Fuck you I managed to skip to 'Stage Six'. Also, I... really do want to switch to Third Person for the 'final battle' (which is gonna be a bitch to try and fit into less than 4K words), because I genuinely suck at First Person. Also I made like three edits and apparently there are now '400' extra words, what is ff-net smoking m'dude.


Disclaimer:
Everything's gonna be going speed to make up for the stupidly long filler fight I made you all sit through after how long of an undeclared hiatus I took for my exams (I failed whoop whoop) and other things going on in my life.

As always I own like five things in this fic; but because of Touhou's Sacred Tenants on Fan Content (TH-S⸱T⸱F⸱C) everyone owns them… kind of…

Communism joke.


Quote:
*Mechanical whirring noises*


Chapter Five ~ Part F-Two: Reimu; Deus ex Machina

-/-
[Scarlet Devil Mansion Entrance | First Person; Matthius' POV | 5:48 AM | Mainly English]
-/-

Wait, how long has it been? ((1))

I forgot that I wasn't forced to really sit down for this fight; Well, I did sit out—courtesy of Meiling—but I hadn't been poisoned.

"Two more minutes." I announced.

"What are you talking about? Two minutes until what?" Meiling asked.

The 'witch', who I had learnt previously was named 'Marisa', also had something to say; "{Can you say that in Japanese? I know you can.}".

I sighed, "{Reimu's going to be here rather soon.}".

"{Damn.}" She muttered. "{Wait- You can tell?}".

"Shit… Shouldn't have said a name at the very least."

("That sort of information is best withheld to begin with.")

"{…I… yeah? I can sort of tell–but not really.}"

Marisa shrugged as she dodged Sakuya's… Wait- Was it 'Spell Card' or 'Danmaku'? What's the difference?

Though I had my suspicions a little earlier, something I'd managed to recognise in all of them is that, despite Sakuya trouncing both Meiling and Marisa in terms of power, all of them seemed to be uncomfortable with the way their bodies moved.

It was hard to describe, but it just looked like they were moving in ways that they shouldn't have been; and it put all of them at a disadvantage.

Of course, this was still no advantage to me; since I was still being defended by Meiling more than half the time.

A boon to my survival? Yes.
At the very least I could dodge something.

*fwip*

Like that knife that just skimmed a small part of the right side of my hair. That's going to look weird later.

[/"You've fucked up my hairline, sure; That's the least of your problems."/] Darius snarked. ((2))

Past all this stupid shit that seems to happen one after the other- the major problem, as always, was this 'Spark' thing.

I could barely push it up to fifty times, and right now I'm at five.

If I want the same results, I'd have to hit her with the hundred times, attempt to activate bloodlust for a single instant, while she couldn't stop time…

Otherwise I'd just end up uh… crystallising for some reason; which actually wasn't as painful a sensation as it was… weird. ((3))

"{You're pretty good! You should visit the human village sometime! Alice could use your help with her performances!}"

Marisa… saying this as she threw…

What were those? Small jars-

Oh! Oh! Those are timed explosives with a touch of laser pillar; good to know.

At this point I was going to go blind and deaf with all these explosions and shit happening everywhere. What kind of chemical reaction even makes a laser landmine? Or was it not a chemical mixture at all but some sort of advanced mecha-

*BOOM*

"Ah! Fuck!" I hissed, covering my now ringing ears. "Do you want me to get tinnitus?".

"What?". Not you Meiling, but I guess you could tone down the rainbow colour scheme a bit; makes things hard to follow. ((4))

"{SERIOUSLY! JUST SPEAK JAPANESE! I DON'T KNOW IF WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS IMPORTANT!}"

"{It's not!}". I turned to Meiling. "So… What's happened to you? You guys don't seem to be… fighting… at your best. And honestly? That's gotten me scared.".

"We're not. Believe me, I could effortlessly destroy an entire mountain and more at my best. Sakuya, she… for a little while… actively broke Spell Card Rules, only to then immediately stop."

That- was more terrifying than I imagined. "So how come none of you can actually do that? Is it enforced?".

Though I couldn't see her face, it wasn't hard to tell she was thinking pretty intensely.

"Now that I recall, even before you arrived at the Mansion, I'd felt this way."

"How long exactly?" I blurted out.

Meiling turned to actually face me; "Half a day- maybe more?".

What-

What?

What the-

No. Stop.

Breathe in… Breathe out…

"FUCK!"

"Are you well?"

"I survived this long out of a fucking technicality!"
"AND THAT DIDN'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALL THE TIMES I GENUINELY DIED IN THIS FUCKING PLACE!" ((5))

I leaned out of the way of several knives.

"That!- should have gone through my head if all of you weren't forced to hold back!"

"Would you please quiet down? I shall deal with you in a moment."

"{Oi oi! Eyes on me!}"

Crossing my arms, I huffed. It was only a few seconds until Reimu would get here.

*Creaking*

Yep. Right on time.

Fuck this power; I wanna go home.

[/"Hey! That's my home!"/]

("It's not anymore; deal with it.")

"{Oi Marisa! What's going on?}"

Marisa, and Sakuya for whatever reason, paused and turned towards the newcomer; "{Reimu?}" Marisa muttered, then smirked at the maid; "{Well now -How do you think you'll stand up to three of us?}".

"{FOUR!}" I yelled out instinctively.

"{Three of us and a cheerleader for moral support.}"

"DAMNIT! HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS‽" ((6))

"{You know what? I don't have the full context, and I don't think I'll get it soon enough. I recognise the gatekeeper—even though she's awake—but who's he-}". Reimu gestured to both Meiling and I. "{-and why are we fighting the maid.}". Said maid bristled at the comment; prompting Marisa to, once again, kick her into another wall.

And here I was seriously thinking these people, like, took turns, or something. ((7))

On second thought, the thought of two massive choreographed light-shows conflicting would have killed me.

[/"Man, is this really what I sound like?"/]

("He's a great deal more logical than you. Though, if he had not inherited your personality, he'd be more… empty; and I prefer this over that.")

[/"Ah- So we could have gotten robot Matthius; that's a missed opportunity. I won't dwell on that since I'm somewhat glad to be… 'not dead' again."/] ((8))

"{Meiling and… 'Kyoshin', apparently. The maid, Sakuya, tried to off this guy here for some reason.}" Marisa haphazardly shrugged.

"{I see…}" Reimu nodded quickly. "{'Kyoshin'?}".

"{I know right? I've never heard of anyone named 'Kyoshin' before; How do you reckon it divines?}"

Once again, I felt all eyes on me; "{It breaks down into 'void' and 'pure', but it could be interpreted as 'empty truth'. As you can probably guess, it's not a birth name.}" I explained as best I could despite my injury.

("Of course, my name was never a birth name either. Did you really think they would name me 'Tsuyometsu'? It'd be too ironic.")

[/"Wait- Then who gave you the name?"/]

("Someone who was important to me, and who I never got to say a proper farewell to; That is all.") ((9))

…Yeah- not touching that right now.

"{Does… does that mean you're like… a pathological liar?}"

I sighed, "{No Meiling, I am not a mythomaniac and I do not have pseudologia fantastica; Where'd you even learn that term anyways?}". I widened my eyes in realisation; "{How many different kinds of people do you meet standing outside a creepy mansion everyday?} ((10))" I asked in disbelief. "{Eh- By the way, nice kick Marisa; You actually just accomplished my plan for me.}".

"{You're welcome? I guess? What do you mean by that?}"

I pointed at the still recovering Sakuya, who had turned to face us; only this time, her irises were blue and bordering on a light grayish purple. ((11))

[/"Periwinkle?"/]

"Sure… 'Periwinkle'."

"I'm not sure what just happened…" Sakuya spoke; taking a few more moments to recollect herself and probably figure out what had transpired.

("Why wouldn't she retain her memories? We did, did we not?")

"Why would I know? I've only seen that state twice; and both times had me die pretty shortly after. So us 'remembering' isn't very accurate to what actually happened. Wait-"

"Heads up- If you're gonna give any further exposition, do it in Japanese." I called out. "Those two over there don't have a solid grasp of the language.".

The maid nodded, then paused, and I swear to god I could hear the gears running in her head; "{Wait, there aren't supposed to be any visitors-}".

"{Way past that point buddy.}" Meiling deadpanned.

"{Yeah. And you almost killed me about ten times in the last couple of hours.}" I also snided, "{I shouldn't even be conscious right now. My body is running on less than fumes.}".

"{Actually Matthius, you have perished ten times; in the last two days.}" ((12))

I whipped around in search of the new voice, noticing how both Meiling and Sakuya went completely still.

"{As for that last part, that was my doing.}"

[/"Oh my fucking god, it's a vampire loli."/]

Vampire wat.

Lolita? Like that famous novel about a… oh.

Oh god…

("What? Famous novel about what?")

"About a middle-aged man who adopts and molests a twelve year-old girl he was infatuated with; 'Lolita' is not a word - it's a nickname. It's literal pedo-bait." ((13))

But if Darius called this figure a vampire loli, then-

I looked upwards, and on the top of the stairs-

Huh-

You know, I had guessed 'vampires' when I first looked at this mansion. Now that I'm seeing this 'Remilia' for the first time?

"{Reimu? Marisa? Have fun; I'm leaving. Meiling? Do whatever I guess.}"

As I attempted to make my way out the front door, I heard Remilia's voice speak out once more in a commanding tone.

"Sakuya."

Out of nowhere, a knife appeared in front of my sneaker-

"Ah fuck- My ankle!"

-causing me to trip and make a fool out of myself as I got back up.

"{I do not believe you have given me the chance to explain myself in full.}" She giggled.

Reimu interrupted on my behalf; "{No need: Mist. You. Culprit. Spell Card Duel. We win. You make mist go away. Incident resolved.}".

I could feel the confusion in both Tsuyometsu and Darius, projected well enough despite the lack of physical bodies; I guess this whole interconnected thoughts thing really worked both ways.

[/"I don't know Japanese, but I'm fairly certain none of that should have translated the way it did."/]

("Nothing here makes sense.")

{ : I wasn't really bothered to translate all of this; and while I do have a friend who's a military historian (and knows Japanese for that reason) I'm not really close enough with them to ask them to translate a fanfic.}

Regaining focus on Remilia, I interjected as well, "{Couldn't you have made things just a bit easier for me? If you were going to restrict everyone's powers you didn't have to do it by halves. Do you want me alive or what?}".

Everyone else stared at me in shock, and I felt the need to defend myself; "{What? It was obvious! I think…}"

Remilia's face was almost comedic in its disbelief; which ended up more hilarious when her eyes began to… water?.

"{No! Stop ruining the exposition! You can't just do that! I had a cool speech prepared and everything!}" She cried.

"Remind me again why I'm not out of ^here^ and doing regular stuff."

[/"Like what? Paying taxes?"/]

("By kami- They still have taxes? And I assume rich people do not bother to pay theirs.")

[/"Yeah; they don't even really do anything for us. Uh- Either way, Matthius, I don't think we should be too hasty in going back to the regular world. Sure I'm not a fan of the whole dying thing, but according to what we've heard so far, this is just a one off. Who knows? Maybe this place will grow on us."/]

"I doubt it." ((14))

Both Sakuya and Meiling had appeared by Remilia's side and consoled her; With the maid pulling a handkerchief from somewhere to wipe her tears and Meiling patting her on the back.

"Of course; I've just arrived and you've already managed to make Remilia cry."

Wait a minute- that voice-

Patchouli?

Oh fuck- Was it too late to leave now?

"Look, I'm sorry if I insinuated that you were… uh…". I turned to Marisa, and tried to make a vague attempt at signalling 'inside' (in which I cupped my left hand and dropped my right hand into it twice in rapid succession) and 'constant' (in which I made several revolutions across the axial plane with my right index finger); Marisa looked at Patchouli, turned and stared directly into my soul, and then slowly went back to Patchouli.

"{That dress makes you look fat.}"

"{I see it.}" Reimu deadpanned.

"{Marisa! That's not what I signalled and you know it!}". I then got close enough to whisper, "{I'm pretty sure she sleeps in that.}".

"{She does.}" Meiling chimed in with an all-too-happy 'smile'. ((15))

"{Wha- Don't sneak up on me!}"

Patchouli glanced at our antics and was clearly having none of it; "{I… Hmph! Clearly this has been a waste of my time.}"

"What? Not gonna drop a bucket on her head?" I jibed.

"{Okay! That's enough out of all of you!}" Sakuya yelled, effectively silencing all of us. She then brought forward the vampire girl, Remilia. "When you are ready, Mistress.".

"{Of course.}" She smiled, wiping away tears. "{I challenge 'Kyoshin' to a Spell Card Duel.}".

"Nani!"

"Eh?"

"Heh."

"Hmph."

"Haaaahh~"

"…"

"I know you know I don't have any 'Spell Card's or 'Danmaku'. Seriously, I just got here like- a day ago."

"W- What do you mean? But Patchouli said you were from the void; You're supposed to have power beyond all measure!"

"You are aware that I lost to Meiling with a handicap, right? It's not like I was holding back against Sakuya either.". I switched to Japanese so that the others could actually understand me; "{I'm pretty sure Patchouli knocked me out with a fucking bucket. A bucket. Does that not give you enough information to determine how this 'Battle' would end?}".

I frowned as I returned to English, "In essence, the void isn't some place full of gods or whatever it is you're looking for. When I was there, it was just nothing but endless floating. I'm just as weak as any other human, so you're wasting your time.". ((16))

All the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, especially Patchouli, seemed to narrow eyes at my statement. And call me crazy, but I swore Reimu seemed to express something at the word 'floating'.

Remilia seemed to grow smaller; "{Oh- um… Does a team battle sound fair?}".

"{There are five of you-}" I motioned to Remilia herself, her maid, her gardener, her librarian, and the librarian's assistant; who apparently chose now to show up -oh hey she's waving. "{-and three of us.}".

"{Two.}" Everyone bar Remilia said in unison.

"{Two.}" I nodded.

"Wait- Dammit."

Despite being consistently bullied by everyone here, I continued; "{So you see- we are at a clear disadvan-}".

[[? Start Track {0:00:00.0}:
Touhou EoSD Arrange】 「Absolute Awakening; Tomboyish Girl in Love- S.S.H. & Aether/1/ ?]]

"Hm…"

I caught myself being interrupted, "What?"

"Do you hear that?"

At that, everyone seemed to turn their heads towards the source of this 'sound'. I looked up above the main entrance to see the large circular stained glass window, and squinted my eyes to try and peer beyond; only to find-

*Shatter*

Shards of glass came raining down upon me mid-sentence as I tried to process what happened.

Sakuya clearly had it worse; she was developing an aneurysm; "There is a door! Use it!".

"{Ha!}"

"DO NOT FEAR! FOR THE STRONGEST IS HEAR!"

"{Ah- The nuisance and her friends.}"

Reimu? No- I- wh- how- That's-

"I know for a fact one of those words was wrong; but which one? Most importantly-"

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU LEARN ENGLISH CIRNO‽" I screamed… with dignity
[/"Hardly."/]

Out of the darkness—because apparently there were a lot of shadows here for some reason—I heard a familiar voice.

"She wanted to rhyme something." It- uh- she?… spoke. ((17))

("Oh. It's the one that manipulates darkness.")

"All three of you were mean to me-"

"You tried to eat me -but okay."
[/"Immediate bitch. Also, all three? She means Reimu and Marisa as well right?"/]
"Not the time."
[/"Also why is it all little girls? I was joking when I made the loli joke before but I reckon if this trend keeps going we're gonna have to put ourselves on the list."/]
"Not. The. Time."

"-but Cirno's my friend so I decided to help her out on this regardless." She shrugged; with her arms still in that weird pose.

"{More than six hours. Six… And this is what you were doing the entire time? Learning a catchphrase?}" ((18))

"{Yep!}" The ice-fairy replied earnestly.

I heard another voice, though I could assume immediately that it was Daiyousei, "{Sorry mister Kyoshin; we thought you didn't want us to come back.}".

I did say that, didn't I?

"Damnit, I can't be mad at them."

[/"But I can. They should have helped us out sooner."/] Darius muttered bitterly.

"{Well now, I believe that is now an even five against five.}" Remilia smiled.

"{Six.}" I corrected her.

"{Five!}" They all repeated once more in unison…

I dignified no response as I called upon the 'sparking' power once more; causing the power to fill the room once more.

I really hate this place.

[[? End Track {0:01:27.997}: /1/ ?]]


And now… A series of completely unconnected omakes. Have fun.


Series C- 1: What the hell was Cirno Doing?

[Misty Lake | Immediately after Marisa met Meiling and Matthius | English → Japanese]

The small figures of the two yōsei came to a stop at the edge of the lake in a frenzy.

"Are you really sure we can rely on her, Cirno?"

"Well who else can we turn to!" The ice fairy yelled at her partner as she turned around…

Only to spot a pair of twitching legs sticking out of the ground. ((19))

[30 Minutes Later]

"Ehh? So that meanie I tried to eat before is actually your friend? And he went into that scary looking mansion?"

"Mhm!" Both Daiyousei and Cirno nodded.

Rumia took in a breath and seemed to grow slightly taller; "{Then I shall commence the very first mission of Team Nine!}". ((20))

"Wha- That's the same sort of words Kyoshin used!"

"Actually Cirno-tan, it's a different language enti-"

"You have to teach me how to say it so I can impress him so he will get me the giant sword he promised!"

The yōkai that manipulates darkness was confused and responded appropriately; "Ehh~~?".

[More than 5 Hours Later]

"And if you want to say 'here', just say {here}."

"'Hi… ru'? That sounds like 'leech'! That's funny!" Cirno laughed.

Daiyousei disagreed, "It would be more like 'hi-iru' though, which would mean something like 'have sun'; it doesn't make very much sense for us.".

"Ah, 'hi-aru'? It rhymes better with 'fi-aru'. {Never fear! Cirno is hear!}. No, I don't like that one very much." The frog-torturer trailed off. ((21))

Rumia was about to try and correct it before Daiyousei stopped it.

"I've tried correcting how she says 'I' for nearly a decade - It took Kyoshin only a day; That's why we need him back."

The blonde yōkai nodded; "That makes complete sense.".

Omake End


Series I- 1: Nerve Damage

[?]

Bloodshot eyes open to reveal an unlit room; the pitch black emptiness was nothing new at this point. They had seen everything there was to see already… before their eyes finally lost all colour aside from the violent red from the strained blood vessels that threatened to burst with every twitch.

"HAAAAAAAAA!"

Even when their body lit up in a brilliant flash of purple, illuminating the once dark room, it was still a dreary and dull grey. The violet sparks continued to dance around their body until it changed paced into a calm adagio.

"Do you feel it?"

The voices left their body at once; but there was only one person they could be talking to.

"So… It appears that once more… we must return to the world… once more…"

The figure clenched their fists.

"He must be stopped…"

Light that was not theirs entered the room as an elevator door opened up, revealing another masked man and two other guards behind him.

"Awake at last… You can feel it can't you? There is someone who threatens the balance between all the factions of the 'gifted ones'." The man spoke tersely.

He walked forward and placed a hand on their shoulder, "Our plans cannot be stopped here; what say you?".

The masked man's body lit up in a similar fashion, coating himself in yellow sparks.

"Are you ready to give them a Harmonious End?"

A cough sounded out from behind the masked man.

From one of the helmets, a female voice resounded; "Sorry sir… but… seriously? I thought we all agreed not to name them that.". ((22))

"Well I thought it sounded cool Stacy." The other guard argued.

"That's because I gave ya permanent brain damage last summer Chris."

"Wai- Wha?"

Omake End


Series O (Obscure)- 1: Matthius' Legatee, Orion Nimrod; Servant of Robbit Hood, Ruler of the Weed Empire of Westeros.
Orion of House Nimrod stood atop a small wooden building, medieval in design; which was likely because they were in fact in a medieval setting.

Several guards walked past below in perfect accordance to their regular patrol schedule. Orion nodded as he saw this, before readjusting the cloak obscuring his frame as he walked briskly to a small grove behind the local church. The Hood Estate had received several new orphans with the refugees that had come to them from the pillaging that was happening in the region.

As Orion was about to try and catch some fish in the large pond, his eyes met with a large, green glowing portal.

A loud thud was heard as a man tumbled out of said portal. In response, Orion immediately secured his half-helm and readied his rapier.

"Yo chill- I'm you."

Orion paused for a brief moment; "What was that?".

The figure got up and dusted himself off, and Orion noted that he looked exactly like himself but older and dressed in foreign clothing.

"Wow. It's like Tsuyo all over again.". The man, Orion's supposed other self, continued, "I was supposed to find the exact instance of myself before I ended up in Gensokyo but… well… I only got one chance and I fucked it up; so let's not let this power go to waste:

How would you like to become my legatee?"

"Your… legatee?" ((23))

"Yeah… Essentially I'm just gonna give you my 'talents' before I fade away into oblivion, or rather, back into the void; where I'll bitchslap the fuck outta that 'Voidsoul' guy."

Orion mulled it over; extra power wouldn't hurt that much, especially considering that he needed it to defend the Hood Estate and its people.

"I accept."

"Cool. Also, you may lose all memory of this exchange; have to keep the fifth wall intact, you see."

"Pardon?"

Omake End


Series W- 2: The only lust he has is for blood.

[Burning Ruins of the Human Village | Third Person; Following Matthius | ? | English → Japanese]

He could feel the blood dripping down his face until it fell and pooled around his feet.

"Wha- Who are you?" A hoarse but undeniably feminine voice replied.

It was Marisa, now sporting a whole in her neck from where Matthius had stabbed her earlier without fanfare or impunity.

"Nothing personal… but what I'm doing right now is arguably better than what was fated for your lot anyways; and I say 'arguably' because I have no idea how you would feel about being used as an object for sex."

Matthius' eyes narrowed before he threw Marisa off and spun around before launching a knee into the gut of his assailant.

"But I can say personally, the thought of the Marisa I know being treated like what I've seen in these 'verses' disgusts me to the core. And you, Sakuya."

There was no response, just pained breathing and the sound of gurgling that eventually became silent.

"Heh, what a joke." He muttered, making sure that they could hear him. "You can't even stop time indefinitely or manipulate it to its fullest extent.".

His opponent, Sakuya, managed to recover in time to move out of the way of a carefree slash. ((24))

Only to be immediately cut in twain, as Matthius had already manoeuvered behind her effortlessly.

"Phew~ Can't believe I almost missed one. Now all that's left is Rei-"

"You…"

Matthius immediately spun around; "Yes?".

Reimu continued to stare in horror at the wasteland of blood and dead bodies; "They're- they're all dead. You killed them all. How could you?".

"Was that meant to be literal, metaphorical or rhetorical?" He chuckled; drawing his katana forward into a lazy guard.

"Oh kami- Marisa too?" She gasped, before her face was darkened by the bangs of her hair falling to the front of her head. "This ends here. I'll kill you; I don't care anymore.".

Matthius stabbed his katana deep into the ground; "I'd be disappointed if you didn't try.". His toothy grin was made more threatening by the blood that painted his face; the crimson of which contrasted with his amber irises and only made him look more threatening.

He blinked once, and suddenly Reimu had been there with her gohei raised to crack his head open. Matthius smirked and crossed both his arms above his head in time to catch the yōkai extermination tool; it always seemed to follow a trend of getting longer every incident and Matthius could tell that this Reimu hadn't even reached the sexegenarian flower.

Matthius angled his arms towards the left and pushed the gohei away, before following up with a solid kick to the abdomen; which launched her away a considerable distance.

"You'll have to do a lot better if you want to defend yourself, and it's not against me; At least, not originally."

Red-white growled, "What the hell are you talking about?".

Matthius didn't answer, but closed his eyes once more and looked up at the orange sky.

"What were they even called? 'Tsumi-bukuro'? {[罪袋] Sin bags?}" ((25))

They were a pest, even in other verses completely unrelated to Touhou, and BCCHP7 Zeta-42 had yet to find anything out about their origin; not that he could even do anything about it if he tried.

"Have you ever seen them? The ones whose faces are concealed by the hood which bears the character of sin."

Reimu seemed to falter and shake in place; as if recalling traumatic and repressed memories.

In that moment, she might have felt an iota of compassion from Matthius, but that was too soon crushed with a cold mercy. ((26))

The lone shrine maiden grit her teeth and rushed towards Matthius as fast as she could, before a sudden burst in speed changed her course and allowed her to move behind him. From there, she launched a barrage of 'Persuasion Needles' towards his back. In response, Matthius simply batted them away and swung a knife-hand to sever her neck, which was deftly prevented by the swift placement of her gohei between himself and her. Matthius ducked and launched a fist directly into her torso; tearing right through her.

He almost began to laugh maniacally as he felt his hand go through paper, revealing the Reimu to simply be a clone made out of various paper charms; many of which were then used to hold him in place.

Reimu slowly paced towards him, attempting to appear as menacing as she could; which had no effect on Matthius.

"You know-". Matthius ripped free from his restraints and punched Reimu in the torso again. This time, it had landed for real as blood was coughed onto him. Crimson 'Sparks' began to fly free around Matthius as his irises and small sections of his hair also turned the same colour; almost indistinguishable from the blood that stained his normally soft brown hair. "I don't like doing this. Actually no- I do like doing this -but the fact that the people I'm killing happen to… 'share the same faces' as my friends and my loved ones… I'm honestly not okay with that. Though this has been nothing if not a useful training exercise.".

He dropped Reimu unceremoniously on the floor.

"Just do it." She whispered with extreme difficulty.

Matthius grasped his katana before shivering as he felt an unnatural heat pass through him.

Lust? Was this world trying to complete its sequence by replacing the tsumi-bukuro with him?

"This world really is fucked."

Without a second thought, he pointed two fingers out towards Reimu, exploding her to such a degree that the entire body disintegrated; leaving zero evidence. ((27))

The only 'lust' he had was for blood.

He waited in silence, just in case this version of Reimu knew how to utilise her Esoterica to be able to survive that attack; with his luck she might.

Nothing.

"Well- Job finished. Did you catch that Yukari?"

[\"Caught that loud and clear Matthius. Is there anything you wish to add?"\]

"The 'Yukari' of this place was surprisingly weak; so was everyone else. The only other difference I was able to spot, almost involuntarily, was that all of them had a higher 'sex-appeal' than their counterparts from our verse or the 'canon' one. On the other hand, you were right about these 'dōjinshi' or whatnot being a good place to train my ability to fight against 'weaker' Esoterica -but I still don't get what these verses are supposed to be outside… festering pits of literal sin."

[\"Have you ever heard of the term 'rule thirty-four'?"\]

"So that's the reason verses like this exist? The reason these 'tsumi-bukuro' we've been exterminating exist?"

[\"It's also the reason we can never full get rid of them; thus, they make great places for you to 'train'."\] ((28))

"That's… cool? I guess?"

[\"Are you ready to return?"\]

"Yeah… Just don't tell anyone else, 'kay?"

[\"Actually, I've already informed the likes of Sakuya, and after hearing what happens in these universes, she is more than happy to join you in *ahem* 'killing herself' out of sheer principle."\]

"Ah fuck."

Omake End


Power Levels (Using the newest system I made)
{Previous Chapter} Matthius (Base): 49,103~ ((EX-1))
Danger Level: 20,000~
Thinker Level: 161,000~
Menace Level: [None]
Hazard Level: 0 [Completely Harmless]
Effort Level: 32,000~
Focus Level: 1040~
Control Level: 2,000,000~ [Extreme Control]
Breaker/Blocker Level: 6000~ [P· 60cc of Rock]

{Start of Chapter} Matthius (Times Five Loose Sparks): 343,732~ ((EX-2))
Danger Level: 100,000~
Thinker Level: 310,000~
Menace Level: [None]
Hazard Level: 1 [Almost Harmless]
Effort Level: 230,000~
Focus Level: 90,000~
Control Level: 4,000,000~ [Great Control]
Breaker/Blocker Level: 30,000~ [P· 30cc of Steel]

{Start of Chapter} Meiling (Extreme Fate-Induced Suppression): 11,660,000~ ((EX-3))
Danger Level: 59,600,000~
Cognitive Level: 1,781,000~
Threat Level: 40 [Intent to Detain/Subdue]
Hazard Level: 14 [Safe]
Effort Level: 350,000~
Focus Level: 41,000~
Control Level: 12,103,320,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 4,213,000~ [P· 4⋅cubic·dm {4K·cc} of Steel]

{Start of Chapter} Marisa (Extreme Fate-Induced Suppression): 12,403,000~
Danger Level: 64,200,000~
Thinker Level: 3,081,200~
Menace Level: 40
Hazard Level: 19
Effort Level: 210,00~
Focus Level: 83,000~
Control Level: 105,142,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 2,438,000~ [P· 2⋅cubic·dm {2K·cc} of Steel]

{Start of Chapter} Sakuya (E⸱F⸱I⸱S + B⸱L): 121,800,000~ ((EX-4))
Danger Level: 733,940,000~
Thinker Level: ?
Menace Level: 120
Hazard Level: 63
Effort Level: 1,620,000~
Focus Level: ?
Control Level: 20,231,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 209,431,400~ [P· 210⋅cubic·dm {210K·cc} of Steel]

Reimu (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 5,631,000~
Danger Level: 66,300,000~
Thinker Level: 2,124,700~
Menace Level: 20
Hazard Level: 0
Effort Level: 330
Focus Level: 27,000~
Control Level: 12,329,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 2,849,000~ [P· 3⋅cubic·dm {3K·cc} of Steel]

{End of Chapter} Matthius (50× Sparks): 2,165,126~
Danger Level: 1,200,000~
Thinker Level: 756,320~
Menace Level: 12 [Intent to Defend]
Hazard Level: 16 [Fairly Safe]
Effort Level: 1,600,000~
Focus Level: 430,000~
Control Level: 8,000,000~ [Good Control]
Breaker/Blocker Level: 300,000~ [P· 300cc of Steel]

{End of Chapter} Sakuya (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 6,254,120~
Danger Level: 96,193,000~
Thinker Level: 1,243,910~
Menace Level: N/A
Hazard Level: 5 [Safe]
Effort Level: 560
Focus Level: 23,000~
Control Level: 14,245,230~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 2,620,000~ [P· 3⋅cubic·dm {3K·cc} of Steel]

Remilia (?): 12,000,000+ ((EX-5))
Danger Level: ?
Thinker Level: ?
Menace Level: ?
Hazard Level: ?
Effort Level: ?
Focus Level: ?
Control Level: ?
Breaker/Blocker Level: ?

Patchouli (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 5,882,800~
Danger Level: 24,240,000~
Thinker Level: 29,519,000~
Menace Level: 0
Hazard Level: 0
Effort Level: 600~
Focus Level: 20,000~
Control Level: 120,000,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 503,000~ [P· 500~cc of Steel]

Koakuma (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 3,603,230~
Danger Level: 17,324,000~
Thinker Level: 23,142,000~
Menace Level: 0
Hazard Level: 2
Effort Level: 600~
Focus Level: 15,000~
Control Level: 12,000,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 360,000~ [P· 360cc of Steel]

Cirno (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 4,276,200~
Danger Level: 21,000,000~
Thinker Level: 9999 + ?
Menace Level: 0
Hazard Level: 999
Effort Level: 13,000~
Focus Level: 9000~
Control Level: 630,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 240,000~ [P· 240cc of Steel]

Daiyousei (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 3,001,100~
Danger Level: 19,000,000~
Thinker Level: 39,100~
Menace Level: 0
Hazard Level: 0
Effort Level: 6000~
Focus Level: 12,400~
Control Level: 1,300,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 110,000~ [P· 110cc of Steel]

Rumia (E⸱F⸱I⸱S): 3,970,000~
Danger Level: 24,000,000~
Thinker Level: 37,000~
Menace Level: 1
Hazard Level: 1
Effort Level: 400~
Focus Level: 10,000~
Control Level: 1,107,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 200,000~ [P· 200cc of Steel]

[[Break]]

{Example} Canon-ish!Sakuya: 235,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000~ ((EX-6))
Danger Level: 705,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000~
Thinker Level: 290,000,000,000,000,000,000~
Menace Level: N/A
Hazard Level: 30
Effort Level: 2,000,000,000~
Focus Level: 5,000,000,000~
Control Level: 1,429,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: Minimum 120,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000~ [E· 1 Celestial Body - Natural Satellite Luna]

[[Break]]

Character with stupid name: 20,000,000~
Danger Level: ?
Thinker Level: ?
Menace Level: 100~
Hazard Level: 6000~
Effort Level: ?
Focus Level: ?
Control Level: ?
Breaker/Blocker Level: ?

[[Break]]

Orion Nimrod: 29,400~ ((EX-7))
Danger Level: 28,000~
Thinker Level: 110,300~
Menace Level: 5
Hazard Level: 0
Effort Level: 1,500~
Focus Level: 3,120~
Control Level: 1300~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 6021 [P· 6~cc of Steel]

Otherworld Failed Matthius: 6,200,000,000,000,000~

[[Break]]

Hentai Extermination Labile Legend {H⸱E⸱L⸱L}! Matthius: 441,600,000,000,000~ ((EX-8))
Danger Level: 130,521,000,000,000~
Thinker Level: 23,140,000,000,000~
Menace Level: 4200~ {Against "Gensōkyō"}
Hazard Level: 60~
Effort Level: 200,000~
Focus Level: 120,000~
Control Level: 397,169,000,000,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 42,000,000,000,000~ [D· 6 Human Bodies]

Random H-Dōjinshi Marisa: 12,000,000,000,000~ (Wait why'd I do Marisa and not Sakuya?)

Random H-Dōjinshi Reimu: 16,000,000,000,000~
Danger Level: 21,000,000,000,000~
Thinker Level: 15,000,000,000,000~
Menace Level: 5000~ {Against Matthius}
Hazard Level: 10~
Effort Level: 150,000,000~
Focus Level: 140,300,000~
Control Level: 412,000,000,000~
Breaker/Blocker Level: 218,000,000~ [V· 3626~cc of Steel]


True Word Count:2800~
Total Word Count:8200~
Date of Upload:22nd of July (22/7/21)


Post-Chapter Notes:
EX-1- So first I'm gonna go over all the basic levels:
Danger Level is mostly a measure of Athletics {Agility and Physicality} and Gymnastics {Mobility and Flexibility}; It covers the majority of the things that are based on their body and is related directly to the [HLTH] Resource.
Thinker Level is mostly a measure of Academics {Intelligence, Cunning and Mentality} and Esoterics {Magic and Spirit}; It covers the majority of the things that are based on their mind and is related directly to the [PSYK] Resource.
Menace Level is mostly a measure of Intent {What one wishes to do} and Threat {What it means for one's target}; It fluctuates based on target(s) and the subject's emotions.
Hazard Level is mostly a measure of Collateral {Damage dealt outside one's target} and Casualty {Likelihood for incidents of injury or death}; It is very heavily based on [Control Level].
Effort Level is a measure of sustained physical labour; it can cause degeneration of the [HLTH] Resource and cause an increase in the [TRMA] and [PAIN] Gauges.
Focus Level is a measure of sustained mental labour; it can cause degeneration of the [PSYK] Resource and cause an increase in the [STRS] and [PAIN] Gauges.
Control Level is self-explanatory and is used in restraint and suppression of one's destructive output; it scales in proportion to [Breaker/Blocker Level] and can help decrease the [KAOS] Gauge.
[Less than 0.0001×] Absolute Lack of Control
[0.001×] Complete Lack of Control
[0.005×] Extreme Lack of Control
[0.01×] Severe Lack of Control
[0.05×] Visible Lack of Control
[0.1×] Lack of Control
[0.5×] Slight Lack of Control
[1×] Elementary Control
[5×] Basic Control
[10×] Decent Control
[50×] Good Control
[100×] Great Control
[500×] Extreme Control
[1000x] Complete Control
[More than 10,000×] Absolute Control
Breaker/Blocker Level determines how much a person can take and dish out in terms of raw, pure destruction; it's rare that one's [Breaker] is higher than their [Blocker] or vice versa because of Newton's Third Law. The measurement is in joules per cc; 'cc' refers to cubic centimetres.
[F·] Fragmentation; Breaking something into smaller pieces.
[E·] Explosion or 'Violent Fragmentation'; Breaking something into extremely small pieces and sending them flying outwards from the origin point.
[P·] Pulverisation; Turning a solid object into a fine powder.
[M·] Melting; Imagine being able to turn rock into magma with a punch.
((This is the issue with the Chicken Slap problem. You can't get to the 'cooking' stage without having turnt your chicken into powder in the P· stage.))
[V·] Vapourisation; Punching something so hard it turns into a gas - so really it's sublimation.
[A·] Atomisation; Where you basically reduce something to atoms like the name suggests.
[I·] Ionisation; So not only did you break something down into its individual atoms, you had enough energy to collide them back into plasma.
How the hell'd you manage this?
[D·] Destruction, or Annihilation; Where you break down the atoms into quarks.
[C·] Cataclysm; In the event you manage to collect enough energy to then send those quarks into other verses - making virtual particles.

EX-2- One thing about the Sparks is that for all the [Effort] and [Focus] it takes, it doesn't multiply [Power Level] completely by five; but rather, the immense strain that Matthius undergoes actually boosts the active multiplier. You might also have come to realise that in the (50×) Matthius loses some of his [Power Level]; in its imperfect state, even with the amount of strain that Matthius is putting on himself, it can't multiply all aspects properly.

To simplify things, a mastery of Sparks will weaken the initial multipliers as Matthius isn't pushing himself as hard, but will strengthen the later multipliers since it has a better effect on [Thinker Level] and other stats. You can see with the initial Meiling, Marisa and Sakuya that [Effort] makes a lot of difference on all the other stats when you compare them to characters who arrive later on in what is essentially a tense but ultimately non-combat situation.

EX-3- Extreme Fate-Induced Suppression, or E⸱F⸱I⸱S, is a cover-up for the extreme amount of plotholes regarding character strength.
With this, everyone's [Power Level] during combat is only somewhere around 11-12 million with Daiyousei and Koakuma being around 7-8 million.
Matthius, despite this breathing space I've given him, is still capped at 2-3mill.

EX-4- "BloodLust! is a 10× multiplier" my ass

EX-5- I don't know what Remilia's doing, so don't ask me.

EX-6- Here is what a canon Touhou character would look like. The general basis is that with few exceptions, the weakest combatant is somewhere around 1.5 Quintillion times more powerful than the average human; and if the characters here are getting buffs to even just their Esoterica… well…

Oh, and before I forget, the average [Power Level] of a human in this system is around 1000. Power, not Strength; Base Matthius is not 50× stronger than a human.

EX-7- Orion is a DnD character. This omake is an excuse for me to unlock skills that would otherwise be unavailable to me; and I did so by making him (Matthius) an actual part of the narrative.

EX-8- Labile is a pretty apt description for someone who does what he does.


Author Notes: 300 hours and a fifth of that was spent figuring out how the fuck compressive strength works. Also, because most of my work went into redeveloping the story with new rules and lore, we have what is in essence the shortest fucking chapter I've ever written… after five months… I fucking hate school man…

Chapter Notes:

0- Don't worry, Parallax still exists, I just didn't think it was very necessary in this chapter. If I did add it it would solely be padding for words.

1- 'Bout half a year.

2- Watch me forget about this detail literally next chapter.

3- All his nerves were already shot to hell, so it wasn't a painful experience by any means.

4- Bruh, Matthius isn't a true gamer.

5- Heh

6- I mean… they do have a pretty solid grasp on the most random things from the Soto no Sekai.

7- Depends what system you use.

8- You could've, but then it wouldn't have been an interesting character until way later when more character development opportunities come up.

9- This lore ain't gonna matter in this release, but I guess I can give a spoiler: It's a Touhou character.

10- A lot of people actually; I can't find much on this though so~

11- Why are her eyes portrayed as blue in recent games and gray in older ones? Given that there is not much of a canon explanation, I'm just gonna say that this is her new eye colour; periwinkle ain't even the name of this colour tho.

12- No, this is not how 'Manipulation of Fate' works…

What do you mean I'm the one who buffed it?

13 (And boi this is a long one)- Loli is not a term one should use casually because it will always carry the connotation of being a 'precociously alluring girl'; even if you don't use it in a sexual way. I use it ironically as a meme but would never use it to describe any of the Touhou characters (Of course 'Darius' doesn't know any better).

As Matthius stated, the novel 'Lolita', written by Vladimir Nabokov, covers the subject of pedophilia and, in a way, seems to bring light on the idea of… what was it called? Pretty sure we just call it 'sexual abuse in a domestic setting'. Either way, this novel very much touched upon sensitive themes and is the equivalent of looking at a fic on AO3 and seeing that is has the 'Underage' and 'Rape/Non-con' archive warnings, as it shows people what unfortunately happens to many girls who have stepfathers (not saying all, and not saying that it only happens to girls; but as of right now, boys aren't the topic of discussion); and yeah sure 'step-anything' is a porn trope if I recall correctly, but it's still morally reprehensible and an issue that cannot be taken lightly.

Either way, the protagonist of the novel is pretty much a pedo and is attracted to girls aged 9-14. One such girl he adopts and, if I'm reading this correctly (and I'm looking at the wikipedia article because I'm not gonna look at the actual book for my own sanity), sexually molests her on a regular basis; the nickname he gave her, 'Lolita' appears to be entirely personal.

Now, being a 'Loli' is suffering; quite literally. It is short form for 'Lolita', which is a Spanish name in proper context (meaning that Lolita, whilst the proper term, ironically doesn't carry the immediate implications of pedo-bait like Loli does), which in itself is a diminutive form of Lola (Wait, isn't this the name of the now desexualised rabbit character from that Space-Jam movie or something? How many layers does this have?), which is a hypocorism (the 'actual' term for what people call 'pet names') of 'Dolores' (as in Saint Dolores; Our Lady of Sorrows); whose name literally means Suffering.
So… if we were to use the Law of Transverse Properties (or whatever the hell it's called), Lolis are the pure manifestation of suffering.

Oh and it gets worse. Remember, Lolita was a nickname he had for one girl in particular. Every other girl he had been sexually attracted to he gave the term 'Nymphets'.

Nymphets.

Now I don't know very much about the topic of sex (sexual-intercourse in particular; because I understand sex in things like Biology and Embryology), and anything surround it, but I've heard the term Nymphomaniac before. So there are two definitions I'll quickly flush out.

In Grecian mythology, nymphs are pretty much the equivalent of well… Touhou's yōsei; They are minor female deities associated with nature. But the actual word 'nymph' has two variations; its generic, nýmphē {young woman; bride, young wife}, and its alternative, kore {maiden, girl}. The reason for its other definition is because nymph contrasts with parthenos {virgin}, but people interpret it to mean the complete opposite, and the direct opposite of a virgin is… well…

So anyways, that's why we have the term 'nymphomaniac'.

With this information, we can do a redefinition of the terms:
'Nymphet'; pedo-bait.
'Loli'; pedo-victim.

So, if you were to describe Ran and Chen through gender specific terms, for example, you'd use On'na (女) {Woman} and On'nanoko (女の子) {Girl} respectively. And if I were to interpret the canon with a good 80% of the cast being like Kiryu in Yakuza 0 (chad virgins essentially), you could use Otome (乙女) {maiden}; or if you had zero intentions of living for more than a few seconds just straight up call them Shojo (処女) {Virgin}.
Not to be confused with Shōjo (少女), which is about a halfway point between On'na and On'nanoko and is best used to refer to a 'Young Woman' or a girl in her teens; so if we used Ran and Chen as the examples of 'Woman' and 'Girl', then Reimu, Marisa, Alice, Sakuya(?), Youmu and a lot of characters in that vein such as Maribel and Renko (mostly protagonists) are considered Shōjo, physically speaking at least.

Maybe someone can suggest what 'word' I should explore next in its relation to Japanese culture and global media in a Review.

14- Lmao not in this version at least.

15- Bruh, how do you expect me to know?

16- I wouldn't say 'any other human', but he is pathetically weak right now.

17- Is learning the gender of a yōkai that tried to eat you earlier, alongside using the correct pronouns, considered character development?

18- Catchphrases are an essential part to any character, Matthius; you bland zero personality one-dimensional fuck.

19- Lmao she got Master Sparked.

20- I'm pretty sure canonically speaking, Team ⑨ didn't come about until at least Imperishable Night.

21- Matthius knows not of the various war crimes Cirno has committed against the Moriya clan.

22- RNG really fucked me over on that name.

23- Orion Nimrod is not canon to Cycles (unless someone wants him to be canon).

24- Haha, Matthius gets revenge for Matthius… wait…

25- Funnily enough, err… I first saw this guy on a Tokyo Active NEETs Touhou Jazz Medley. Turns out these guys are most commonly associated with the Touhou fandom and now I wish I could unsee various things, but I will press on. You can search '罪袋' if you don't know what they are, and the image section of Google didn't give me anything immediately NSFW so it should be safe as long as you don't go too deep.

26- My guy is essentially conducting the brutal slaughter of what are essentially rape victims (damn if that feels weird; maybe I need a 'Mature Themes' warning on the summary now?) so he's gotta steel himself or he'd be feeling too much remorse to actually go through with it

27- Which is an incorrect statement, because if you check his [Breaker/Blocker Level], he's rated for the Destruction of human bodies, not a Cataclysm; which is what he would need.

28- Yes, that's a Yukari Train joke.