World Of Fantasies.
The danmaku barrage fired by the Five Magic Stones is obviously too much for a human-sized target. Despite that, Reimu is trying her best to avoid being hit by the attacks of the bastion.
Although none of the shots are directed at Genji, the flying turtle is also trying his best to dodge the attacks. With so much danmaku fired all over the place, it is inevitable that at least a dozen will come flying at his direction.
Meanwhile, Rika laughed in a taunting manner as she controlled the Five Magic Stones from inside the safety of her container. "Is this too much for you? This isn't even half of it, nanodesu~"
Rings of danmaku spawned around each of the five spheres, which are then hurled toward Reimu repeatedly.
The shrine maiden trainee maneuvers herself around the shots, but one slight mistake causes her to get grazed on her left shoulder.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Reimu cried out as she rubs her left shoulder with her right hand. Although danmaku are incapable of inflicting physical injuries, anyone grazed by them will still receive a stinging pain, a severe one in Reimu's case.
"Reimu, are you alright?" Genji voiced his concern for the shrine maiden trainee.
"I'm fine..." Reimu answered. "But someone isn't going to be..." She added, with the anger in her tone evident.
Meanwhile, Rika laughed, again in a taunting manner, at Reimu being hit. "Ha ha! Like that!"
Reimu's response to the taunt is to conjure up the Ying-Yang Orb, and then literally kicking it like a ball toward the second sphere of the Five Magic Stones.
Unlike the magic-less Flower Tank that Rika previously used against Reimu, the Five Magic Stones seems to be powered by magic. That is the only explanation as to why the Ying-Yang Orb is able to smash through the second sphere, when it previously failed to make a dent in the Flower Tank.
"No. I. DON'T!" Reimu angrily replies, calling the Ying-Yang Orb back and then catching it with her hand. After managing to dodge another round of ring-pattern danmaku, the shrine maiden trainee repeats her previous attack on the fourth sphere.
Half of the fourth sphere is smashed right through by the Ying-Yang Orb, with the other half smashed as well when Reimu called the Ying-Yang Orb back to her.
Rika looked at what remains of the second and fourth spheres. "Okay, time to up the game, nanodesu~" Following that, the first and fifth spheres of the Five Magic Stones turned red.
"Do I have to destroy all five spheres to stop this thing for good?" Reimu complained at the idea of having to keep on fighting Rika's bastion.
Rika, from within the safety of her container, pointed a finger at Reimu, and said "Dodge this!". This is followed by the Five Magic Stones (including the smoldering remains of the second and fourth spheres) rapid-firing large amounts of danmaku at every direction.
Reimu maneuvers through the hail of danmaku as best as she could. When one danmaku gets too close for her to dodge, she tried deflecting it with her gohei. However, the danmaku fired by the Five Magic Stones are apparently meant for something much tougher than a mere human, since Reimu's attempt at deflecting this one resulted in her gohei getting knocked out of her hand and the danmaku continued on past her.
"Silly shrine maiden..." Rika taunted as she continues manipulating her bastion. "I originally built the Five Magic Stones to defend against things as strong as my Flower Tank!"
Gritting her teeth, Reimu located her gohei, and then dived toward it as it continued falling towards the bottomless void of the World Of Fantasies.
"There's no use going below me, Hakurei Reimu~" Rika declared as she presses a button on the panel in front of her.
The first and fifth spheres began to generate bolts of red electricity, which are then launched out of them as large-sized danmaku that then homed in toward Reimu.
Reimu grabbed her gohei before it falls any further down the void. She turned her attention back on the Five Magic Stones, and only just notices the two large balls of red electricity coming toward her very quickly, and even then just barely manages to dodge them at the last second (they weren't completely homing, as they didn't turn around after passing by her). The shrine maiden trainee didn't come close enough to either red electricity danmaku for any stray bolts of electricity to arc out and zap her, but she is still close enough that the static caused strands of her hair to stand up, quite literally in this case.
"I'm not done with you yet, machine-head!" Reimu loudly declared as she flies back toward where the Five Magic Stones are.
"You will be, nanodesu~" Rika responded in a taunting manner, then makes the first and fifth spheres of the Five Magic Stones send out two more red electricity danmaku that once again threw themselves toward Reimu.
This time, Reimu sees the red electricity danmaku coming straight toward her, and is able to get out of the way in time. After getting back to the same height elevation as the Five Magic Stones, the shrine maiden trainee retaliated, firing a series of danmaku at the first and fifth spheres.
The first and fifth spheres of the Five Magic Stones doesn't appear to be as resilient to damage as the second and fourth. While the second and fourth needed the powers of the Ying-Yang Orb to be smashed, the first and fifth began to fracture like glass after just a few hits from regular danmaku, although not enough to completely disable them.
The bastion went back to firing danmaku all over the place.
Even if she knew what to expect this time, the danmaku barrage being fired all over the place in huge numbers is still difficult for Reimu to dodge. Knowing that, the shrine maiden trainee focuses on firing her own danmaku at the Five Magic Stones while trying her best to not get hit.
Eventually, the first sphere took enough damage from Reimu's danmaku that it shattered into pieces. The fifth sphere resumed its attack pattern with the same ferocity as before, but with the first sphere knocked out, the total firepower is essentially halved. With half as much danmaku to dodge, Reimu made short work of the fifth sphere by pumping it full of danmaku.
Rika stopped smiling at this point, now that Reimu had managed to knock out four of the Five Magic Stones. "Damn it..." She cursed under her breath as she looks at the third sphere, the last one that has not been smashed yet. "You're stronger than I thought!"
Reimu crossed her arms, now taking the opportunity to boast about herself. "Well, I am going to become the next Hakurei shrine maiden, after all."
Rika gritted her teeth, and looked down at the panel in front of her for a moment.
"Come on. I'm sure you're not done yet..." Reimu pretty much dared the Anachronistic Engineer.
Genji slowly approached from behind Reimu, and said to her, "Reimu, I believe it is not wise to dare your adversary, no matter what disadvantages she is having."
The shrine maiden trainee eyed the flying turtle. "What difference does it make when I have no advantages against her?" She signaled him to move back. "This can get very troublesome for someone your age, gramps..."
Reimu then turns her attention back on Rika and the Five Magic Stones.
"Then I guess it's time to crank the difficulty up to Lunatic levels, nanodesu~" The Anachronistic Engineer announced.
All she did after her declaration is to turn what looked like a knob on the panel in front of her...
And with that, multitudes of changes occurred to the Five Magic Stones, including the very platform the whole bastion sits on. The two red circles at the back of the platform started emitting a crimson aura. The 24 holes at the front of the platform opened, and the metal tubes within extended out. The bases of the first, second, fourth and fifth spheres also raised up slightly to reveal additional weapons underneath them: under the second and fourth sphere's bases are thinner metal tubes arranged in two sets of circles each; under the first and fifth are sets of six cannons.
Reimu swallowed hard at what she just saw. "I don't know what happened, but that can't be good..."
Rika snapped her fingers. "Now that everything is set...time to have some fun~"
With the pull of a lever, Rika commanded every weapon on the Five Magic Stones to fire at once.
The sets of thin metal tubes fired danmaku while spinning so fast as to appear as blurs, the 24 metal tubes in front of the platform fired laser beams, the sets of six cannons launched projectiles that seemed to be able to change direction while leaving smoke trails in their wake.
All of those weapons missed, luckily for Reimu. But the shrine maiden trainee has a feeling that Rika made them miss on purpose. "That was meant to be a demonstration, was it?" She asked, sweating nervously at what she is about to face.
"Right on, nanodesu~" Rika answers with a wink. "Now, time to get wrecked!"
This chapter became the first update I've made in the year 2017, huh? I originally intended to upload it on the 31st of December, 2016, but was forcibly dragged into preparing for the countdown to New Year by Lt Colonel Summers himself. Actually, seems that Summers was forced into it by his parents...
Anyways, Happy New Year to everyone!
Changes from canon:
Attack patterns of the Five Magic Stones (first two phases) - Everything the defense system uses are accurately modelled after their attack patterns in SoEW. Except for the red electric danmaku, which are my own additions.
Third phase of the Five Magic Stones - The 24 metal tubes that fired laser beams are of course canon. But those "spinning metal tubes" and "sets of six cannons with projectiles that can change direction and left smoke trails"? Not in SoEW, at all. And in case you're wondering, do remember that Reimu is a medieval girl who's unable to comprehend modern technology. That's just how she sees Gatling Guns and Surface-to-Air Missile launchers (though in this case, both weapons systems are powered by magic).
"And that, as they say, is that."
Afterword ends here.