As I chased her down the halls, she jumped out from the windows with graceful movement that would not have been possible as a human. I planted my hands down onto the wood underneath, and push myself upward to give myself enough momentum to chase her.
"Didn't get me at all!" The cheerful laugh came from down below, and I merely rolled myself forward down to the ground — though it sent painful jab down my legs since I never had done this before, fortunately, I did not break any bones at all with the fall.
And this turns out to be a dark alley, after all, a disadvantageous area for me and an advantageous area for the vampire in search of nourishment. Bright light almost blinded me, and I could only gape at the incoming danger that I will face after this.
Multi-colored balls seemed to appear one by one in the darkness, lighting up the alley with its eerie elemental magic that I never thought that I will see this early, and in the middle stood Flandre with an excited grin. Sorry, Flan — but I'm not up to your games for today..
I opened my mouth to speak but the multi-colored balls turned into a barrage of death that hit the ground from where I was before. My gut is twisting in danger at the earlier near-death from the elemental attack, "I think I'm gonna win!" She said cheerfully, sending another barrage from left to right.
I'll indulge and I'm probably gonna be dead as soon as morning comes.
I charged forward as the bullet suddenly warped themselves in a circular fashion, and immediately shooting outwards sending me back once more. In a sense, this will be like a dance that will continue onward until both are tired enough to retire and yield to their opponent.
I did not expect to have a danmaku battle this SOON, though!
Vaulting backward over some barrels in the way, I could only stare at her jumping in the air and simply floating. At that moment, the patterns immediately changed and so did the body of Flandre Scarlet simply duplicating twice, third, and fourth.
I paled upon seeing this part, and I could only merely step back as I have no way of fighting back, and if I did. I was sure that I would've gotten ripped apart into million pieces! Multi-patterns immediately appeared out of a magic circle that spreads In a radius along with the other clones.
As I turned and sees a large orb heading my way, it was far too late to even dodge and I could feel all my breath leaving my very lungs as I suddenly get thrown back to the walls behind with a loud thump that echoed in the alleyway. It felt like being punched in the gut..
"Bad luck with that one!" She cheerfully giggled the sister of Remilia Scarlet, eyes gleaming.
I think I felt a bruise on my ribs with that elemental orb that I barely noticed, though the sound of the orb should have made a large explosion and perhaps could be heard by anyone in the town. "Could I perhaps persuade you not to continue, miss?" I said hoarsely, standing up shakily.
"Nope! Oh yeah, my name is Flandre, by the way!" She cheerfully replied, bouncing in excitement as she pointed her fingers at me once more. The orbs eased to move forward and I gritted my teeth both in irritation and pain, just before I could even stand properly — the elemental orbs launched forward onto my face and I immediately rolled to the left.
My uniform was grazed and burn marks were visible on the surface and my arm on the right has cut all over the shoulder. And here I thought that danmaku battle was supposed to be non-lethal or rather that they do not harm their opponent unless the rules of the battle have not been applied in this era yet.
Or that Flandre is too powerful and can cause damage to the human body unless they are youkai instead, "Flandre!" I shouted out as I ducked underneath the volleys of bullet and elemental orbs that went flying my way, and suddenly a terrible thought slipped into my mind at this point.
Did Lilian die to a danmaku battle?
Hence her brutal injuries.
I tackled from upfront and she seemed surprised at the reckless move, in response, countless magic circles appeared from atop and I could feel the target spinning into place and to my back. I rolled to my left immediately and thus releasing my hold upon Flandre, but unfortunate that it has been decreed by Flandre to damage my body further and further.
A crack in the alleyway and a scream that echoed in the night.
My arm seemed to be bent in the wrong way, and I could merely rapidly inhale and exhale from my mouth, blood dribbling down my mouth and to the ground. I bit my cheeks inside my mouth to stifle the pain and looked toward Flandre with a cold glare that seemed to freeze the air.
She ignored it without care, "Oh my, maybe I did it too much again?" and I could merely leave my arm bent the wrong way as I staggered upwards to face her once more. "Leave." One simple word that always has scared the nobles in my past and that former noble, the moon above seemed to glimmer.
Flandre eyes seemed to go scarlet dark with childish rage, "Make me." and two simple words that almost made me expel my breath and take a step back with fear, gritting my teeth that I could only say with a pained breath. "A deal with you. About a human that is not me."
The air seemed to electrify by itself and the elemental orbs up in the air seemed to dissolve and evaporate into thin air, "Talk." I held back the chills that I got from the cold word that Flandre spoke, even her seemingly childish personality seemed to evaporate with the turn of emotion.
My idea is to throw Flandre towards the noble and let her cause problems and at the same time, prevent the breach of the timeline and I can continue my fate without any change to the timeline. "It's a male noble. He wears a dark coat with a golden and yellow accent through his coat. He wears long grey leggings and may have documents nearby him. Destroy them and you can play with him."
The silence was dull and tense as Flandre seemed to scan me with her eyes, and suddenly they clear up and returned to the same childishness that was shown earlier. I felt great relief flooding through my veins, Thank you, Flan.
"Pinkie promise?" She said adorably, and I could merely sigh in exasperation and lend my pinkie finger to her with a faint smile on my face. "Pinkie promise." She and I accepted the deal, and thus we leave to our own way and path without any problem.
"Can I have your name please?" Flandre inquired before she was about to jump into the air and fly away to find the targeted prey that I promised will be much friendlier than myself. I smiled at her, "Remilia Scarlet." I hoarsely introduced myself with a broken curtsy.
As the vampire left the alleyway, I fell to the ground and felt the burning feeling in my gut fade away into a mere buzz meaning that my plan was successful. I still feel the pain from my broken arm though, and I might have to find a doctor sooner or later.
I stumbled through the alley and found myself within the inn once more, but there was quite the commotion within the resting room of the inn. I entered the room and found myself face to face with the entirety of the staff that seemed incredibly worried, perhaps they heard the scream and huddled together to scare off the supposed creature?
"What are you all doing?" I asked though, and I found Anne in the midst of the crowd — her eyelids seemed to twitch in anger and I could feel horror swirling through my veins at the angered Anne that approached me.
I'm dead.
"We couldn't find you. You come back with a ridiculous injury. AND THAT IS ALL WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!?" Her scream echoed and reverberated within my ears, and I could merely wince at the upcoming lecture that will span over the hours until morning.
It is indeed not my time yet to be a vampire. Though, soon into the lecture, I felt dizzy enough to make me fall to the ground unconscious exhausted from earlier battle.
Flandre watched from afar the strange and brave human that she encountered earlier, she did have fun though until the human got mad at her. What did she even do wrong even? Maybe the human was too tired to simply keep going maybe, and that's why the human yelled at her! Yes, that's must be the problem!
And that's why the human named Remilia sent her to a friend that will want to play with her too! But if too many people see her, it's gonna be a problem and she has to find a new home soon. She giggled cheerfully as she entered the house and saw that it was filled with extravagant glittering things and the man is working on something.
Well, did Remilia say that she must destroy them and then she can play with this friend? That one she can do! She sent a fire orb from a magic circle and threw it to the desk, naturally, they exploded and burned into thin air.
The former noble sitting at the desk jerked up and started at the somewhat unfamiliar girl standing in his office, and went back to stare at his burning desk that lit the dim room. His fear increasing as he remembered the words of that girl from the inn saying that arrogance is death.
"W-Who are you?" stuttered the man as he stood from his chair, stepping back to get his flintlock pistol from the drawers. The girl seemed to tilt their head, and it sent chills down his spines at the unnatural scarlet eyes that revealed itself. "My name is Flandre!" The girl said cheerfully.
Then he realized that the girl has something growing out of her back, colorful crystals that seemed glimmer within the dim room and I could see the jagged fangs as she talked about playing with me. "W-Who s-sent you?" The man's voice seemed to progressively more butchered with the stuttering and sniveling.
"Oh! Human Remilia sent me!" She grinned, and the man could merely whimper mentally at the thought of the mistake of him angering the former heiress of the Scarlet Family — regret filled his heart, and he immediately aimed the flintlock and fired it off towards the girl in the front of him.
It hit her shoulder and she didn't even cry, not even a scream, not even a twitch. I realized that I might have made the last mistake that I will ever do in my life, as she seemed to grin wider if that is even possible. "So, you do want to play! But that's rude though, it should be me that plays first!"
Dear Lord, please save my soul from—
From the outside, they could only hear muffled cries and screaming. Some of the people seemed to stare and even gape at the brutal sounds coming from the house, and some even ignored it for the favor of getting rid of an annoying former noble in their freedom.
Remilia felt very terrible as she woke up from slumber and stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling above. Memories flashed into her head and she merely closed her eyes in the exhaustion of remembering the fight with the supposed non-sister, but now, she can think calmly and document everything that happened.
The battle with Flandre and closer look at her mannerism is what I clearly expected from her, even though I have not yet met her before. Playful and cheerful, at the same time, feral alongside brutality that made her a terrifying opponent as a human.
She did not introduce herself as Flandre Scarlet, but merely as Flandre, meaning that she was not born into my family meaning that I will have to find her someday in the future assuming she survives with the growth of technology and human advancement on detecting intruders.
Until I've fought with the others, I deem that Spell Card Battle is lethal and can cause harm to my health and others. Of course, there is the possibility that Flandre is simply too powerful and can cause damage to any human that she targets with but for the time being, I will have to deem the battle lethal from any kind of mythological creature and youkai.
I suppose it would be an extra danger if said creature or youkai ignored the rule of the battle and simply goes through the maul the person route and I would be dead within seconds, provided that I have no form of self-defense on me.
The only thing that I have not yet met other than Flandre, the one that wields knives and capable of creating time stops Is the maid Sakuya. She may have been not born yet in this era, but perhaps I will see her soon after I move out of this town.
I am truly planning not to stay in one place after all, and I plan to move to London which will take a quite bit of time. Hopefully, I can find more pieces of my fate scattered around in London, as it is a much bigger city and will have more places that I have to explore in my own free time.
"Yo, I know you're awake, little lady."
A voice immediately jerked me out of my mental thought and snapped upwards to see the face of my coworker, Martin, with a smirk plastered on his face. I immediately relaxed, the man merely smiled in comfort and let another enter the room which means Anne has entered the room.
"Glad you're alright, Remi."
I'm thankful for their kindness, but sooner or later, I have to move and continue forward therefore leaving this tiny little town in the former territory of nobility. Perhaps I will tell them the news next month. "I know," I responded with a bittersweet smile.
A week has passed since I've been discharged from the hospital, and I could finally help with some of the cleanings at the inn. There was some extra news that I've missed days after my discharge from the hospital, and it seemed that the former noble was found dead in his extravagant house with terrible injuries and he seemed to have shot a flintlock before the culprit seemed to move forward with the execution.
Some people had heard of his screaming during the night and ignored it in the favor of getting rid of a noble that has been plaguing the town with their grating voices. Sure enough, the law enforcement was very exasperated with those people but they merely ignored the chiding and lecture, but safe to say, they won't ignore something like that again for the sake of running away from the law and the prison itself.
In another case, some law enforcers have found out that the culprit trails led to the north beyond the forest. Some novice cartographer in the town said that the northern road would lead to London, strange, is it not?
Just when I planned to go to London, a non-existent sister seemed to go toward the same road that I will have to travel next month. Anne, unfortunately, noticed my hesitation and forced me to tell them all about my plan to leave the town and head to London, it brought happiness that they approved of me traveling the roads saying that I do not have to be isolated in one place.
In my case, it seems that I've concluded that my gut feeling is a tool to point me towards my fate because after being discharged from the hospital. I have this empty feeling in my gut because I must move to a new location for my fate to refresh itself and have new objectives.
It's just basically a glorified objective system in reality.
"Good morning, Min," I mumbled tiredly as I sat down on one of the wooden stools in the kitchen, rubbing my eyes from exhaustion. Said person immediately replied with equally exhausting morning, and footsteps echoed to my right to reveal Anne with a charged and cheerful expression that made me drop my face even more.
"How are you not even tired, Anne?"
"Probably magic," Min said sarcastically as she went to check the storage before the dining room fully opens for today. Anne seemed to glower at Min before waving dismissively, "How many times I have to tell her that it's not 'magic' that keeps me not tired.." I merely stared at her in confusion.
"What do you mean?" I asked blankly, but she merely shrugged with a patronizing smile that I cannot help but twitch my eyelids in annoyance. "Don't worry about it, you're too young to understand." Eh, what? I can't help but feel that 1900 innuendo jokes are quite vague…
Author Notes:
Chapter Nine will be the last one to this arc. Flandre is quite brutal and cheerful, is she not? :)
On the other hand, more characters will appear in London soon, that one I can only say to avoid spoilers.