Remilia crashed to the ground, torn mob cap landing several feet away from her. Eye flickering, she reached into her dress. "S-scarlet Genso–"

"Enough." Remilia flinched as the vajra was pointed into her face. "You've lost."

The vampire ground her teeth. "… Flan?"

"Also defeated." Shou gave the ropes binding the younger vampire one last tug.

"Whee!" Flandre swung herself back and forth from the ceiling, still securely bound. "Again, again! Let's do that again!"

Shou rolled her eyes. "Now tell us what's going on, vampire."

Remilia thumped her head on the floor once and sighed. "He's in the castle in the sky. The large black one."

Byakuren raised an eyebrow. "We didn't see anything like that on the way here."

"It's cloaked," explained the Scarlet Devil. She got up and leaned on the wall heavily. "You should be able to find it – look for the storm clouds."

The magician nodded and stowed away her weapon. "Thank you."

As the two left, Remilia waited for several more seconds before speaking. "Sakuya~"

"Not here."

Remilia stiffened as she got a response. Was it just her imagination, or did more than one person say that…?

"Truly, vampire, we must thank you for rearing such a good maid. To think you tamed a member of the legendary vampire hunting clan, the Helsings! Her powers… were delicious."

"W-what do you mean?" Remilia managed to mutter. Behind her, she heard the rise and fall of feet, a dark yellow dress designed in the vein of a trench coat drifted across her view. Its owner laughed at the question.

"Don't worry; her powers are only nullified for now. She should regain her powers later – assuming she lives."

The vampire's eyes widened. "You dare to–"

"Assault the maid of the Scarlet Devil in such a fashion?" The mysterious girl grabbed Remilia by the throat and lifted her into the air. "Why, yes. Yes, we do."

"You…!"

"Us." Karin grinned, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth. A thick, black aura hung around her as her eyes constantly shifted through a myriad of colours; yellow to purple, purple to black, black to red, red to yellow. "We need your powers as well, little vampire." She raised her other hand, a spearhead formed from darkness materializing around it. "Now, this'll only hurt a bit – oh, who are we kidding? It burns like fire!"

Remilia's form went limp.

Karin dropped her disdainfully, feeling the power course through her. "Another soul, added…" She raised a hand to her face and flexed it slowly, watching the black aura flicker to red briefly. "Such power, in the hands of such a petulant child." She pointed a finger at the unconscious vampire, watching a gap form under her – except it wasn't a gap like Yukari's. Instead, the dimension it led to was an endlessly shifting mass of rolling, bloodshot eyes – not a single speck of space between them. Rather than being bound with ribbons, it was bound with a set of torn stitches, the lining of the gap a disturbing crimson.

She clenched her hand, the gap winking back out of existence. "Now, for that cute little Flan…"

– TOUHOU –

"Byakuren-sama, there you are!" Murasa ran over to the tired monk. "We tried to follow you in, but that gate guard woke up and wouldn't let us through." With this, she shot a dirty look at the redhead eyeing them from the gates.

Meiling shrugged. "Sorry, it's part of my job."

"So anyways, what happened in there?" Murasa hoisted the anchor back over the edge and set the Palanquin flying once more.

"Fought the vampire and her maid," Byakuren wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead. "She said to find the moving storm clouds."

"We were wondering about that, actually…" Nue pointed to the giant black cloud slowly drifting across the sky, far above them. As they watched, the clouds crackled, lightning running across its bottom. "It's been coming closer ever since you went in."

Shou narrowed her eyes as she watched it. "Too easy," she muttered. "He wouldn't just let us onboard… would he?"

"Only one way to find out!" Murasa spun the wheel in her hands wildly, making the ship almost keel over. "Oh, crap, sorry… but let's face it, girls; the only way to find a trap is to spring it! So let's do thi–"

BOOM!

A vibrant red lightning bolt smashed the deck with a deafening clap of thunder, knocking everyone to the floor. As they got up, they saw a charred crater in the deck, smoke still rising from it. As the clouds covered the Palanquin, they cast a shadow over it, dimming its light. Slowly a figure began to rise from the crater left by the lightning, a glowing fiery blade sparking to life at her side…

"Whoo!" Tenshi jumped into the air a little. "That was awesome!" Then she remembered there were others on board with her. Recovering, she straightened. "Ahem. I am sorry, but I can't let you enter the fortress. If you wish to enter, blah blah blah, fight me and stuff, blah blah blah, come on. Now, return to the earth!" And, drawing her sword, she plunged it into the deck of the ship.

Five massive earth spires erupted from far below them, impaling the ship. Bending to the Celestial's will, they curled, wrapping themselves around the Palanquin and pulling it back to the ground. Tenshi tugged her sword free, but the spires remained, firmly attaching them to the ground. "Well? Let's fight, Hijiri!"

The magician sighed as she drew her vajra once more. The number of consecutive fights was slowly getting to her; did Reimu go through this on practically a weekly basis? Activating the golden sword in one hand and drawing her scroll with the other, it once more floated behind her, spells being cast from its depths.

Tenshi grinned. "That's what I thought."

And she leapt to the attack.

The first strike, and the two of them crossed swords, energy blades grating against each other. With a powerful shove, Byakuren broke their stalemate, knocking Tenshi off-balance and immediately following up with a palm strike – only to reel, clutching her hand. "What the…?"

"That's right! The hardened body of a Celestial!" Tenshi seized her opportunity, dashing forward and sliding around Byakuren, keystone materializing. A quick strike sent Byakuren spinning, followed by a powerful blow with her sword. Grabbing another keystone from nowhere, she drove it into the ground, red energy seeping from it as it began to slowly grow.

"Byakuren-sama!" Shou started forward, but stopped as a wall of rock erupted before her.

Tenshi lowered her hand, grinning. "Sorry, no interference allowed."

She turned back to the magician and was immediately delivered a powerful kick to the face. Clutching her face, Tenshi slammed her sword into the ground, the earth instantly tearing up and rippling away from her, staggering Byakuren as the Celestial backed away. "How did you do that?"

The magician said nothing as the scroll behind her continued to crank out enhancement spells. Taking a single step forward, her outline blurred, and she crossed over to Tenshi in that one step, vajra swinging down. The Celestial swore in panic and quickly grabbed a keystone, throwing it out before her. As expected, the keystone shattered, the served its purpose, but it gave Tenshi the opening she needed. "Keystone – World Creation Press!"

Sweeping forward, she launched herself into Byakuren, brutally tossing her into the air and immediately leaping after her. Before she could react, Tenshi had generated a colossal keystone and promptly dropped it, driving Byakuren into the ground. Tearing apart the keystone, the Celestial proceeded to take her sword and smash it into Byakuren at full force.

The magician was sent skittering out of the hole, turning her tumble into a controlled roll, and came up standing. The bomb-type spell card flickered and disappeared, Tenshi rolling out the kinks in her shoulders. "Ah, that was a good warm-up. Now, let's really begin, shall we?"

Murasa raised an eyebrow from the sidelines. "Warming up?"

Tenshi ignored her, dispelling the Hisou no Tsurugi and instead placing a hand flat against the earth. Magic laced in her words, she called out, "Crumble away, and fall into the sky." Red lines raced from her hands, drawing an intricate pattern across the ground. "Tochi ni Oshikakeru!"

The ground fractured, splitting perfectly along the earthen lines. Many parts of it exploded into the air, other sections began to fall away, no longer supported by the necessary magic keeping them afloat. The entire battlefield rippled, the earth itself tearing up and turning into a jagged mountain of razor-edged chaos. Tenshi pulled her hand out of the earth and wiped off the dirt, her sword manifesting once more. "Now, let's try this again!"

The earth bending around her to allow her free movement, Tenshi rushed Byakuren, breaking her guard with a quick shoulder ram. With a quick gesture of her hand, and the earth beneath the magician cracked, a pillar blasting her skywards. Raising herself on another pillar, Tenshi leapt into the air with the propulsion provided by her pillar. "It's over!"

Byakuren raised her arm, the sword running along her skin harmlessly. At her side, the scroll closed itself and returned to her pocket. She muttered, "All spells cast."

Tenshi's eyes widened as she felt Byakuren's vice-like grip slam shut on her wrist. Swinging around the Celestial, Byakuren tossed her back down to earth. Flipping back over as she fell, Tenshi forced the earth to bend under her, turning her crash landing into a much softer touchdown. Reaching into the mangled mountain beside her, Tenshi pulled out a keystone almost bigger than herself – the same keystone she'd driven into the ground earlier. Grabbing a much smaller keystone, she flung it at the magician, knocking her out of the air despite dealing minimal damage. Without even giving her a chance to rise, Tenshi generated her sword and plunged it into the keystone at her feet.

A colossal earthquake initiated, the distorted ground around them falling apart as it shook and burying Byakuren under it. Tenshi grinned and dispelled the sword once again. "Game over." Turning away, she began to rise once more on a keystone – but paled as she heard a voice.

"Superhuman Sign – Byakuren Hijiri!"

With a blast of strength, the magician flew out from the mountain, effortlessly tearing through countless layers of rock. Drawing back, she delivered a punishing blow to Tenshi's gut, sending her flying back to earth. Landing lightly, Byakuren immediately blasted across the torn earth. Getting to her feet, Tenshi was barely able to throw up keystones in time to block Byakuren's lightning-quick strikes. Grinding her teeth in frustration, Tenshi shouted, "Spirit Sign – State of Enlightenment!"

A blast of red lightning, and Tenshi raised an arm to block Byakuren's high kick, completely ignoring what should have been enough pain to make her crumple. Grabbing a keystone, Tenshi slammed it into Byakuren's gut and fired, sending the magician skidding several feet.

Tenshi ran forward, the Sword of Scarlet Perception held out to the side. She shrugged off Byakuren's knee strike, and instead returned the favour by grabbing the extended leg and swinging Byakuren over her head and around, breaking her preternatural speed and strength. At the same time, she felt her own spell card leave her, and winced as a blast of pain swept through her. Ignoring it, she stomped a foot into the ground, an earth pillar bringing her high into the air. Drawing the Hisou no Tsurugi once more, she also held out a spell card and grinned. "Scarlet Weather Rapture."

The sword began to spin before her and she let loose a colossal red beam of light. Byakuren watched it approach and drew her own spell card, raising it above her. "Great Magic – Devil's Recitation!"

The intricate lotus runes formed behind her and she fired, four beams shooting forward alongside countless streams of bullets. The two terrifying forces met, and a burst of light blinded them all.

– TOUHOU –

"So this is where he is, huh?" Murasa disembarked the Palanquin, glancing at the black clouds they were somehow standing on. Scuffing her feet, she noticed it was actually just condensed smoke – they were really standing on a chunk of floating earth. "I gotta say, he's got style."

The colossal pitch black fortress could have towered over even the Scarlet Devil Mansion, almost twice its height. The walls were hewn from a volcanic glass – obsidian, gleaming in the sunlight. Running along the outlines of the castle and making up the pillars was tempered steel, giving the whole thing an odd black-white appearance. Several towers lined the fortress, a faint light coming from their windows. Unlit torches lay on either side of the shattered steel gates outside the castle.

Nue poked the mangled steel. "It looks like we weren't the first ones here." Shrugging, she turned to the ship. "Hey, Shou! You coming or what?"

"No. I'll keep an eye on this Celestial." She gave Tenshi an untrusting look. The Celestial had been tied tightly to the mast – though it didn't look like she minded too much…

"Well, if you insist." Stepping over the twisted steel, Nue gestured for the others to follow. "Come on! I need to take a closer look at these doors."

The doors in question were made of steel similar to the gates. Several dents were hammered into it by what looked suspiciously like fist marks, not to mention several bloodstains, but the insignia of yin-yang etched across them remained untouched. Byakuren pressed a hand against it. "But how do we open it…?"

To her surprise the doors glowed briefly before swinging away, admitting them entry into a darkened hallway.

"He knows we're here." Murasa was unusually quiet as she stepped into the spacious chamber with them. Behind the trio, the doors slammed shut with an echoing boom, followed by several clicks and the rasping sound of a key turning in its lock, plunging them into darkness. It seemed they weren't getting out that way.

For several seconds, they held their breath, waiting for something to happen. Then, on the far end of the hallway, a single red light appeared. It danced in a crescent pattern, before the hallway was suddenly filled with light. The ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling ignited, along with the many torches along the walls. As their light appeared, they allowed the trio a brief glimpse of a dark red cloak flitting out of sight, closing the door behind it as it moved.

"Hey!" Nue started forward. "Who was that? Where is he?"

"Right behind you," a voice hissed in her ear. With a shriek, Nue jumped a mile into the air, clinging tightly to the chandelier. With a peal of laughter, the strange man, now easily seen to have brown hair and one covered eye, backed away. "Yo!"

"You're that oni…" Byakuren muttered as she stared at him.

The oni nodded. "Yeah, I'm the one who fought with the gunslinger a month ago. Goukei Fukitsunashi, the one and only, at your not-quite-service!" Taking out a half-empty beer bottle, he rapidly downed the contents and tossed them away, ignoring it as it exploded into sharp little bits and pieces a ways off. Reaching over his back, he swung his scythe around, holding it in a combat stance. "Now, I've got a favour or two to pay off to the gunslinger. This'll be part one of it; not letting you into the upper tower."

"So he's in the upper towers?" Byakuren's words made Goukei flinch.

"Damn – wait, no I was supposed to say that. Well, yeah, he is. But you still need to get past me!" He grinned as he ran a hand down the scythe's handle. "Cleave the world in twain and harvest the souls of the damned! Shinokama!" The scythe's second blade formed, both edges exploding into terrifying hellfire. Spinning the Shinokama in one hand, Goukei grinned. "I don't care if I just fought that crazy Loyhrs! Let's do this!"

With a thunderous crack of air, his arm snapped forward, tossing the double-edged scythe like a Frisbee. Reacting quickly, Murasa leapt to the side, Nue into the air. Byakuren stepped forward to meet it and drew the golden blade, the two weapons deflecting each other with a shower of light and an explosive bang. A quick tug, and Goukei called back the scythe as he ran. With another step, he jumped up swung out with it, catching Nue's side and hooking her. Swinging around the Shinokama, the ex-shinigami drove the youkai into a wall. Pulling the scythe free, he turned back to the others.

"Let's really get this show on the road." And with that, he drew a spell card from the depths of his cloak. "Death Sign – Soul Harvesting Sickles!"

Raising a hand to the air, a small danmaku sickle formed, short-handled and with a large crescent blade. It spun in place for the briefest moment before it began to home in. Quickly, more and more tiny sickles continued to form, effectively choking out all the space in the room like a swarm of locusts. Throwing out an arm, Goukei shouted, "Feast!"

The sickles quickly fell back to the walls, turning the obsidian walls into a lethal mess of spinning metal. Sickles rapidly began to bounce back and forth across the chamber, Goukei stepping back as a flurry of sickles concealed him from view. With one last bark of laughter, he dissolved into part of the swarm, quickly dispersing himself into the storm.

"How will you fight me?" The ex-shinigami's voice had distorted, sounding like the rasping of metal against metal. As Byakuren and Murasa turned, trying to dodge the whirling mass around them, they saw Goukei, constantly flitting between humanoid and sickle form. To make it worse, his appearance was completely random, vanishing and reappearing with no set pattern.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting someone?" A trident sailed across the room, slamming Goukei out of yet another transformation and throwing him to the ground. Nue leapt after it, wings extended and poised to impale. "You really thought I was out of it with one hit?"

Goukei tore free the trident from his chest with a hiss of pain. It seemed the non-lethal rules of spell cards didn't apply to him – he was immortal, in a way. As the hole in his chest rapidly closed up, he raised the bloodied trident Nue had thrown at him. "Oi, heads up, you stupid alien! Return to sender!"

Raising a hand, Nue expertly slid under the projectile trident, running a hand along the handle and swinging it around without even slowing down. Before her, Goukei swore loudly and slammed a hand against the floor. Instantly, a rift formed, a fountain of sickle danmaku spewing out of it – catching Nue right in the midst of it.

"Clever girl," he muttered as he grabbed his scythe from the floor beside him. "Too bad it's not doing you much good."

The sickles stopped flying from the ravine, dropping the battered figure of Nue into it. Before she could get up, Goukei leapt in after her, the Shinokama raised for a killing blow. "Die!"

The scythe fell – and grated across the surface of a red UFO. It burst, spilling metal parts and strange red tabs, but its purpose had been served. Goukei realized he'd walked right into a trap as six wings impaled him and then tossed him sideways into the wall of the thin ravine. As the dust settled, Nue got up. "So, what do you think of my – gah!"

"I'm sorry, your what?" Goukei laughed as he lowered his foot, a single high kick having sent Nue sprawling. "I must be hearing things. Now, accept your fate!" His Shinokama erupted in hellfire, but as he rushed forward, a colossal anchor slammed across his side, driving him into the wall. Pulling himself free, he swore. "Alright, who the fuck is it now!?"

"Look above you!" Murasa brought around another anchor and dropped it on his stunned face, forcing him deeper into the ravine. Grabbing him by the collar, the ghost captain tossed him back into the air. "Byakuren!"

Sure enough, Goukei saw the magician step forward, a massive blade of golden energy erupting from the end of her vajra. Bringing it around, she slashed him into the air with a mighty uppercut strike, leaping after him with enough force to crack the tiles beneath her.

Byakuren swung the vajra one last time – and stared as Goukei grabbed the energy blade with his bare hands, hellfire spreading along the blade. The fires condensed, crushing the blade out of existence, and Goukei raised his head, one hand reaching for the cloth that hid his trump card.

"Sorry, but you're not the only one who can set traps."

Byakuren realized too late what she walked into. With a burst of speed, she tried to distance herself from the madly grinning oni, only to feel metal blades cutting at her back. Looking around them, Byakuren narrowed her eyes as she understood the extent of the trap.

"That's right, Hijiri!" Goukei laughed as the eyepatch fell away, green light seeping from behind the hand that now hid his eye. "My spell card never broke! And now, I will break you!" The hand fell away, and the halls were bathed with a terrifying green light. "FALL!"

And fall did Byakuren, dropping out of the sky as if swatted by a giant hand. The many airborne sickles followed her down, slamming the magician into the ground at speed. She tried to rise from the crater, but cried out as another wave of pain hit her, crumpling her like paper.

"No amount of defensive wards can protect you from the Eye of Medusa!" Goukei touched down in front of Byakuren and watched her ailing under his relentless torture with an inhuman glee. "I shall break you!"

"Put a lid on it, you drunk bastard!"

WHAM!

Goukei staggered, actually spinning from the force of the punch. Murasa lowered her fist, wiping off the oni's blood. "I mean, holy crap, that is just going over the top with it! We get it, you're messed up in the head!"

The ex-shinigami wiped away the trickle of blood from the side of his mouth. "Alright, I give. But it looks like the damage is done." Sure enough, it seemed as if Byakuren was having trouble even staying conscious at this point. Closing his eyes, Goukei drew a spell card. "Now, let's end this, Captain Minamitsu. One last spell card."

Murasa grinned as she grabbed another massive anchor. "Fine with me!"

Carelessly, the oni tossed aside his scythe, cracking his knuckles and raising the spell card over his head. As it shone with an unholy green light, his eyes opened. "Sinister Death – Balore's Most Wretched Curse!"

The green laser formed from his eye, razing the walls as it lashed out, slicing apart the steel pillars and obsidian walls alike as if they were made of cardboard. Everywhere he looked, explosions formed as he overclocked the eye's power, the sheer tremendous magic energy blowing apart the battlefield. Fragmented obsidian shrapnel flew and steel beams fell from the ceiling as Goukei swept around the terrifying might of his trump card.

Murasa hooked a chain through her anchor as she slid out from cover, Goukei having had to wind up for another beam. Not intending to give him the chance, she flung the anchor at full force. "This ends now!"

"Oh, it most certainly does!" Goukei ran at the anchor and unveiled his eye, piercing the massive metal construct and tearing it to pieces, the explosion blowing it apart, four metal splinters sailing past him harmlessly as he pointed the deadly laser in Murasa's direction. To his surprise, the ghost captain dropped to the floor, the giant laser skimming less than inch over her. Sliding past Goukei, Murasa leapt up and drew back her fist.

"Shipwreck Sign – Sea-Splitting Strike!"

– TOUHOU –

Shou stopped whacking Tenshi as she heard footsteps. For whatever reason, the first words out of the Celestial's mouth after she'd been ungagged were to be tied tighter. Flabbergasted, the tiger youkai simply went along with it, even beating Tenshi over the head when she insisted she'd been a 'bad girl'.

Freaky masochists.

She turned, a wide smile on her face. "Byakuren-sama! You're back… early…" She drew the jewelled pagoda from her side. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Move out of the way." Karin snapped shut her fan and pointed it at the Celestial behind her. "We need the girl."

"Hold on a second. You're… that girl…"

Karin snickered. "Very descriptive. Now, move or we will make you move."

Shou drew a set of spell cards from her pocket. "You're cloaked in evil. What… what happened to you!?"

"We saw the truth." Karin raised her hands and swung them down. Despite being on the opposite side of the ship from Shou and there being no way she should have been able to strike from such a distance, the tiger youkai was sent flying, cracking a tree in half as she slammed into it.

"What? How?" Shou began to get up, but cried out as a boot slammed down on her, grinding into her chest.

"We have half a mind to kill you right now, impudent one." Karin slammed her foot a little harder, hearing the satisfying sound of bones cracking. "But alas, we have more important things to attend to. Be grateful, tiny youkai." Her eyes fell on the jewelled pagoda, now lying abandoned next to Tenshi. She picked it up, running a hand along it. "This, however, I will be taking with me."

Tenshi's eyes were wide as she struggled against her bonds, desperate to escape as Karin neared her. Finally, the ropes came loose, and she backed away. No thoughts of fighting – just run.

However, as she turned halfway, she felt a massive, searing pain in her chest.

"Oh, so close, but so far away," crooned Karin. She withdrew her hand from Tenshi's back, watching the blood drip from it. The Celestial collapsed, falling into yet another stitched gap. Looking at the obsidian castle before her, Karin breathed, "I'll be coming for you next…

"Little gunslinger."