, Mami quickly jumped back and continued to fire at Mercury. Ruby still ran from Cinder still firing shots at her as she continued to multiply. "Hey Spell! You're almost done right? Please tell me you're almost done!" Ruby says sounding worried. "What do you mean? You're doing fine!" Spell says, jokingly. Ruby shook her head as she continued to run around the arena. Sayaka runs over to Kyoko who was still on the ground after being hit, "Come on Kyoko, you have to get up! They need us!" Sayaka says as she tries to help her up. As she grabbed Kyoko's hand she vanished, "Oh come on!" Sayaka says before getting hit back by Mercury. "3… 2… 1!" Spell says, as a bright flash of light fills the arena. Spell is covered by a white light as lightning sparks run over his body, his hair standing on end. "This'll give me an energy boost, but not for long. I've got 5 minutes to fight at full power!" Spell thinks to himself. "Alright! Who's first? I know!" Spell quickly moves, appearing as a bolt of lightning in the air, knocking down one of the Cinder clones. The Cinder clone disappears as Spell knocks it down, "Great." Cinder says to herself, "Everything should still be going all according to plan though just as long as-" before Cinder can finish her sentence, Emerald is thrown into the arena unconscious and all the Cinder clones disappear and Mercury is visible again. "Uh oh." Mercury says. "Okay… that's one problem solved.. But who did that?" Reimu asks. Suddenly a man covered in white armor jumps down into the arena and his hand he held a large katana he looked directly at Cinder and readied himself for combat. "Nothing's gonna make sense for the rest of this little adventure, huh? No time to be thinking about it though!" Spell says, as he starts moving around the arena as a bolt once again. Cinder shoots out a group of arrows at the man and in response the man quickly stabs the air and a black void appears in front of him destroying the arrows. "Are you serious?" Cinder says now launching fireballs at both the man and Spell. Mercury looks around the arena, "I think I should go…" Mercury walks over to the door before being interrupted by a talisman flying right next to him. Mercury turns around and behind was Reimu and Sayaka's group. "And where do you think you're going?" Sayaka asks.
Spell suddenly warps in next to them, still charged. "Hey, Mercury! Those legs are made of metal, right?" Mercury starts to look worried, "Yeah… What about it?" Spell puts on a devilish grin, "Did you know that metal is great for conducting electricity?" He asks, already knowing the answer. "Oh no…" Mercury says quietly. Spell points to Mercury's legs with his fingers, sending bolts of electricity straight to them. Mercury's legs start to spark and smoke, until they can't hold on and end up breaking. Mercury can no longer walk, but the rest of him is untouched by the lightning. Sayaka laughs, "Thanks Spell! Now… What would we do with you?" Sayaka asks. "Actually, I have an Idea." Reimu says as she pulls out her talismans and throws them at Mercury. Mercury winces in pain , "Ow, these things.. Really hurt." Mercury says as he passes out.
The man and Cinder run at each other both ready to fight. Cinder quickly pulls out her weapon and prepares to strike. The man stops "This is…." The man quickly gets into a stance. Cinder jumps up into the air and launches herself at the man. "...The end!" The man shouts as a symbol appears before him Cinder hits it and suddenly the area flashes white and in a second Cinder was on the ground as the man put his sword away. "Huh, that's weird… I haven't passed out ye- Oh, there we go." Spell says, as he falls to the ground. "Spell!" Ruby quickly runs over to Spell looking down at him and trying not to panic. Reimu looks over at the man, "Thanks for that, but just… who are you?" Reimu asks. The man looks at Reimu and stays silent, "Ah, you don't talk, got it…" Reimu says sounding a bit annoyed. A portal appears next to Ruby and Spell and Janus walks out of it. "Oh man! Is he dead? Please tell me he died!" Janus says getting his hopes up. "No, he's just out cold." Sayaka says. "Oh…" Janus says disappointed. "Well, I'll let him rest I guess… maybe I'll find a way to wake him up where his at a good middle ground of well rested and tired." Janus says as he snaps his fingers as portals appear underneath Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. "You…" The man looked at Janus and spoke, "Where's Terumi?" he asked. "Oh, Hakumen… Wouldn't you like to know?" Janus said still looking at Spell. Janus opened a portal in front of him and a formed a club out of red mist. "You might want to take a step back Ruby… Spell gets to go back first!" Janus said as he laughed a little. Janus held the club back and swung at Spell sending him flying into the portal, "Ah, I sure hope he asks himself what happened when he wakes up." Janus said as he turned around and dissolved the club. "After you all then, and you too Hockeyman, don't play the silent type and follow the rules." Janus said as he creates a portal and jumps back into it. Ruby quickly runs into the portal after Spell still somewhat worried. Sayaka looks at Reimu, "He'll be fine right?" Sayaka asks. "Reimu nods, "Yeah.. probably." Reimu says she enters the portal along with the Holy Quintet and Hakumen.
Reimu and everyone else arrive back at the place with the portals. "Hey! Ruby!" Ruby quickly looks around as Weiss, Blake and Yang run over. "Yang! Weiss! Blake!" Ruby shouts as she runs over at high speeds."It's so good to see you again! But… where's Spell?" Yang asks concerned. Ruby's smile quickly disappears and turns around to see Spell knocked out on the floor. Ruby gasped and rushed over to Spell's side. "What…. Happened?" Yang asks as Reimu walks over, "A lot. But for right now… we need to rest."
"It's not over yet Lewis!" The girl resembling Reimu shouted as both her and Lewis clashed in the air. Lewis quickly fired a quick shot of danmaku at the girl knocking her to ground. "Have you given up?" Lewis asks sounding disappointed. Behind Lewis, a gap slowly opened behind him, Lewis quickly dodges out of the way as tons of danmaku fired out of the gap. "Enough!" Lewis shouted as he threw out a red chain into the gap pulling out Yukari throwing her down to the ground, leaving her unconscious. Lewis slowly flew down to Yukari and the injured girl while laughing. "You are alone shrine maiden, no one can save you now…." Lewis said as he held out his hand creating red mist that formed around Yukari until she couldn't be seen no more, and when it vanished Yukari was nowhere to be seen. "There is only despair for you and darkness for this world… and from that darkness a new world will be born. This Gensokyo is just the beginning, I will go to a billion worlds… and I will not stop until every light of hope has been extinguished." Lewis said as he slowly approached the girl as he created a sword from his red mist. "You are strong shrine maiden and if I wasn't here now you would be this world's great hero." Lewis stopped in front of the girl with his blade, the girl looked up in fear and closed her eyes as Lewis raised his sword. "But I am beyond strength." Lewis quickly striked with his blade.
Janus shook his head, "Why?! Why now?! It's almost over! I don't need these memories at the most crucial moment of the plan!" Janus shouts as he opens a portal and runs into it.
"Oww… Son of a… I don't remember lightning giving me this much of a headache…" Spell groggily opens his eyes while placing his hand on his forehead. Without getting up, he looks around. He notices he's back in the area with the multiple portals. He's led on the ground, with what seems to be some cloth under his head as a makeshift pillow. "Finally decided to get up?" Spell looks down towards his feet, Reimu was sat down next to him. He looks back up to the sky, "Eh, just a power nap." Reimu tenses up slightly, "you passed out because you overexerted yourself." Spell let's out a tired chuckle, "With me, they're the same thing." Reimu sighs, "at least you're awake, that's what matters." Spell looks at her again, "what? Were you worried?" Reimu shoots him an annoyed look, "no. You've already proven that you're too stubborn to just go and die on us." Spell smiles, "yeah. That's one thing I've got going for me." Reimu looks away from him, "and besides. It was the others that were worried about you. Ruby especially." Spell's smile fades, "Ruby… Is she okay? Where is she?" Reimu points to Spell's left side. He looks to his left, but nearly jumps up from surprise. Ruby is asleep less than a foot away. "She was really worried, and wouldn't leave you alone. After that battle, she kept thinking about her friend who… you know. She didn't want it happen again. She worked herself up so much that she fell asleep right there." Reimu says, still looking away. "Dammit, I was so focused on trying to fight that I didn't even think about her. She stared down Pyrrha's killer and fought anyway. She protected me too. I can't even imagine how hard it must've been for her." Spell says, finally sitting up, "I'm a damn fool."
Reimu stands up, "yes. Yes, you are. Don't ever do something that reckless again." Spell looks around, he's see's everyone resting up. Eating some snacks, chatting, even Marisa was knocking on the next portal to make sure she didn't run into it. "Damn… How long was I out?" Spell asks. "A couple of hours. We didn't want to just leave with you unconscious and Ruby freaking out. And since we didn't want to end up like you, we thought we all could use a break." Reimu says, looking at everyone. "That's a good idea. 'Cause I'll tell you something, this is not a good feeling…" Spell says, laying back down. He continues, "all my remaining energy went into healing my wounds, and it's gonna take a while for me to get my strength back. Since it's already been a couple of hours, you best get going to the next world or whatever. Janus isn't just gonna sit on his thumbs, y'know."
"Hold on. You said your wounds are healed, you're not hurt anymore?" Reimu asks, standing over Spell. "Uhh… Yeah?" Spell says, sounding confused. "Then what's that 'bad feeling' you have? If it's not pain, then what?" Reimu asks, pressuring him. "I actually said that? Ah crap… You really wanna know?" Spell asks, hoping for a "no" answer. "Yeah, I kinda do." Reimu says, sitting back down to listen. "Fear." Spell says, quietly but loud enough to hear. Reimu looks shocked, as if she never expecting him to be scared. "You look surprised. But yeah, I'm kinda scared of all this. If I didn't have my Lightning Mode or whatever you want to call it, I would've been a liability to all of you. Hell, I was anyway. Ruby had to cover my ass while I charged up. If had my usual strength, it would've taken no time at all. And if that guy in white didn't show up, I know I didn't have enough time to stop whatever that weirdness was before my time ran out." He says, looking at Ruby next to him. "You're afraid of losing a fight? That's it?" Reimu asks. "No. Most days, even if I lost I would just get up and fight again next time. But, this time it's different.' Spell says, clenching his fist. "Different?" Reimu asks. "This time, I've seen what happens if I fail. Remember the festival back in Ninja World? I saw everything that Janus put into that girl's head… I know what happens if I lose. The reason I fight with confidence is because I never think of what happens if I lose. I never think of the consequences. I just swing my sword and throw my fireballs like I can't lose. And to top it all off, Janus is stronger than anyone I've faced, maybe even stronger than me." Spell says, taking a deep breath as if he had a weight lifted off his chest. "That's why you pushed yourself so hard. You idiot." Reimu says, standing back up. "I know, I know. But, that's why I have faith that I'll see you again soon after you go into that portal. You guys are strong enough to do whatever you need to in there, without me." Spell says, sitting up again. "Right, you just focus on getting your energy back." Reimu says, running off to the portal. The others notice and gather around it with her. She looks back at Spell, and he gives her a thumbs up.
"Spell?" Ruby says, sitting up. "Hey, how long have you been awake?" He asks. "Long enough to hear all that. You should've said something!" She says, angrily. "Yeah, but putting my problems on others when we have to fight to save everything might not be a good idea." He says, rubbing his head. "You haven't changed. You did the same thing back when you told us you had to leave. When we all found out who you were." Ruby says, remembering when Spell first came to the world of Remnant. "Yeah, but if I told you guys that from the start, you would've thought I was an alien or something. Spell says. Ruby laughs a little, "at least you're okay." She says, smiling. "Oh, thanks for taking care of me, by the way." Spell says. "It's fine… I just… I just…" Ruby begins to tear up. Without warning, she starts hugging Spell tightly. "I didn't want to lose someone else! Not like Pyrrha! Not again!" She shouts through tears. There's silence for a moment, but Ruby let's Spell go. "Sorry, I know you're still not feeling well and-' Ruby is stopped by Spell. "Nothing wrong with a hug, you clearly needed it." He says, trying to cheer her up. "But now,' he continues, "Why don't you go with Reimu and the others? They could use the extra firepower!" Spell says, with a bit more energy than before. "Yeah… Yeah! You're right!" Ruby says, jumping up. "You just rest up, okay!? When I come back, you better be able to a hundred push-ups!" Ruby says, running towards the others. "Well… Let's not get too crazy- annnnnd she's gone." Spell says, as Ruby runs off. Spell lays back down, hands behind his head. He thinks about everything he just said, and the determination in both Reimu and Ruby. "Look at me, feeling all sorry for myself! Ruby, make it a hundred and one!" He says to himself, now with slightly more energy.
Reimu and Ruby run over to the portal, "Hey hold on!" Madoka said as she and Homura ran over to the portal. "We're going too." Homura says ready to fight. Reimu and Ruby nod as the four of them look at the portal, it showed a lab with bright blue lights around the area. Reimu shrugs "I guess a vision won't help us now, come on let's go." Reimu says as the four of them enter the portal.
As Reimu and the other three heroes walked in a fight was already happening. Subaru, Julius, Rem, Ram, Ryuko, Asuka and Homura were fighting the masked Nui and Jaune. "About time you guys showed up!" Ryuko shouted. Julius clashed with Jaune "They've been quite the challenge, hopefully you can help!" Julius said jumping back from Jaune. Reimu takes a deep breath and gets ready to fight, "It's just two people guys. Come on!" Reimu says sounding a bit annoyed as she jumps into the fight. Above the place was a man wearing a strange mask covering his eyes, "How intriguing, they've all managed to last this long… although, I don't see the one that the man talked about, such a shame, I was hoping to get a good look at his soul…" The man said sounding somewhat let down. Next to the man a portal portal opened up and out stepped Janus. "Ah, have you decided to watch the fight?" the man with the mask asked. Janus shook his head, "I guess. I'm just trying to ignore some… things." Janus said sounding uncomfortable. "Well, your mind controlling mask idea is working well, both subjects are fighting to their full potential and the power you give the masks only makes them stronger." The man explained. "That's good to hear Relius…" Janus says observing the fight below.
"You're gonna leave to go save people right? So once you're done with that we can play right?" A familiar voice rings throughout Janus's mind, "shut up" Janus quietly mutters to himself. "This sword is a family heirloom, take it… and protect those you care about… protect your sisters… please… that is my final wish." another voice appears in his mind. Janus places his hands over his head, "Shut up!" Janus says now louder. "Is something wrong?" Relius asked. "Your sisters are dead, you won't ever see them again. You're weak, you'll never lay a finger on me like this, and even if you weren't weakened it wouldn't make a difference." One more voice appeared in his mind, now completely driving Janus insane. "SHUT UP!" Janus let a loud shout and with it, a burst of red mist knocking everyone away and destroying the masks on Jaune and Nui. "Oh jeez… someone has lost it." Reimu says slowly standing up along with everyone else except Jaune and Nui. Relius runs up to Janus, "Are you insane!? All that work for nothing! What were you think-" before Relius can even finish his sentence he is quickly grabbed by the neck and lifted up from the ground, Janus looks over at Nui and snaps his fingers as a portal appears to take her away. Janus looks at Relius, "You can see souls correct?" Janus asks with a sinister tone still holding up Relius, "When you look at mine… tell me what do you see?" Janus asks as the eyes on his mask glow red. Relius attempts to speak "I… see… I see…" Relius couldn't even finish his sentence he sounded shocked and horrified. "That's what I thought…" Janus opens up a portal and throws Relius into it. Janus looks around at everyone and laughs, "I like the looks you all give me… some of you look ready to fight, determined to save your world, some look scared now just realizing what they've gotten themselves into…" Janus laughs harder. "Some of you here...are not even supposed to be part of the game too! Yet you all keep fighting clinging onto what little hope you have…" Janus says as a portal opens up behind him. "Tell Spell that there will be no more games from this point…" Janus says as he backs into the portal and disappears. Everyone was silent as another portal opened up behind them. Reimu looked at everyone around her and closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Alright Lewis, let's finish this." she says as she walks into the portal with everyone following her except Ruby and Subaru "Come on Jaune, let's get you back safe." Ruby says as she and Subaru lift Jaune up by the shoulders and enter the portal.
Reimu and everyone else makes it back to the area with the portals. "Well, we're back." Reimu says still unsure about what just happened. Spell is now able to walk around, but still doesn't have the strength to fight yet. "That was quick, were they really that weak in there?' He asks. Everyone who came back from the portal stayed silent for a bit. "Well, no. Janus showed up and… well he did our job and finished the fight." Ruby explains still sounding confused. "He finished the fight? Did one of his players break the rules or something?" Spell asks, now more confused than before. Ryuko shook her head, "No, he sounded pissed off about something. Whatever happened clearly got to his head." she explains. Reimu walks up to Spell and gives him a serious look, "Janus told us to tell you, 'no more games from this point.'" Reimu explains. "So he's making the final move now? Dammit, I'm not ready for that yet." Spell says, getting mad. "And that's why I'm giving you more time." Everyone turned towards the voice, in front of the large portal stood Janus looking around the area. "What a interesting group of warriors and heroes… It's amazing you all could make it this far." Janus says with a sinister tone. "More time? Janus, the point of an evil plan is to not let the heroes beat you." Spell says, trying to be cocky despite his situation. Janus looks over at Spell, "And what If I'm getting tired myself? I'm starting to lose my mind a little, Reimu and the others saw my little outburst back there." Janus says while laughing a little. Marisa walks up next to Reimu, "What? Did he have a breakdown like back when we first saw him?" she asks. Reimu shakes her head, "No. much worse." Reimu says sounding concerned. "I guess there's more going on with him than we know… Perhaps what we saw in that mirror is catching up with him?" Spell says quietly to Reimu. "Well, before I go… let me give you the final two players and after that, the game shall end." Janus snaps his fingers as two portals open up beside him, from one portal a man in a outfit similar to Noel's uniform fell out onto the ground injured and the other portal a man with a red outfit. "Ragna! Jin!" Noel ran over despite being close to Janus. Janus laughs, "Aren't I nice? Another touching reunion." Janus says while laughing. "Noel's friends I guess… Look Janus, I don't know what your plan is or why you're making it easier for us, but just know that it isn't going to work." Spell says, trying to look confident. Janus shakes his head and looks at the ground, "Yeah, it might not. I don't know what's happening to me right now… but I'm not giving up either." Janus says as he opens a portal and enters it. "I'm getting a little weirded out." Asuka says sounding confused. "You're telling me… Anyways, I didn't exactly get the chance to catch up on what happened in the portal. Ryuko and Asuka are back… And?" Spell asks. Reimu looks around, "Well we should have everyone back, but I don't see them, they could still be around here though. Janus doesn't seem to be playing tricks anymore." Reimu explains. "As long as everyone is safe now, that's all that matters. Janus won't try anything before the big finale, I hope..." Spell says with a deep breath. Reimu looks over at Noel who was helping the man in red outfit up, "Geez, what the hell happened? Wait… why am I?" The man said barely able to speak. Reimu walks over to the man and helps him up with Noel, "It's a long story, long enough to make you fall asleep." Reimu says trying to stay positive. Reimu and Noel carry the man over to Spell, Ruby and Marisa. "He's one of the last people were supposed to to team up with right?" Marisa asks. "I guess so, but what's with that outfit?" Spell asks, trying to make light of the situation. "What? Is something wrong with it? Wait…. Who are you and why are we back at Rachel's place?" the man asks sounding confused. "I'm Reimu, this is my friend Marisa and the girl in the red cape is Ruby, oh and that's Spell." Reimu explains. "We're the guys trying to save the world, or all of the worlds you could say." Spell says, explaining it as easily as possible. "Right… and I thought things were finally over." The man says sounding a bit confused. "So…. are you gonna tell us your name?" Ruby asks. "My name… It's Ragna." Ragna says still sounding confused. "But really, if you guys have the time can you give me a more detailed explanation of what's going on? I just still don't quite understand." Ragna says sounding exhausted. Reimu sighs "Well alright, since you and Spell seem like you need some time to rest, I'll do the explanation this time." Reimu says, she takes a deep breath and begins to explain what she can, starting all the way back to the first encounter with Janus.