Steward Of Paradise At Work

by Tall-Gothic-Guy

I didn't come here to meet shrine maidens or monsters. I didn't come here to erect a cross. No one even told me about magic being a thing here. Actually, I didn't expect myself to be here at all. I was simply chasing a woman who created eye portals. But it beats being a runaway thief. I just wish I knew sooner, that this place will never give me a break, not even God...Bring it on.

14. Black in the Eyes

The water was refreshingly cool when it dripped down my head. Disregarding the tiny sting when the open wound got wet, the watering can became my showerhead as it dripped down some fresh water.

"Wash your face as well."

[I know, Mom. Keep the can up while I do.] Slowly and gently, I stroked my head to sweep down the blood mixed around my hair off me without aggravating the wound, letting it drip down to my face before falling off my chin. After that, I washed the blood off my face, just as Meiling told me.

Who would'a thought that a massive headache could cause a bump on the head to just explode? This is definitely something much worse than a migraine, not only did I feel close to vomiting and having a blurred vision (along with bloodshot eyes, Meiling reported), my heart just went hyper. My heart felt like it was pounding against the walls of its chambers, and my body temperature just rose all the way up as if somebody pulled the pin of an incendiary grenade and shoved it down my throat and into the stomach. I totally went crazy from the pain, didn't I? I went so crazy I kicked the gate open just to make sure I don't vomit on the garden grounds and ruin its aesthetics, and I didn't even feel it. No after-pain on the heel on my foot or anything.

The fucking itchiness that followed….oh my fucking hell, how could I even describe such a thing?

My body's really going haywire tonight. It's ultimately possible that I'm possessed by something, demon or not. These things just happened, one after another. Something's definitely adding up to this shit. Meiling may not have fully exorcised me, the thing could still be inside me, raising my body temperature without even reading the fucking manual about how human body temperatures work.

People would normally be a little bit panicky if they're in my position, but not me. I'm not scared, I'm putting all my trust to Meiling here. If I go nuts, I'll trust her to put me down. The one thing I'm hoping for is that she doesn't mess me up just to get my sense of self back. I wouldn't trust even the police if I ever went nuts. My mad-switch can get unpredictable, I would admit.

Good thing there's a storm coming. When there's a storm, there's rain, and when there's rain, there's some good ol' peace and quiet. If there was any part of the day where it's not possible for me to go wild, despite the circumstances, it's when it rains. Once it rains, I might not have to worry about anything. I could just go back to my bed quarters and sleep the night off. When morning comes, I'll be as bouncy as a person who put adrenaline doses in their coffee. If it's still raining by then, even perfect!

The question is how long till it gets here? I could see the black cloud from here, occasionally flashing with purple lightning, and it's still far away from the mansion. I could hear its thunderclaps though, and it gives me chills every time. A good feeling that precepts the most pleasuring sleep I'll be having later.

[I…think that's good enough. Anymore blood on my face, Meiling?] I angled my face so she could see better in the moonlight.

She peered a little on my face, watering can in hand and raised up to stop its dripping, then looked down on my hair to look at the wound, "No, I think you're clean enough. The bleeding has stopped too…I hope."

[Sweet.] Looks like I won't have to worry about smelling bloody around Flandre anymore. Who knows how she'll react? 2 days ago (or 3 since we're past 12 at this hour) left me no impression that she had any self-control on the matter. [Pour a little on my back. It's a little bit itchy.] Since I'm shirtless at the minute, I don't have to worry about walking around dripping in my threads afterwards.

As I turned around and bent a little forward so she could pour it down with less chance of wetting my pants, I heard her tsk, "Your back, Comrade. How hard did you scratch it? It seems as if you have been run over by a carriage with large wheels."

[What? Really?] Lemme see that. Come on, twist the body a little to see better and…. Oh, holy shit, my back's a mess! Under the fading moonlight, my back was red all over from my fingernails, but the way every scratch line was arranged, it kinda looks like I got run over by a car, right under the fucking wheels! The fact that I have white skin just makes it all so detailed! Geez, how hard did I scratch myself there!? [Goodness….can't believe I did that to myself.] There's going to be a lot of bloated lines on my back after a few minutes.

"How itchy was it?" Meiling grimly asked, frowning at the sight, still not pouring water down on it.

[Imagine a million itchyworms crawling all over your body. That's how bad it is.]

Yeah, your face tells me that you could perfectly imagine it. Not only on my back, but also on my legs. It's much worse that I couldn't even get the itch off thanks to these cargo pants. I nearly considered stabbing myself in the leg with my knife just to end it all. I don't know why I considered that earlier, the itchiness never pushes me that far before.

[Come on, pour it down.] I patted my back along with the command, [Start from the shoulders, make sure you don't wet my pants, please?]

"I'll try." She hovers the can above my shoulder blades and pour goes the thingy.

*shshshshshsh*

Brrrrr, cold, very cold, and the winds are pickin' up right now. That just makes this evening a lot colder than I expected. I hope this doesn't compress all the heat in my body and dehydrate me on the inside.

Utilizing my flexibility to give a good angle, I lowered my upper body even further to the ground until I ended up using my hands to keep steady, the angle making the water fall upwards to my chest and down to my head or hands instead of downwards to my waist where it'll wet my pants, making the puddle on the stone floors even bigger. Removing one hand from the floors to scratch a few faint itches on my back while it's being poured, I watched as the drips fall off the strands of my hair, my chin, down my hands and down to the floors.

[A little bit higher….little more….there.] With the water dripping down from behind my waist, I wiped my face to clear off a few drips before I began rubbing my chest, easing the slight burning sensation inside. I really screamed the fuck out of my pain outside the gate that I literally felt my lung vibrate. I never knew that I could ever reach that octave before. It was way deeper than I was capable off. I sounded like a demon recently crawled out of hell, and my throat felt kinda sore after that.

Looks like my qualifications as a Death-Metal vocal artist is guaranteed. I'll call my band the Black Beer™. I'll be the rhythm guitarist at the same time.

[Okay, I think that's good enough.] Letting the residue of water drip down to my hands or head and join the puddle on the floors before I stand back up, I slowly rose back to a straight posture and stretched my hands up. [Aaaahhh yeah. Thanks for the assist.] I shook my head like a dog to whip out some water soaked there. Quite the shower I let out there.

I think these bloody knuckles might leave a scar, not that it's surprising, and it'll never be the longer I live on in this world. If I can't use my knife, I might still be serving knuckle-sandwiches, and I have an endless supply in my pantry, with lots of seasoning.

"Don't mention it." When I held out my hand for the black shirt she had around her neck, she was not looking at my eyes. She was looking at the guns, making a flirtatious smirk too. "My, I couldn't quite notice at first but without the shirt you have quite the dimensions there."

You sound really flirty right now, Chun Lee, and it's making me uncomfortable.

"With clothes on, you have quite the unassuming structure besides the height." Um…thank you? "I wonder what you look like underneath those orange pants."

MEILING! STAHP! IT'S WEIRD!

*STOMP!‼*

…shit, I made a big splash thanks to the puddle under my foot, now my pants are a little wet, but at least she stopped coming closer, [Meiling...whatever you're doing…..stop it.] Any closer and I'll bolt to the walls, run across its surface and hide on the roofs.

She chortled, crossing her arms with my shirt still in her hand as her red hair flared in the hard wind, "Simmer down, Eman. That was just a friendly teasing." She assured, the smirk on her face threatening to split her head wide open.

[You were too convincing.] Too convincing, I wouldn't know if you were just fooling around or you were really gonna go down on me the next time.

She extended the shirt to me, "Am I? I never noticed." I took the shirt off her hands, shook my head once again to whip out excess water, then she said, "Your blushing face is a wonder to look at, my friend, especially with pale skin" Wipe that stupid smile off your face, Woman!

I frowned at her, [Don't make it habit.] Then I wore the shirt. Didn't care if my back or front is still wet, I let the fabric get soaked anyway.

"You'll catch a cold~" Meiling commented in a singsong.

You….you're doing this on purpose, aren't you? [You just want to see me half-naked, don't ya?]

You're smirking, you're still smirking, "….maybe?"

…..Meiling, don't make me ask for a play fight, because I'll purposely get wild just to get back at you. Also, wipe that smirk offa your face already!

[Come on.] I sharply turned around, heading for the fountain, the cool night air chilling me a little thanks to my wet shirt. Now where are the bandages for my knuckles? Ah, yes, in the pocket. Ice bag's still in me pocket but I'll be holding on to it for now. She did tell me the bleeding stopped, [Flandre's been left alone for too long.]

"Of course." Oh, finally your usual tone of voice is back.

[Do me a favor and approach her first, please?] I asked, wrapping the bandages around my knuckles. Not too tight but not too loose. Just enough to cover the bruise. Hey, that rhymed! [With some fresh blood spilt out of me, I don't think she's gonna be talky like earlier.]

"You don't have to tell me." She told, walking beside me, eyes firmly planted on Flandre's form frozen like a statue near the fountain. The kid's front was overshadowed by the moon behind her, and her wings were folded slightly back behind her. "This wasn't the first incident."

…..

[What happened to the last person the first time?]

She turned to me with an empty smile, "He vanished. Ms. Flan didn't get to feed."

I get the feeling that she was leaving a few details out, but I shouldn't pry too deep. The more you know, the more eyes are gonna be on you. And I don't want vampire-red eyes leering down on me for knowing too much just for the sake of my own safety.

I stopped in my step, Meiling did as well. Just 10 footsteps away from us is Flandre herself. She has not moved since then. She was very still, the only movement I see from her is the side-ponytail and the gems on her wings swaying with the strong breeze.

I turned to Meiling, she turned to me. I gestured to the kid with a hand, and she nodded before stepping forward.

When she reached Flandre's distance by jogging, I noticed that the kid flinched just when the tall redhead was 3 feet away. Kneeling down to the kid's level, she spoke, "Ms. Flan, look at me. Come on, chin up and let me see your beautiful cherry-red eyes."

No response.

Meiling demurely placed both hands below the kid's chin, lifting her face up. "Ms. Flan, what's wrong? Bakeneko got your tongue?"

Those are not cherry-red. They're bloody, and their glowing. And their looking at me.

"Blood…"

I immediately stiffened, sliding one foot back inconspicuously.

"Say again, Ms. Flan?" Meiling gently asked.

"….I'm thirsty." She tried to take one step to me but impeded when Meiling placed both hands on her shoulders. She was being held down. "I want blood."

I slowly walked away backwards. That kid's starting to lose it, and I could feel it coming close to snapping.

"Ms. Flan, no." No more gentle voices lined Meiling's tone, but she kept her cool and steady, even as she held the kid down, "What did your sister tell you about feeding from guests?"

Then Flandre faltered, unblinking eyes finally blinking, eyes darting to numerous areas on the stone floors. Too many times she glanced my way and looked like she was about to ignore what Meiling said.

"I can prepare your meal for you." Meiling suggested, taking both Flandre's hands. "Let's go back inside, I'll have it ready—"

"I don't wanna! I'm not tired yet!" She snapped before her irate expression became placid and ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Meiling's voice was full of patience and warmth, rubbing her thumbs on Flandre's tiny hands, "I wasn't thinking about taking you back to bed, I just want you to go to the dining room."

She sheepishly nodded.

"Do understand, Ms. Flan. Eman here is an honored guest of the Milady." She gestured to me with a hand, "You cannot carelessly feed from him whenever you want nor you should do so with any other guest."

"But Big Sister fed on him, why can't I?" She whined, turning her eyes fully to me.

Wearing a guarded expression, I answered her, "Because I am still fresh from a bloodletting, it would not be healthy for me if I let you."

"That's right." Meiling agreed with me for credibility, "He's here because Ms. Patchouli called him over for an examination."

"Then…" The kid looked like she was struggling not to look at me, she could barely last 2 seconds without turning her eyes to me for even a millisecond. "…can I drink the stuff Patchy got?"

"No." Meiling firmly denied, "Ms. Patchy probably needs it for her research, she'd be bad if you just drink it away."

"Then…the-then can't she just take some from Mister Eman again?"

"What if she had experimented on it? What would happen if some of her chemicals entered your body?"

The kid only whined even more, stamping on her foot like she wasn't given any candy. The look on her face was very hurt, and sweaty. It gave the extreme implication that she was very thirsty.

She quickly pulled her hands out of Meiling's hold and she—OOF!

"Mister, please! Let me drink! Just a little! Yeah! Just a little!"

Before I could realize it, she was suddenly afloat in front of me, gripping my collar, her face close to mine, and her glowing red eyes so fucking wide I could see deep within them. Her light was gone, they looked like they have gone unhinged. My hands already held on to her sides to push her off before I realized it but it felt like I was pushing off a statue firmly planted to the ground.

[No! I can't!] My voice revealed my panic, and that encouraged her to lean close to my neck as I tried to lean away. Her grip on me was too strong, I couldn't lean away further. [Flandre! Stop!]

"Ms. Flan, release him now!"

"Just a little, Mister." She whispered, her cold breath sending a fucking blizzard to my spine and I steeled myself for that painful bite. I felt her open her mouth, her cold breath blowing outwards to my neck, which panicked me even further, and she hissed. I closed my eyes, screamed through gritted teeth as I—

*BBKRRRSSSHHHHHH!*

A sudden thunder crash so loud it made me jump and scared the hell out of me more than the monster gripping my collar happened, the flash of lightning that came with it gave me a sudden bright view through the darkness in the very yard of the mansion along with my shirt being released.

Flandre was already gone before I could register it.

I lost my balance and fell to my butt, agitatedly breathing. [Holy….holy shit….] Gripping the part of my neck that she was about to bite, which was thankfully untouched, I looked around me to see where she is.

She's not around. She is easy to spot with those lights, much so if she's moving since they'll jingle at careless movements but I don't see her anywhere. The moon above is now covered by the storm cloud, it's right above us and it's already sparking violet with lightning. The general environment is getting dark without the shine of moonlight, and I get brief flashes of the place with the occasional lightning.

*BBBRRSHHH!*

And another.

The thunderclap somehow calmed me down, by a lot. The thought of rain and peaceful slumber soothed me by a massive lot. Even for me, it's still weird. Even though I nearly got bit by a vampire seconds ago, I get easily tuned down by a loud crash of thunder that would've agitated average people. The first one literally struck the ground, the lightning and thunder came together when it did, I think the lake got hit.

Where'd Flandre go anyway? As much as my heart is pacing, my breathing still not steady, and my panic easing down quickly by the continuous thunder sounds, I want to know where she went. Just as the flash of light faded away when she first had me in her hands, she was…like, gone.

"Thank goodness for that storm." A relieved voice said, Meiling extended a hand for me and I took it to stand up. "If it weren't for that, you would have gone anemic."

Be concerned at least, Chun Lee. I nearly got bit, and why the fuck are you smiling like nothing happened earlier?

[Where'd she go?] I asked, rubbing the concussion on the back of my head. It's wet but I'm not sure if that's the water or blood still leaking out. I don't smell it though.

"Flan? She ran inside. Despite her age, she's as afraid of the storm as she hates rain." When I looked at my fingertip, there's only water and a tiny trace of red. "You'd be fooled that she's an actual child…which she is, mentally and physically, but you know what I meant, yes?" She asked, smiling to me.

[Mm.] And I don't think that's a good thing on another point of view. Being young is being immature, untrained, and very impressionable. The kid's a vampire, not a human. That makes her a potential danger to humans. That Flandre is young, especially in the head, and she lacks self-control. She quickly lost it by the scent of my blood.

"I don't think you should be out here anymore, Eman." Meiling informed, looking at the rumbling storm cloud above us. "It looks like a rain's about to fall in just a minute."

[It's going to be a hard rain.] For a thunderbolt to hit the ground first, that's not natural. It was too sudden, there wasn't a drizzle yet. [I'm expecting a storm. The winds are picking up even harder.]

"Aye." She agreed, taking a lock of red hair to behind her ear. The winds are too strong, the tail of her clothes along with her hair's really flying horizontally along with her side-braids. She's looking really dashing there while that happened, like a warrior facing the inevitable danger of battle, "To think that it used to be clear just half an hour ago…"

I hissed as I took a very deep breath, placing my hands underneath my armpits. [….cold.] Even my breath is starting to fog, even if briefly present as it got easily swept away by the wind. Fucking hell, what the hell is going on with this weather? [Could ya escort me to the door?] I nearly broke shuddering there. [I doubt I could see through the darkness.]

"Gladly." She turned around and held on to my left bicep, leading me to the door. Even in this kind of temperature, her hand is still warm. Mine's straight-up cold. Some Youkai perk, I guess. Or maybe she's capable of controlling it, part of her martial art training or something.

Throughout the walk, we were silent. Not one word exchanged, and I appreciated it. Too windy, too cold…too dark. It's like being out in a pre-typhoon before getting into a shelter, saving words for necessary intervals. And the distance from here to the door is still long, fucking kilometer-wide rich mansion yard. This redundancy is gonna kill somebody, it won't be me but somebody's gonna die from it.

…..so fucking cold.

Every piece of greenery in this yard is swaying like crazy, the wind is too strong. With a whooshing wind, it looked like every plant here is dancing to some wild music of the night. Rhythm-less and self-destructive, them green could destroy themselves if this whooshing music goes on for too long. This is going to be a hard storm if not a hard rain.

"Hm?" Meiling suddenly stopped moving, turning to look over her shoulder towards the gate.

[Somethin' wrong?] I asked.

"I thought I heard something….." I can see her narrowing her eyes a little through the darkness. "Like a tree being….uprooted from the ground….forcefully…"

….anything to add? You got nice ears if that's what you say. We're way too far from the trees not found inside these mansion yard walls.

"It's probably nothing to be concerned about." She shrugs and continues leading me by the bicep.

[Good enough.]

Then she stopped moving again. "Wait."

Goodness, [Geez…what now?] Is it gonna be a stupid rock suddenly turning into a block of cheese this time? Because if it is, I'm going over there to watch it happen.

Despite my limited vision through this darkness, I could actually see Meiling's face contorting to a worried look, eyes starting to grow wide and she is nervously smiling.

I hear a rustling reminiscent to a bundle of iron poles being dragged across the ground. It sounds distant….and it is coming closer…fast.

Oh no.

An uneasy look crossed Meiling's face when she looked at me, and that's when my suspicions got confirmed. "I think we should—"

I snapped a grip on her arm and then, [RUUUUUN!‼!]

THE FUCKING RAIN IS HERE!

A flash of thunder, a brief image of a lit garden before darkness claimed it all. I fully relied on the last image of the garden to navigate through the dim. The place is barely visible, and I had to be careful not to trip on something nor slow down and get caught in the storm.

Remembering the passage I took when I came here in the afternoon, I went through the same path I went through. Once I released Meiling to go at my own speed, she suddenly lit her upper body up in rainbows, giving light in front of me as she ran by my side, keeping up with me.

[Thanks!]

"Don't thank me yet, Comrade!" Her voice was way giddier than what the situations suggests, she's even smiling like it's a fun run.

…..well, there is absolutely nothing to worry about if I think about it. It's just a hard rain about to come in, and the worst it could do is drench me. The winds are dangerously strong, but nothing concerning about it unless some of the trees in this yard topples towards me.

But wait…there's still the thunder. From my guess, the chances of the earth getting thunderstruck are gone above-average. Staying indoors is a must. There's also the fact that the strong wind along with hard rain just makes it a practical typhoon. Rushing is perfectly justified here.

I guess it won't hurt to have fun here, she's having it. The way to the door is packed with passages and shortcuts.

…..free-run time!

Augh! Jump over that bush! Side-flip over that bench as I jump off the edge of a garden bed! Super sprint through a straight path! Use Meiling's hunched back as a foot platform for a massive spring jump over a very tall hedge! WHOO! 540 corkscrew! And land with a roll! I felt awesome! As Meiling mega-jumped (or cheated by flight?) over the greeny obstacle and landed beside me, we bolted off!

A flash of lightning along with a strong thunderclap, that jolted my body to rush even further on the sprint. Meiling took no time in catching up to me. She took point, I followed behind but swerved to one side beside a flower bed while she took the other. There was a horizontal line of bushes in front, I swung my arms back for a pump of momentum (I see Meiling doing the same, smiling at me), then I threw them forward as I jumped to a front flip, right over the dancing bushes without touching them. Upon the landing, I cartwheeled and did a backhand spring to a backflip before bolting off. Meiling was literally mirroring me all the way!

HOLY SHIT! THIS IS SO FUN WITH A PARTNER! THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE, MEILING!

AND IT'S UNFAIR CUZ YOU GOT RAINBOW FIRES FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS AND I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING! I'M COMPLETELY VANILLA HERE!

Meiling doesn't do the flips much all the way but she knows what to do when dealing with obstacles. Vaults and big jumps, athletic jumps and tuck-in-the-air stuff too! Looks like knowing martial arts makes you ingenious in free-roaming. She even knows when to teamwork too, and it's much better that I'm the one to get hoisted and boosted each time. She's a Youkai, she doesn't need my help. There's also the fact that she could fly, why bother doing that when you could have some fun exercise with me?

I made sure to not stray far from her. She's the only one with lights. Parkouring in the dark is something I'm incapable of doing. I mean, I can do many backhand springs and end with a corkscrew blindfolded but I'm a novice at that! And I get scared every time!

Wait! Here's a boost up! Meiling, ready that knee!

One foot atop the knee, the other towards the wall, then a second before I reached up to grab the edge of the balcony of the stair platform that conjoins the stairs leading to the garden and the other to the upper levels of elevated earth bearing the mansion itself. Pulling myself up, with Meiling already moving in the same motion as me (how she caught up to me that fast, I ain't gonna ask), we took the stairs leading upwards on either side.

It felt like we were running away from a zombie horde, and the intensity of such a moment is almost real. The incoming sounds of loud and violent pitter-patter of heavy raindrops are like the howling and the moaning and the screaming of the living dead, and the fact that they're getting closer and closer makes the tension so genuine! The sight of the visible tall plant life just straight-up being pushed down because of this violent wind just adds up to the fear factor.

Reaching the very top of the stairs, legs burning and my heating body excreting sweat all over me to clash against the chilly winds, I see something from slightly afar that was out of the rainbow illumination but very easy to identify through the dimness, [There's the door!] I look behind me: it's a mere 15 or 20 meters behind me. [Shit! It's coming closer!]

*KKKRRRSSHHH!‼!*

And a thunder to punctuate it! Good timing, you stupid storm!

*BBBBRRSSHH!‼!*

SORRY!

"Eman, hurry up before you get caught!" Meiling shouted from the doors (how'd you get there so fast!?), holding one side of the massive doors open for me with a wild beckoning of her hand, still keeping the rainbow fires around her to light things up.

*KKKKBBBRRRRSSHHHH!‼!‼!‼!‼!‼*

Shit! This storm is going wild! Those thunders are getting numerous, and there are more flashes of lightning than earlier!

The moisture of the rain had already reached me, barraging my back with tiny drops, won't be long before the motherload of rain slams down on me if I don't hurry up. Look behind me: HOLY SHIT, IT'S COMING IN!

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

"Come on, Comrade! Run or die!"

[Shut up! You don't have to tell me!]

Run, bitch, run! RUN! WORK IT, CRAZY LEGS!

SHIT! MY BACK'S GETTING HIT!

Just a little more! Come on! 12 more steps!

My head is getting hit by the rain.

7 steps! Swing arms back and…..

The full force of the rain is hitting my back.

5 steps!

….FUCKING DIVE TO THE OPEN DOOR!

*KKKKKKRRRRSSSSHHHHH!‼!‼!*

HOLY SHIT! I THOUGHT I NEARLY GOT HIT BY A THUNDERBOLT!

And fucking dammit, I rolled on hard ground. That hurt, especially on the shoulder blades. Thank God I didn't let the back of my head touch anything. It's still bruising and would likely bleed if pressured.

Lying on my back instead of rolling upwards to the stand with the dive roll out of the storm and into the safety of the mansion, I refilled my exhausted lungs with as much oxygen as possible. My legs ached from the exertions, and my body weighed like a ton. No more hard rain, no more hard wind, no more loud thunders, no more sounds of powerful rainfall. Just the long-awaited peace and quiet accompanied by the soft sounds of intense rain while lying down on a cozy bed inside a home.

Except this area ain't a bedroom. I'm lying on the floor just after the front door, I'm being a doormat here.

And everything was dark. Taken that it was pitch-black and the sounds of the storm are muffled, the door was now closed and Meiling shut down her rainbow fires.

Or she stayed outside in that monster storm.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be worried. Meiling's a strong Youkai, I bet she could take it.

…or not.

A yellow light suddenly lit up from above my head.

It was a tiny little light, its source a little stick held by a hand. Slowly, it was moved inside a….oh, it was a lit matchstick going to light a lantern. I finally remembered that Meiling left the lantern on the side of the doorway when we left and she probably had the box o' matches in her pockets.

Once the lantern was lit, illumination came in, putting a lot of shine to the general area I'm in, putting my lying form and Meiling's standing figure, waving her used matchstick to extinguish the flames.

May I say that her smile never seizes to be a nice sight to my eyes, no matter how tired I am or how I feel.

"Fancy effort, Young Man." And she's gone condescending. Is her Youkai arrogance showing? If she put herself in my shoes—running through all that without flying towards the doors and not get wet by the rain, she wouldn't be here quicker than she could possibly pull off.

Here's a Yen reply: "I feel tempted to just ignore the indirect patronization in your words and sleep here." I responded to her concealed arrogance with a calm one, my exhaustion not showing. Not that I'm really tired. As long as I catch my breath again, I'd go for another round of that running if the rain lets up for me and allow me to go to the fountain as my starting point.

She chuckled snobbishly, "At least I could get to see your mobility again. It was a sight to behold, I must admit." She went around from above my head to standing beside my chest and extended a free hand for me. "You're quite faster than the average human."

[My last track record was 10.51 seconds in a hundred meters back in high school.] I remarked, taking her hand to stand.

"How many seconds today, given that your record could've been years ago?" Now her smile was friendly, "You did stop your education two years ago, yes?"

…..um…

[I don't know.] I scratched my head, [I think I might've beaten it today, considering what I've been doing in the Outside World before coming here.] All that amount of running and escaping for two years' would eventually develop something to my structure. Being able to catch Yukari says something.

"I'd like to see what you would do with it in a fight once you found your powers."

Now that easily made me smirk, [We'll see, Meiling. We'll see.]

She nodded, "Right then." Then her eyes swerved to look past my shoulders.

I turned around to look and—oh….

It's Flandre. Those pretty little lights couldn't be anything or anybody else, especially if they swing back and forth, and bouncing a little as if walking as she comes closer and closer.

The two of us patiently waited. Despite her form being perfectly shrouded in darkness with her lights behind her, I could tell that the kid was having her head hung low. The closer and closer she got, her red and white form with a tiny shade of bleached blonde becoming clearer, her body language was starting to look more apparent…guilty even.

I took a few step backwards towards the nearest wall, away from the illumination of the lantern, not that it does anything with these women and their night visions. I'm not backing away in fright or anything, I'm just making sure the person who can talk to her easily is the first one Flandre confronts.

My back against the wall, I relaxed against it by leaning and crossed my arms. Let's see how this goes with the kid. Meiling, take it away.

Sitting on her ankles, Meiling shined the kid with the lantern above her for illumination's sake. Looked kinda symbolic if I think about it: It's like Flandre's personal pride is reduced like a scolded human child, which would likely be demeaning to a proud vampire, and Meiling's stooping to the kid's level for sympathy. Meiling's got night vision but she's using a light source to see the kid's face better. They shared the same trait, but they had to rely on a light to see in the darkness like a human would to deal with a personal matter.

That's a real big sister move there. No wonder I liked Meiling more than anybody else in this mansion. Whether this was intentional or purely accidental, it's still a sight to behold, and it makes me like the redhead even more.

"Something you want to say, Ms. Flan?" The way Meiling asked made it sound like it was a genuine question rather than a prompting nudge for an apology.

She lifted shameful red eyes to Meiling, then spared a glance to me, she turned to face the floors once again. "…m sorr…"

Too soft. Couldn't hear her right thanks to the muffling storm outside. We're even right next to the door, still too loud, especially with the constant rumble of thunder, but it looks like Meiling heard it, given the knowing smile she had under the yellow illumination of the lantern. Super hearing perk, I take it, along with her see-in-the-dark perk.

"I understand, but I'm not the person you should apologize to." My left hand subconsciously tightened the grip on the elbow, and I stiffened when she took a glance to me. "He's expecting it so do it properly, okay? Like a proper lady."

"…kay."

Still too soft, so soft I nearly pitied her.

When she turned to me, I planted a cold bravado on me. It was half genuine. I am feeling a little cold-hearted right now. I'm slightly gratified for the way she was acting, but on another side I am feeling merciful. But externally there's only one side among the two showing, the cold one. A cold look in the eye, stern crossed arms, eyebrows slightly furrowed, and clenched fists.

Trying to stay positive for two years, along with a conscious tendency to go against the flow, sometimes with it, and a self-learned knowledge on how humans generally react on certain situations, it just teaches you how to control body language, and it's almost subconscious for me to do it. It went far that I could actually enforce an emotion on me. Going all completely-annoyed Filipino in that room an hour and a half ago for no reason and looked completely convincing along with feeling like it is a prime example.

The real emotions are still going to linger, however. The artificial ones aren't going to last.

Thanks to this bravado I wore, Flandre couldn't last a single second looking back at my eyes. She's taking her time to step within proper distance fitting for an apology either. All she took are tiny steps, but it didn't take long for her to be there.

Leaning off the wall, I stood tall and coldly glowered down on her like an upset parent. Inside, my insides are being gnawed at by my guilt. Why am I rubbing it in when the kid is clearly apologetic? Why blame her when she couldn't control it?

She sheepishly took the hem of her skirt with both hands, bent her front knee a little, placed one foot behind the front, and bowed her head. Compared to the curtsy she greeted me by, she's not showing me my face. I could only see her mob cap head.

"Please forgive me for my rude actions, Mister Eman. It is unladylike of me to do, especially for a guest."

Now that's formal….too formal.

I don't like it. I hate it. I hate that kind of apology. It's like you're following a societal standard but not your own. If you're going to apologize, do so in a way that suits you. Flandre's words are purely fabricated, something rehearsed, and this is not the way she usually apologizes to people, I could tell.

I uncrossed my arms, knelt down on one leg to be at her level, and spoke. [Rise your head up, kid.]

She raised her head up to look at me, slightly luminescent red eyes curious.

Then I waved her to come close, [Now step closer.] I patiently ordered, no more of the cold bravado. This one is the accepting type, open and considerate.

She was hesitant at first, I bet she tried to study my face and I couldn't see that since the lantern was behind her but I could tell. I let my face show that it was neutral. There was nothing hidden behind it. She finally stood close at an arm's reach.

[Now…] Now my voice toned to being gentle. [Say it again. Say the 'sorry' the way you want to say it. Do not be formal, do not follow proper steps. Just apologize in a way you like.]

She scrutinized my face again. If she's proud, she's trying to find out if I was intentionally demeaning her even more than she already had because of her action. If she's not, she might be making sure if I was joking or not. I made my face look like I was expecting her to give what I told her to give.

After a few seconds, she lightly inclined her head, did not break eye contact with me, and said this in a soft voice, fully genuine and unrehearsed, "….Sorry, Mister Eman."

There it is. Informal, personal, and reflective. Just the way I like it.

I lightly spread my arms open, smiling warmly, [C'mere then.]

Despite her overshadowed face, there was no way I could not see that smile on her face. I won't call it a sunshine smile, it doesn't fit her. It's a moonlight smile, dark, eerie, but true.

When I forgive people, nobody is above me or below me. You are an equal now, and I forgive all my equals. Whether you're rich, poor, middle, black, white…..human, non-human, ghost, living, undead—fuck, even a god, those fucking labels should just fuck themselves when you apologize. You're in my level now, nobody likes being under or above in such a thing.

She quickly threw herself to me, tiny and lanky arms around my neck. Unlike the expected stone grip, her hold was gentle, still cold but soft. It made me think that Flandre was actually an apologetic little human girl instead of a childlike vampire with too much strength in her tiny arms.

Reciprocating the embrace, my arms around her tiny form, I slowly stood up and lifted her. Adjusting my hold, one arm staying placed diagonally on her back, from waist to shoulder, the other placed in her rear to hold her up, I told her, [No biting, please.]

"Mm." She rested her little head on my shoulder, mouth pointed away from my neck, and tightened her embrace around my neck a little. Her strength is still humanlike. Her scent was rather….clean. No perfume or shampoo or anything. Her hair had that reminiscent smell of keratin. How long has it been since I've smelled such a thing?

"You two look so sweet." Meiling looked at the both of us with a warm smile, a perceptibly broader smile than ever. She's clearly looking at me in a new light. I kinda know what it is—I took an action to show how a human forgives an act of aggression from a dangerous supernatural being, and to see such a thing would certainly be a big deal, but I sincerely wanna hear her raw input on it.

The warmth on the chest is now settling in, but I also feel a little awkward. It's a fact that human kindness feels good, I know, but in my case, I rather revel in it privately with the person I offered charity and care to. I don't like attention on such a thing. It's less embarrassing that way, the warmth feels more wonderful, and the amount of self-reflection that comes later is much broader.

A jingling sound resonated, I noticed that Flandre's crystal branch wings were starting to move, curling forward—towards me. Like snakes, the two branch wings slowly slid across my sides to around my back and tightened there. Now she was double-hugging me.

Oh boy…okay…

I'm having mixed feelings here. It's both sweet and creepy. If these were actual bat wings, I wouldn't have minded and instead not feel bothered about it, but with wings like these? It's more like the bones of her wings are hugging me. That's morbid.

*Kling.*

A crystal clanked against another on my left side. It was a sweet orange lying on top of a vibrant yellow. Up close and in touching distance, these things actually glow. With her wings around me, I'm literally glowing with unnatural light. The floors beneath me, the nearest wall behind me, it was illuminated by the light of Flandre's wings. It was beautiful.

Oh…..

How could I forget….?

Flandre is a beautiful vampire. I should be honored, very honored to be held like this. If the Draculina was here, I'd doubt she'd let this happen so casually. I wouldn't like her seeing me holding her like this, she'd react negatively, much less that Maid, Sakuya. I'd doubt the next time I could hug Flandre like this is gonna be happening sooner.

Might as well make this thingy worth it.

Giving her little kiss on her mob cap, I eased my grip on her to imply that it's time to part.

She didn't let go until she tightened her embrace a little more, her little legs wrapping around my waist, her wings tightening around my shoulders, and gave my neck a nip with her lips.

My breath hitched and I held the spot of my neck as she parted and landed soundlessly on her feet, her wings making a slight jungle. She gave me a rather mischievous look, mixing with a playful one.

I countered her expression with a smirk of my own and poked her nose with a free hand. [Boop.]

She recoiled playfully as she giggled, placing her tiny little digits on her nose to protect it.

"The Milady won't likely be happy when she hears about this, Eman." Meiling warned as she came closer, though her big grin did not leave.

I don't fucking care.

Take a look this half-assed smile on my face, Meiling. This face is all you needed to know how much I feel about your fucking warning.

"But I'm a gatekeeper." She remarked gleefully, "It's not my responsibility to report things like this so I'm not gonna say anything."

You're surprisingly carefree about this, aren't you, Chun Lee? Just hope that this doesn't bite you in the ass, eh? You have the heaviest responsibility, especially when the Mistress and her close associates are out. [Thanks.]

*KKBBBBBRRRRRSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!‼!‼!‼!*

…...Okay, that….was a LOUD one. That thunder bolt definitely hit the ground, judging from the flash that came from under the door that came along with the boom. I just hope that it didn't hit anything on the yard.

Damn, I didn't notice that the outside is still storming hard. It didn't sound like it lessened or anything. It just got even worse. This is definitely a typhoon. There better not be a fucking tornado outside, I'll be fucking paranoid if that ever happened.

Oh dear, I didn't know you were already in a fetal position on the floor, covering your ears, Flandre. You really afraid of the thunder?

…I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I once had one lady friend in high school still afraid of thunders. When a storm got up in the afternoon, she kept glancing outside the window as if there was a tornado or flinched every single time there was a flash of lighting or a thunderclap. I once thought that such a fear shouldn't be possible, but I guess not. There are still phobias and rational/irrational fears.

Meiling picked up the kid and held her to her chest like a mom, I took the lantern she set down and headed for the door. "Where are you going?"

[I'm gonna check how bad it is.]

"Wha-what!?" And she is justifiably baffled, eyes wide and looking at me like I was an idiot, "Are you crazy!? There's a storm outside!"

[Just a peek, Meiling.] I assured, still moving towards the entrance before I placed the lantern on the floor just behind one side of the double doors. [I'm not heading out or anything. Just gonna peek, from a crack.]

I took the knob of the other door—

"DON'T!"

I twisted it—

[BBOOOAOAAAGGGHHHH!‼!] Holy fucking hell, I was blown backwards as the door suddenly swung open and smashed against me thanks to the full force of the wind pushing it.

Now both doors were blasted open. How the hell did the fucking thing hold on even if one side of the door isn't bolted to the ground, only God knows how to answer that. Thanks to one side opening, the other side took no time to slam against the wall it was hinged to, knocking over the lantern that was behind it and shattering it. It would've burned the floors thanks to the spilt alcohol or oil, but the wet wind and blown rain rushed through the entryway and extinguished it before it could even light up a good spark.

I was still rolling backwards because of the violent wind tunnel the exposed hallway was turning into, how far away I've gotten is lost on me, but I am fully aware that I am too far from the door now. Small tables have been swept away. Vases had already been blown off, shattering to the ground. I didn't even need to look to find out that everything was starting to get drenched by the rain coming in.

This storm is angled too accurately. The direction of its wind is pointed right in the direction of the fucking door. This is going to be a problem. It is going to be impossible to close that door. Not only do I have to fight back against the wind to reach the doors, I have to be able to close the other door the sooner I close the first side. But the other door will be unreachable: I close one side, I have to hold it still but I won't be able to reach the other one. If I attempt it, not only I might end up letting go of the first one, I'll be caught in the wind blast and be blown off, making it all pointless. Even if I had both doors in my hands, I would have to fight back against the weight of the door and the strength of the wind, which is a fucking 260 mph!

If I could barely push against the wind and reach the door, closing both sides will be impossible!

Clawing at the ground to keep myself steady, I quickly pointed my upper body horizontally to not meet air resistance and crawled forward. I cannot face the door, too much rain was being pummeled this way. It'll only hurt my face. I kept my eyes planted on the ground, hands on whatever surface I could reach to drag myself onward, even the nearest wall. I pressed my foot firmly on the floors and pushed through.

Powerful, powerful winds were breaching through the hallway. My clothing was quickly getting drenched, the amount of distance I could cover in each step felt like a fucking inch. The storm felt like it was alive and wanted to prevent me from reaching the door. It wanted to destroy the mansion and ruin everything it had. In any unfortunate turn, I end up sliding a few meters backwards every time I lost my grip on the wall or floor. The rubber shoes could do nothing. This wind was too strong, and everything is so fucking slippery.

So….much…noise….

Too….much….struggle….

So much is going on.

I.

Can't.

Do.

Anything.

DAMN IT!

[AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!‼!‼!‼!‼!‼]

*SLAM‼!*

"EMAN! IF YOU GOT TIME TO WALLOW AND WAIL, LIFT YOUR BLOODY BEHIND UP AND CLOSE THE OTHER DOOR!"

A woman's voice….so loud…..louder than the fucking rain, louder than the thunderclaps, and much more forceful than a thunderbolt hitting the fucking ground.

Loud enough to outmatch my magnitude.

UNACCEPTABLE!

Meiling!

I snapped my head up to face the door, letting the Gatling gun of rain hit my face and, by the luck, a flash of lightning broke through the complete darkness and presented the image of Meiling holding one side of the door closed. Thanks to her, the wind rush had lessened to just one side, making it easier to move and reaching the door is now made possible.

As soon as Meiling activated her rainbows and lit her surroundings with it, I could finally see where I have to go without accidently running outside and be swept away by the monster storm.

Growling, I dared to stand up and treaded forward, body kept horizontal, eyes forward, and an arm held up to cover my face. Must move quickly but carefully, go too fast and I'll slip; go too carefully and I'll take too long. Crushing what could be a vase fragment under my feet, I slipped almost haphazardly before I caught myself and surged a few feet forward, using the adrenaline shock the slip gave me as a boost of energy.

The closer I got to the door, the stronger the wind became. [FUCK!] Feet firmly planting on the ground, I bum-rushed through the wind tunnel and actually managed to grab on to the knob of the door, slightly slipping from my wet grip before I held it firmly and made sure to not let go.

"Close it! Hurry!"

You don't have to tell me!

Close, you heavy fucking hatch! Dammit! The FUCKING WIND! WHY ARE YOU SO HEAVY!?

Come on….! Fucking close…! Can't…make it! My feet are slipping every time! The floors are too wet! I can't do it! This is impossible! How can this be!?

My body is itching.

This Storm Stands In The Way!?

Indignant!

Unacceptable!

I'M NOT LETTING YOU SLOW ME DOWN, YOU MOTHERFUCKING STORM! I HOPE YOU GET FUCKED AND CHOKE ON CUM FOR THIS!

[RRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!]

*SLAM!*

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

There it was again, blackened eyes. Her suspicions were true: he was not fully exorcised. This is to be expected. You cannot flush out a spirit by physical means, it needs to be dealt with spiritually. Forcing him on the task of closing the other door when she could do so all on her own, just to provoke Eman's rage, a rage born out of fear as he explained before, she finally managed to know exactly what's going on with him, especially after that bout of madness he suffered outside the gate. Whatever demon possessed him, it surely came to present itself whenever the man was falling into a rage.

The best course of action would be to contain him here and keep him in check until Patchouli comes back so she can do something about it. if it doesn't work, she can rely on the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.

As he slammed the door as with such force resembling a lesser oni-like might, those blackened windows suddenly flashed to nonexistence as he fell on his back, exhausted, his human hazels returning like a flick of an projector image.

Quickly locking the bolts of the doors into place to lock one side of the door firmly in place, she slumped against it in relief, sliding downwards to the floor. The once horrible sounds of monstrous thunder and rain that massacred the hallway is now reduced to a harsh rumble of a typhoon occurring outside a castle.

Easing the colorful ki around her body to slowly dissipate and bring the darkness back, she looked for the lantern he took. It was right there on the floor, nothing but shattered glass and bent metal scattered on the wet scarlet carpet. Thank goodness there was no fire that broke out of the spilt oil.

The matches in her pockets are likely wet, now she wouldn't be able to scratch it against her nails and light the nearest scones and lamps on the hallway walls. It wouldn't be right to leave this place unlit while a hell storm is going on outside. It would likely be no good for the only human in the building if ever one of the fewest windows of the mansion cracks open and cause a flood. If a worst-case scenario happens, such as a thunder bolt striking the very walls or roof of the mansion and let the rain in, not only would she have to calm Flandre down, Eman would only be a liability instead of being an extra hand if he can't see anything.

Speaking of the man, he was still lying on his back, his form drenched and soggy like a soaked sponge. There was a noticeable puddle on the floor he lied on, she wasn't sure if that was from his clothes or from the breached rain. His eyes, his human eyes looked about, trying to locate Meiling through the darkness with his limited eyesight.

Crossing her arms, wearing a mock look of disappoint towards him as if she was shaming a child who had just shattered a window with a rock, she let a small stream of ki flow down her left shoulder, letting the colorful energy emit light and emphasize her reprimanding expression.

When he located her, his eyes remained firmly locked with hers for several seconds, then he just chuckled and looked away sheepishly, as if he was a child who was caught doing something embarrassing, [I guess I finally found out how bad it is outside.]

At least his sometimes average/sometimes-warped sense of humor remained.

"I hope this teaches you something, Comrade." It seems she forgot to evaluate that his curiosity is going to be the one of the few things that's gonna kill him if he doesn't control it or rationalize things very carefully. Granted, she did leave the door unbolted when she first brought him outside so it's partly her fault, not solely his own. "The goblins are going to be a little busy once they hear about this."

Besides the fallen tables, chairs, and shattered vases, the very hallway was damp with water. It would never be a stretch to describe the place as being left with a hurricane to run rampant inside, because that's practically what happened. Thanks to just opening the doors, the hallway was nothing but a mess of rainwater, fallen portraits, disorganized carpets, and rogue twigs and branches that just managed to get in.

If this area was cleaned up before the Mistress could come home (which the goblins could do without problem), Meiling wondered what kind of face Her Lady would make once she hears of the word that her home was once attacked by wind and water.

[I take it you don't have an extra lamp around?]

She gave him a flat stare, unable to help herself from sighing. "No, I have to cross several long hallways before I could find one in the storage."

[Damn.] He breathed, clicking his tongue as he closed his eyes to take a deep breath.

"Besides light, you need a towel, a warm cup of tea, and a new set of clothes." She pointed out in concern, "You're going to catch a cold in those."

[I like bathing in the rain but I don't like getting my socks and shoes wet.]

…

"….okaaay….what does that entail?" She uneasily asked, smiling awkwardly.

[I could take it.] He easily answered, sitting up and rising to his feet as casually as if he had not just went through a struggle of fighting against a storm tunnel. [I'll take the towel though, and the cuppatea.]

She snickered at the last word nonsense before she could stop herself. The man is very casual, even after dangerous situations. It just signifies that he's been through a lot before he came to Gensokyo. His sense of danger may be warped as well. You could place him close to a hungry and angry gigantic snake and his composure would still be intact. Just like the Gensokyo's resident Shrine Maiden of Paradise.

"Come with me then," Rising to her feet, she led him through the ruined hallway, skirting around foot hazards and fallen furniture, lighting her body with her colorful ki to help him through the darkness as he followed behind her.

…..

…..…..…..

…..…..Meiling stopped mid-step.

A nervous tingle filled her senses, an apprehensive stiffness was rolling around her shoulder and legs. A recognizable chill crawled down her spine. She turned around to face the door, frowning at it as if she was expecting something to barge in.

[Meiling?]

A worry that was characterized when an intruder has entered the mansion is acting up on her head. Must head outside, must address the intruder.

[He-hey! Meiling, why you going the other way?]

"Eman, go to the end of the hall, please." She tried her best to maintain her usual cheery tone amidst her apprehension, "I'll be right back once I deal with the matter outside."

[Wha-what? Is something outside?]

Through the storm, through the endless heavy patters of rain, through the roaring winds, through the violent rustling of greenery, through the barrier of the door, throughout all the sounds that resonated outside and inside the mansion, it was impossible for Meiling to miss out the most dangerous sound she always made sure to never be made she was the Scarlet Devil Mansion's Gatekeeper:

The sound of the gate being attacked.

"INTRUDER!"

The first half of a second, she was already running. The second half, she had already opened the door, jumped out into the violent storm, and closed it before power jumping towards the gate. Neither wind nor rain impeded her speed. Her body was like a stone tower, buried deep within the earth, and would be able to stand against the elements without the slightest flinch.

Through her leap, her hair and wardrobe instantly drenched, a flash of lightning gave her the visibility of the garden. Everything was starting to flood, many flowers had been bent, several pots have been knocked over and destroyed, the yard trees looked like they were about to give. Slamming her feet down on the stone path leading to the entrance, she narrowed her eyes through the blinding amount of moisture and falling rain in the very air of the garden while she kept a hand on her hat to keep it from flying off.

There was something lying in front of the gate. It wasn't moving, but parts of it was swaying from the violent wind.

What is that thi—

Her thoughts froze midway and her body acted on its instinct before she realized what she was doing. With a powerful leap from ground to air in a diagonal angle, she aimed a kick towards the blinding wet haze of the raining sky and, when a thunderbolt struck the misty lake and gave a brief flash of visible luminescence around her, she was about to kick an uprooted tree flying towards her.

Wood and bark exploded when her foot struck it, sending it back towards sender, the rest of its former form nothing but splinters and broken lumber.

Back-flipping neatly, not at all affected by the violent wind, she landed back to the area outside the gate. Firmly locking her hat to her head, making sure it will not fly off by any wind unless she was struck by something, she turned around and examined what that thing was lying just next to the gate.

It was another tree, oak, seemingly one and a half centuries of age. Judging from the way its roots appeared, it was neatly pulled out of the ground, as if the procedure used to do so was delicately done where even the tiniest limb of the roots would not break apart. There was, however, no evidence that something (or someone) had just grabbed it by the truck and ripped it out of the ground. As far as Meiling could see, the bark was clean, unblemished by any living thing.

Who….or what did this? There's no way a tornado could've done this, it's too clean. It would've lost more than a few roots, and even lose a few branches.

The gate was thankfully undented. All the metals needed to create the portal was made to withstand the punch of an average oni. Patchouli's magic and her philosopher stones ensured that.

Her senses prickled again, her head snapped in literal neck-breaking speeds and felt the ki of another tree being thrown her way. Using the perceived life energy as a mark of its presence, she reared her fist back and struck the evergreen tree the sooner it came within the range of her night vision impeded by the blinding rain. The tall greenery was sent flying horizontally away, its bark bearing the imprint of Meling's fist.

The roots of that tree were clean as well, there are still mud sticking to it.

Another thunderbolt that struck the shores of the lake and hit an unfortunate fairy (why the hell was it outside in the middle of a storm?), Meiling witnessed four trees arching in the air towards her.

"Hmph!" Smirking, she shot from the ground and met the projectiles head on. If this was the intruder's idea of danmaku, it is intimidating but too slow. Even for the hazy air, the ki of the trees are still felt. She could see them through this wet evening void. Kicking the first one straight to the ground, she gave the second one a powerful uppercut, the shockwave of her punch blasting away every rain and moisture in the air around her for a split second before it returned to being hazed. Executing a somersault, she axe-kicked the third one right on the middle of its bark, sending it plummeting to the soil as the shockwave of her strike cleared the moisture around her for a brief moment. Flying upwards to meet the fourth and final tree, she bypassed its flying form to grab the tree she once uppercutted and swung it down on the fourth tree, break both pieces of Mother Nature into 4 separate pieces and more than a thousand splinters.

Landing to the floors before the gate in triumph, the shockwave of her landing destroying the soil and blowing away the violent rain, she smacked her fist to her palm to create a second shockwave. "Yes!" She barked energetically amidst the roaring typhoon.

A flash of lightning and the thunder crash following not a second later, she witnessed from her view that even more trees were flying towards her, counting 19 of them, all coming from different directions from the forest surrounding the Misty Lake. There had to be more than one enemy, if they are so strong as to be able to rip trees of the ground without breaking its roots so easily and throw it more than a dozen kilometers away, she may be in for a hell of a fight if they decided to go hand to hand.

"The walls of the Devil's house are not one!" She began, readying her legs and molding her ki all over her hands and feet, colorful flames erupting out of them and giving her a visible light of her nearby surroundings, "There are two walls, and I am the first layer! If an intruder cannot go past me, then the second layer won't be necessary!"

In a massive drive of her adrenaline and ki overflowing all over her body, her body was lit alight in colorful rainbows that shined as far as 50 meters. She was a woman on fire, a fire of so much beauty that it was both mesmerizing and awe-inducing to anybody who was lucky enough to witness her. The Will of the Colorful Dragon God, Hong, flowing into her spirit, she roared to the storms that dared to invade the home she swore to defend with her life:

"I AM HONG MEILING, GATEKEEPER OF THE SCARLET DEVIL MANSION! AND NO MAN, YOUKAI OR GOD WILL BE PERMITTED PAST THIS POINT AS LONG AS I DRAW BREATH!"

Slamming a powerful stomp to the very soil that caused earth and mud to explode, she boldly threw herself to meet Mother Nature's Wrath.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

She languidly stared down her own reflection in the puddle of water cupped in her clawed hands, the light of the thunderbolt that was coming down to strike her head just a few meters above her ebony hair shining down on her knelt form.

Her reflection looked back at her with a grimace. Her sharp eyes slightly steely, its orange gaze staring back at her as if she was just another target to eliminate, her intent emphasized by her black tears looking like war paint. Her mouth a stoic line, she lightly sighed before drawing her mouth to her cupped hand containing the puddle, drinking the collected rainwater brewed from the storms of His Majesty like forbidden wine from a human king's private vault. A truly refreshing taste, far more refined than any other water, not from the clouds or the ones deep down within the earth. It did more than just satisfy her imaginary 'thirst', it revitalized her power and heightened her supernatural senses by thirtyfold.

This much power is enough, anymore and she might break the physical world apart. The slightest step might break the earth apart without meaning to. Her Master expected the best of her performance, therefore she shall give it to her. Everything will be perfect. Nothing of her doings will fail. Everything she will do shall matter.

Yukari-sama will not be disappointed. Yukari-sama will be proud. His Majesty will be impressed. Her Highness will be amazed. This One will not fail.

Rising to her feet, she began her journey onwards to the Dwelling of the Red Bat. Her pace was relaxed, easy, and casual. There was no hurry in her movements, she walked as if she was having an everyday walk on a park on a particularly sunny day. There was absolutely zero percent effort done to slip past the rain drops that hung in the air, leaving the tiniest particle of moisture to disperse as her lithe form collided with them.

The forest she was in is particularly far from the location, it would likely take more than a half hour if she doesn't quicken her steps, but there was no hurry. To her, nothing, absolutely nothing of this earth is worth hurrying for. She can take the time to look around her, see Gensokyo for herself under this single second.

One second is all she needed for everything.

The Land was ripe with life, spiritually and physically. Through the smell of mud and rain, there was the smell of prey, both Youkai and animal. So much prey. She displeases over her inability to indulge in a good hunt. None of her orders allow her any form of freedom. Under the rule of His Majesty, there is no freedom for her unless he allows it. So far, there has not been a single moment of any given freedom since her rebirth. She had been nothing but a slave, a worker. She was a great being, transcending all the beasts who were quick, silent, opportunistic, and cruel, and she was made a servant that left all of her wonderful gifts unused and made unnecessary. She cannot be a hunter unless His Majesty says so, she cannot be unless her Master says so.

When will the hunt be? She sourly thought, not breaking her usual pace towards the mansion. No need to hurry, she has all the time she needed under one second.

Within the hearing distance of the envoy of the colored drake, she decided to increase the efficiency of her silence and discreetness even more. Her tiptoes (which are completely silent beyond comprehension) shifting into something that would be considered too extreme for the standard of stupid primates. She was standing on the center of her toes. Not only will it be silent, not a single trace of her scent will be left behind, even though she doesn't have any. She had the gift to never leave so much as a footprint behind her even if she runs, but she utilized the control of her muscles to make her footsteps are as light as air. She will leave no sign of her presence in her wake.

So much redundancy, she was starting to feel exasperated.

Why should This One have to go too far?

After a leisurely 10 minutes, she was finally nearby the envoy. The Gatekeeper was frozen in her position as she had her fist slamming firmly against a tree but the wood hasn't exploded outwards in splinters yet. The crack on the bark was there, but no splinters. She seemed to have already defended herself against 4 trees already. The Dispatcher saw one tree looking like it would careen towards the lake, its middle about to separate into two, a tiny strip of flesh barely keeping the two halves together. There was another tree lying beside her as she passed it by, its bushy head was destroyed beyond measure, probably from a strong kick given by the visible imprint of an ankle and a foot on its bark. The other two trees, they barely mattered. Why did she even regard them in the first place?

Skirting through the sphere of water created by the shockwave emitted from her punch, Dispatcher was practically face to face with the redhead. The envoy's aquamarine eyes were full of life and energy, the determination was present, and her willpower quite overpowering. Her mouth was open mid-roar, the corners slightly rising in a smile.

She dreadfully wished that she could witness that spirited look on her face turn into desperation by showing her who she was truly up against, not the imaginary army of tree-throwing unknowns.

Show Stupid Envoy who Dispatcher is, Stupid Envoy will cower and be humbled. She thought out, curling the fingers on her right hand into a claw, her pointed fingernails extending several inches.

She neared her claws just millimeters away from the Envoy's jugular. She scrutinized the areas where the most vital parts of the neck exist, parts where it would induce numbness, parts where it would cause an involuntary reaction of nerves, parts where it would simply hurt. This Youkai is just one little finger flick away from having her neck slit open and dying forever. Youkai can't die by physical means, but Dispatcher knew all the ways to ensure they don't regenerate or come back from memory and imagination. She could vanish them from existence completely.

It would've been so easy to just shred her neck. One finger would be enough. She would just wave the long talon on her finger sideways in the slowest speed, the neck will be caught in the motion, her strength light as air—lighter than air, and the jugular would open. The Youkai will never notice until it was too late. She could even kill this envoy accidently by lazily waving her hand. Dispatcher needed to kill to satiate all her hunting desires. Just one kill. She would let the death of this envoy count as a hunt. In this world of a frozen second, she is practically hunting. She was in her element, being silent and discreet.

One casualty would've made no difference to the orders anyway.

…

…..

…..…..

Not part of Master's orders. This One should not hunt. Today is not good for hunting. Play will come. She will wait. Reward of freedom will come for her.

This One needn't hurry. She is patient.

Sneering at the Youkai's face just to show how displeased she is for not being able to indulge in a little hunt, she exited the sphere of water and skirted for the gate.

Stood on the tree that was left to lay right in front of the gate, she took a leap over the barrier, her movements forever light and the amount of exertion applied as similar as walking. She twisted and bended her body in necessary angles, making sure that she doesn't hit the large rain drops in the air. Colliding with the small ones will not give her away, and the envoy would never notice the shift of the air either, because the shift is very small.

As she was about to reach the ground, she pointed her talons forward and stood on her fingernails. Not the slightest sound was ever made. Her body pointed diagonally upon her landing, she skittered her fingers like spider legs towards the grass. The place most likely to remove any evidence of her presence thanks to the rain. She strictly laid her 'steps' on areas where even a single blade of grass will not be moved or shifted by her talons. Water splatters were frozen near the ground, she carefully skirted around them, making sure her legs raised diagonally in the air touch absolutely no raindrop at the same time.

After a staking hour of careful and methodical moments of skittering with her fingernails, leaving absolutely no trace of her presence, leaving unnoticeable shifts of frozen rain drops in an angular path behind her, she finally reached the door. Since the door will be opened, she let herself collide against the large rain drops near the door she will open as she stood up on her legs, retracting her talons to a considerate length. Sparing one little glance over her shoulder to look at the envoy for one last time….

….she turned the knob.

The lightning that would have struck her in the head back in that forest finally hit the ground, creating a powerful thunderclap.

The flash of light breached Meiling's vision, long enough to make the shifts of rain drops in front of her go completely unnoticed, leaving her none the wiser.

As soon as the booming sound reached the door, the crack of space in-between the door was just enough for her to sneak through and get inside. Carefully and lithely, she slipped through the crack, her speed riding in tandem with the sound wave of the thunderclap, not letting even her hair touch the surface of the wood. When the sound passed through the door and echoed throughout the hallway, into the ears of the Stupid Human, she closed the door on the exact moment to muffle the sound of the knob locking.

The Dispatcher has successfully infiltrated the House of the Devil.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"Bravo." Yukari was genuinely impressed. She clapped her gloved hands politely, her face expressing the full emotion of being utterly impressed. "Bravo. Did not even leave the slightest sign that she was even there. She didn't even raise the slightest suspicion of the gate guard. A Perfect Sneak."

The King held nothing back from being proud and smug of his subject's success, his nose slightly raised in the air and one corner of his lips raised slightly upwards.

The Queen clapped her hands silently below her chin, a proud smile playing on her lips for managing to impress her Sweet Master.

They always knew that they have found, developed, and housed the perfect predator, and they were right. They always were. As Yakumo Yukari's shikigami, this is to be expected of them.

"This means we can proceed to the next phase, then." Yukari remarked rather than asked, facing the two stood on either side of her love seat as they watched the entire spectacle from the dimensional rift.

The King nodded, "Yes, you will send one of your Champions to his aid." The Queen replied in his place, then she personally asked, "Will the young one brave the storm and enter the domain despite such a thing impeding her way?"

Yukari giggled cryptically, but the two authorities could not miss the proud flare in it, "That girl has a distorted way of showing care. If she sees her friend's house gone dark, having no lights lit, and being ravaged by a monstrous storm, she will not hesitate to see to the inhabitants' well-being without a care for her own. Barely anything could stop her from doing what she wants."

The King raised a challenging eyebrow at his Master's words: A primate proud enough to go through his storms and hope to come out unscathed? Somebody his Master boasts about? Besides him? He'll see to that, soon.

Hardened and tough, Eman could stand the darkness boldly. He doesn't fear the unknown, merely seeks to provoke it. He was no slacker either in physical conflict, he could hold his own in a brawl as long as he got his wits about him.

But Yukari knew his limits. If he is put in a situation where any solution he could think up or any specialty he have is proven fruitless despite his best efforts, he will gradually but surely fall into hopelessness. He will be frightened, frightened to the point where his so-called 'Coping Mechanism' would act up, sending him into a rage, and he will eventually crack open to expose the most fragile side of himself. Once that part of him is revealed, he'll finally break.

What happens from there…..Yukari'll improvise. She has more than the number of centuries of experience to be good at it.

Little Flandre is easily enticed by the smell of fear, her vampire instincts were untrained and uncontrolled. The inner vampire within her was quite an aggressive one, she'll eventually snap out of control at the slightest provocation of an exterior stimuli. Her sense of consequence is very lacking, and her perception of the worth of a living thing is too minuscular.

That's all going to change.

This was entirely that brat's fault for not attending to her own flesh and blood's needs more than her own personal wants. If she had been more family-focused and thought of means to restore her little sister's sanity, Yukari wouldn't have to do this.

Oh well, this is one of the simpler ways for both sides to benefit from the possible outcome.

She waved her hand across the gap, switching visuals to present that Champion's (cute little term from the queen) form rising from her unkempt bed and rubbing her eyes, still wearing her usual outfit of white and black. Gesturing her hand as if she was grasping a coin in the air, Yukari squeezed her thumb and index finger together and the subject's adventurous urges were triggered, all with just a little nudge on her border between passive and proactive. With a purpose, the petite blonde quickly grabbed her broom and blasted out the door without a word.

Impulsive as always. Yukari shook her head. Now for the final adjustment.

She held out an open hand, palm upwards. A gap opened just above the hand and a large tub of popcorn neatly landed on her palm, not a single popped kernel fell off the edge. Lastly, a kilogram's worth of cheese powder poured down on the tub.

The almighty look of incredulousness the King and Queen gave to their self-indulgent Master was a sight to behold.

Setting the tub on her lap and popped one piece into her mouth, she finally regarded the looks she was being given by her two best servants. "What? The next parts going to be interesting. It won't be a worthwhile movie without popcorn, no?"

The couple gave a glance to each other, soundlessly asking themselves the one question they themselves could not answer to each other, despite their perfection:

What in Nature's name is a 'Movie'?

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

More than 150 things breathe here, and one doesn't, yet still walks.

Dispatcher confirmed that they are nearby, but not too many. She counted 20. Not a concern, they won't see her. None of them will. His Majesty will rule all of nature, Her Highness will rule all beast and prey, but where there is shadow and darkness—that is where the Dispatcher holds all rule.

She is darkness. She is silence. She is predator. She is the true hunter.

She tailed the primate dumbly trying to navigate his way through her domain. He clearly couldn't see through the darkness unlike her. Since her rebirth, the concept of a shadow doesn't exist anymore. Everything was as bright as midday. The Stupid Primate kept his hand on the wall, taking long but careful and methodical steps to avoid hitting something with his foot.

The Stupid Primate looked paranoid, he even smells like it. The fact that he's holding a stupid black claw on a stick just makes it all redundant. Scared of the dark….Stupid.

Why these primates fear the dark is beyond her.

Arms slackly hung behind her, wrists crossed, hands cupped into claws, talons no shorter than the point of her finger, she followed his pace as she walked beside him, giving him the default look she always have whenever she has to wait for something, or told to wait for something: the look of being bored to death. Stupid Primate doesn't even realize that she was extremely closer than the average touching distance with his paws.

[Hhrrrgghh….!] The Primate suddenly began to growl.

Her jaded face finally shifted to something else: a raised eyebrow and eyelids slightly opened past being half-lidded. She was showing interest in the Primate's behavior.

[Damn it!] She suddenly found herself elegantly ducking under the blind swing of his black claw. Was she found out? Impossible. That should be impossible! Nothing alive or dead could see her in the dark! How was she see—[All alone on this fucking place! Can't they just light the hallways at least!? Not all their guests have night vision….haaa….fuck's sake.]

…..

….

Stupid Primate does not know.

She mimicked the human gesture that was called 'a sigh of relief'. Though she is past relying on oxygen, she couldn't help but do it.

Letting the Stupid Primate go on his way while she stood behind, still holding her chest, she quickly sprinted to the general location of the Red Bat's kin.

Underground.

There she is.

The whelp was strolling through the halls, having just exited the stairs leading to the basement. Her pace was slow and unhurried, though apprehensive, and with a tiny bit of impatience. Dispatcher could feel the thirst coming from her, how much it was eating her on the inside, and how much she wanted to satiate it. But she could also feel the restraint she had. She was trying not to lose to her urges.

Commendable.

But the Bat still couldn't see her. She was literally walking beside her, in an angle where she might be seen in the vampire's peripheral vision, yet it doesn't look like she sees her at all. She was as blind as another primate in the darkness. Not even her heightened sense of smell could track her.

Not even Stupid Bat.

Fast as proud birdmen in the mountain, Stupid Bat said. Strong as red stone dwellers, Stupid Bat said.

Bluster.

Sneering contemptuously, she dashed several hundred meters away from the vampire and rapped the surface of the wall with her pinky fingernail, not a scratch line was left there. Amidst the muffled storm outside, the whelp's ears was sharp enough to hear it.

The Stupid Bat looked at the direction of the sound, red eyes narrowing, "Who's there?"

Biting back a growl, she parted her teeth to leer at the whelp. Blind and Stupid Bat. She leapt to the ceiling and latched on there like a lizard. She nicked out one tiny little fragment of stone from the ceiling with thumb and finger, and she threw it to the nearest wall.

Clack!

"Hey! Whoever's doing that, it's not funny!" The Bat irritably said, already pacing to the source of the sound, her wings jingling in her step. "Are you an intruder? Show yourself! Onee-sama does not like intruders!"

Stupid Bat comes near Stupid Primate, plan is nearly done.

She quickly crawled back to the man's last known location, all the dust that was accumulated on the ceiling completely untouched as she passed them by.

1 second was all she needed before she found him sitting against the wall, one knee drawn up to his chest. He seemed close to falling asleep. His eyes are closed, but his consciousness is still active. Not for long, though. He's barely hanging on, and is quite eager to sleep away, exhausted from the recent happenings. He's also shivering, his fur damp and wet.

Crawling to the hanging chains of a chandelier, she slowly slid down to the object's base without even the slightest sound of a metal rustle until she was stood atop it. With one finger, she made the hanging crystals kling and klang.

The Primate quickly jolted awake, head snapping up to look at the source of the eerie melody.

He scrutinized the sound, frowning before coming to a conclusion, [Flandre?]

She quickly leapt to the walls and latched onto there, sticking into its surface with her claws and toes without leaving a mark. She began dragging the back of her talons against the walls, creating the grating sound of a sword rustling against stone.

Or a creature skittering across the walls.

He looked her way, eyes wide and brows furrowed. The fear was starting to stink from him, faint but it was there. She snorted at his efforts to remain steadfast. His body is not showing any fear, but his spirit is.

Quickly and quietly skittering to another chandelier, she rustled the crystals there and raked her claws across the walls as she charged him, letting her footsteps on the floor be forcefully heard alongside it.

[He-hey!] He leapt out of the way from the presumed direction of her charge, but not without slashing the path he thought she was about to go through. She simply skirted around his claw, not even the slightest graze. [Flandre! This is not funny! I'm not in the mood!]

Primate thinks it was Bat….good. Things just got a lot better for her.

Smirking, she parted her lips and mimicked a vampire hiss as she repeated the same steps. Jingle the chandelier, lead the sound wave in her wake to invoke the image of the Bat's wings, scratch the walls, and give a slow, lame swing of her arm towards him in order trigger the Primate's instinct to move out of the way, further raising the stink of fear from him as he yelped, shouting at her to stop.

As a predator since birth, her hunter instincts were purely instinctual and came as she aged. Whatever predator she was before her rebirth, she was surely a gifted one, claiming prey and predator alike, never hungry and always victorious before she was found by His Majesty. Throughout her passage to transcendence, she had acquired many gifts throughout her phases, and they all suited to make her the perfect predator. One of them is having the Throat That Could Speak Seven Million Beasts. She could imitate the sound of any prey or predator, to lure, agitate, route, or herd, she can use it to her ultimate advantage in a hunt. Sentients will suspect a snake, some would suspect lion, maybe bull, or maybe dragon, but no one will ever know the true cause of a prey's death.

Relying on memory to mold the right frequency of the Bat's childish and high-pitched voice in her throat, she giggled in Flandre's voice.

This One is Stupid Bat called Flandre. She will hurt Stupid Primate called Eman. Stupid Primate will think it is Stupid Bat. Stupid Primate will fear Stupid Bat, hate Stupid Bat, kill Stupid Bat.

She nicked his shoulder as she passed him by, shredding open his wet fur and hurting his feeble flesh. It was a tiny wound, it will not even kill a vermin, not even enough to spill his blood, but it was enough to agitate him even further. The smell of his fear that was once a tiny smoke trail is now a cloud that surrounded him everywhere.

[AGH!] He quickly placed a hand over the wound, unsure if it was a deep wound or a tiny cut. He cannot tell, he just couldn't see. [Flandre! You better stop or I'll cut you up! I'm not joking!]

Again and again, she repeated the same steps. Executing in a hit-and-run strategy, her most favored one, she assaulted him with more and more nicks and little scratches, giggling like a demented human whelp relishing in the death of a rat. He struggled and roared in each injury, waving his stupid claw around like it would actually hit her. The injury will be mild, the pain will be stinging, but it will not kill him, only further agitate his mental state. He will think he is in danger. He will think he is attacked. He must stink of both fear and blood.

The smell of blood excited her, moving her into exhilaration. She was almost tempted to go all out on the Primate instead of being careful not to barb him with a secretion on her fingernails that would make wounds unable to heal. It was almost like she was hunting for real, and she was tormenting her prey with small wounds as a tease, maybe maiming it before she pounces in for the final killing blow. She once gave a simple pin prick to a very fast-moving prey once, and she chased it to the ends of the earth until it bleed to death, succumbed to the poison, or fell exhausted. She ran behind it or beside it the whole time, taunting it to death.

The peculiar smell of his unique blood however was slightly sobering. The Sacred Blood of Adam, dubbed as 'Holy Blood' by the Stupid Humans.

The Blood that once flowed through the veins of the Man who loved and ruled over all Beasts. Why did her Master wish for the imminent death of this Primate? He is as stupid as another Primate, slow as well, just another prey for her to kill later on, but the Blood of Adam made him special. The King once said that the bearers of the Blood of Adam are the ones who will stand as the true Lords and Ladies of Animal Kind, the ones who could even rule above His Majesty.

Why should she kill this one?

…

…

…

After a severely long time of waiting that would've felt like 5 hours to a mere human but only a simple count of 10 seconds to her, she found out that she couldn't question her Master's orders. Even if this one dies or falls into prey for the Bat, another bearer of the Sacred Blood of Adam will be born in the next few hundred thousand moons, maybe a hundred million moons from now. Trillions? Quadrillions? Novendecillions just like the number of years Her Highness had suffered inside the void?

Time doesn't matter to Dispatcher. She is very patient.

Willing her body to slow down, a second now became 2 seconds, her pouncing form that she purposely weakened to be set stuck in the air is now moving forward, and she raked her claws across his chest, leaving 4 gashes there. She giggled childishly and maniacally as she did, carrying the jingling sounds with her before rustling another chandelier.

The Sacred Blood stunk everywhere now. This act of presumable blasphemy, spilling the blood of Adam's descendants, it was both scandalous and exciting.

Stupid Bat will hunt Stupid Primate's blood for drink! Kindred they are no longer!

[FLANDRE!] He screamed gutturally. The look of betrayal on his face was so apparent. How pitiful it was. He was starting to think that the Bat had turned on him, threw away his forgiveness like moot, and merely wanted him for his blood. He will never trust her again. [EEEEAAAARRRGGHHHH!‼!‼]

He finally snapped.

Now he broke off running, the most primal emotion of fear ultimately taking the best of him. The desire to survive, the ultimate desire to get out of danger is plaguing his heart. He couldn't forge hatred in his heart anymore, he couldn't replace his fear with anger, the danger of his situation was too great, he couldn't think up solutions to deal with it. Colliding with the wall once thanks to running blind in the dark, he hesitantly chose one direction and sprinted there, hoping to reach the Mansion doors. He was clearly preferring to face a monster storm than a dangerous vampire.

Dispatcher's toothy grin couldn't be anymore broader in her amusement. She was almost close to breaking into snickering.

Stupid Human!

He was heading to the direction of Flandre Scarlet, carrying the scrumptious scent of fear and the otherworldly smell of mouthwatering, luscious Holy Blood. And the Bat's about to turn the corner now.

This One will leave. Her orders are finished. Yukari-sama will continue plans from here.

As her physical existence finally vanished from the mansion and returned to the domain of her Master in the simple blink of a human eye, no one will ever suspect that the cause of the numerous slashes on Eman's body, the grating sounds on the walls, the jingling sounds of chandelier, and the flying trees that were thrown at the gate were more than just a phantom army of oni and malicious mischief from the Scarlet Devil Mansion's volatile little secret.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"….." Yukari gave Dispatcher an emotionless look.

"…" Dispatcher returned the look, expecting nothing but her Master's input over her work.

"…" King had his eyes closed, crossing his beefy arms as he listened on for the next thing to happen apathetically.

"…" Queen patiently looked between the two, hoping for a commendation of a job well done to the short girl.

After a while of staring, the sage finally spoke, "Not the least of suspicions were raised?" She asked expectantly, raising a delicate eyebrow.

"Not in the least." The short girl replied softly and simply, her entire body as still as a statue. Only her mouth moved, everything else of her anatomy seemed like it was just another piece of scenery that was part of the walls of her house, lifeless and insignificant. Not the slightest rise or fall of her eyelid, not the tiniest twitch of movement from her eyes, not the slightest rise of her diaphragm in breath, or even the tiniest fidget. Not even her hair moved from the breeze coming from the open window, and her heart was bizarrely silent. Yukari could not hear the faintest lub-dub.

Yukari gave the shikigami a very small glare, barely visible to any human eye but her cold tone gave it away, "Even if the 24 goblins hidden around the entire hallway were watching the whole time?"

Dispatcher simply blinked once, not losing the sway of her soft voice, "24 groundlings and 1 child of nature." She corrected, exposing the one detail her Master deliberately left out. Yukari was slightly surprised by it, "They have eyes that do not know shadow and darkness, but they not see her. Stupid groundlings and child of nature not know she was there. They see Stupid Human get attacked by something, they do not know what's or who's."

A long exhale of breath escaped the Youkai's lips, not a sigh of boredom nor a relieved one. Just a long exhale. Yukari scrutinized the girl even further, piecing together facts and known information she gathered about her, either from the two Authorities or from herself. Her mental evaluations were far above the average speed of most Youkai, putting together pieces of information together to make a conclusion, then piecing conclusions together to create a grand picture in just half a second or less. She thought out everything carefully, triple checking for safety's sake. Dispatcher's uses and capabilities, her downsides and benefits, her great application as an asset or a great tool for management. She carefully considered every factor she thought up and coincided the entire information to her current plans, wondering if they aligned together in benefit or in detriment.

Will there be a revision or an update?

…

One more question.

"How long did it take you to reach the mansion when you were in the forest?"

A reaction finally came to be on Dispatcher's face, eyes narrowing and the corner of her lips rising to a smirk. Her chest puffed out delightedly in a proud inhale, the smallest sound of a heartbeat struck out from her chest. Two fangs stuck out from her lips, her chin-length hair noticeably bristled like fur, and her orange irises tightened into slits.

Yukari pieced out one little detail from the girl just by that reaction.

This girl was once a feline. Not a bovine, not a reptile, not a canine, not a vermin, but a feline.

The soft-spoken tone finally moved away to give passage to the proud voice of the transcendent being. With the answer that flowed from her lips, her mark as an existence beyond animal and Youkai now presented itself.

"One second."

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Cold sweat ran down his neck, mixing together with his blood. His wide eyes remained firmly planted on the end of the hallway that lead to the right and eventually into the halls containing the guest rooms.

A colorful luminescence was steadily but surely becoming more prominent in every passing second, the Vampire about to reach the corner and turn her eyes to him, cementing his fate as her food.

He had been going the wrong way. He was lured to the wrong direction, he was going inwards to the mansion, not leading outside it.

Panic rolled all over his being, the extreme urge to pass out plaguing his mind like a disease, but he fought it off and tried to move his frozen paralyzed leg. His eyes never left the colorful ball of luminescence that was starting to get brighter and brighter, about to turn the corner and come his way.

He saw the tip of a piece of driftwood—

He turned tail and bolted out of there, adrenaline pumping through his system and increasing his speed, along with his panic. The primal fear drowned all rational thought, only one thing stuck to his mind, and his consciousness stuck to that one thought like a crutch, keeping him from crumbling to his fall.

Run.

"Mister Emaaaaaaan~~~"

Run.

The laughter echoed throughout the hallway, magnified and mixing together with his frantic running feet. The hallway distorted the sound of Flandre's giggling, not only did it feel physical but it also sounded like she was all over the place. He was not sure where she was, not even sure how far she was from him, but that didn't matter. He needs to get out of there.

Run.

"Why are you running?" He could hear the malicious smirk on her face when she spoke, and it only made him run faster. "Don't go, I wanna feed."

Run!

His breathing was coming fast and heavy, but he didn't feel exhausted. The panic kept it at bay, and he used that violent emotion to move himself even faster. Wherever he was going through this darkness, he better not hit the wall.

Can't see—

*SLAM!* He hit the wall.

The pain wasn't enough to stun him, it only served to horrify him even more. The shock of hitting a dead-end, the horror of having his momentum lost, the thought of fracturing whatever bone had met the wall that could only slow him down, the danger of the vampire coming closer and closer to more he stays lying on the ground holding his aching shoulder—it was all enough to send him panicking even further to the top. All his senses had drowned out except his eyes, he couldn't hear the uproarious laughter from the vampire over seeing him smash his face into the wall, he couldn't hear the sound of a table breaking apart as he unintentionally kicked it with his legs as he ran, he couldn't feel the pain of the injury he unwittingly gave himself with his handheld knife when he crashed. A bleeding gash on his right collarbone, nonlethal but it was bleeding badly.

"Mmmmm~~~~! You smell deliiiiiicious, Mister Eman!" Her voice was coming nearer and nearer to his back. He could see the radius of the rainbow luminescence reaching him, going past him—she was right behind him.

The good thing was that he could see the floor and wall as he sprinted. The bad thing was that he'll be able to watch as she kills him in any way she wishes.

"Can I have a taste?"

A hand grabbed his shoulder—

VIOLATION!

Placing his left foot forward, he suddenly swerved his direction sideways towards the walls and shredded his back against it with Flandre in-between before she was removed off him and quickly returning to the center of the hallway, avoiding the tables and chairs placed near the walls. "AAGGHH!" She shredded his shoulder with four gashes created from her fingernails as she was forcefully detached from him. The pain that was supposed to come with it did not arrive.

She dare toucheth!?

SHE DARE TOUCHETH!?

THIS IS INSOLENT!

A powerful drive of anger rushed all over his being, a raging fire that incinerated every cold essence of fear rushing all over him. It was too sudden, and completely irrational. He felt…proud. So proud that he thought nobody is allowed to touch even the smallest hair of his being. Just the thought of the vampire touching him and having actually done it felt like the biggest insult of his life.

Lying to me.

Tormenting me.

Antagonizing me.

Hurting me.

Seeing me as food.

Looking at me as no more than a plaything.

Turned my forgiveness into moot.

YOU WILL DIE!

Turning around, he bared his teeth and charged the rising form of the vampire. She held a look of surprise before she flew away from his grasping hand. Being out of reach, he barked a roar in frustration before turning around once again, bolting to the exit.

He will lure her. Surely she'll follow. He stunk all over with his blood. All the number of scratches she left him ensured all the impression he was giving to the vampire. He already looked a like a delicacy, not something to be wasted away or to set loose. But he's going to make sure that he was a delicacy that's still alive, and will bite back.

"Mister Eman, your eyes are black!"

There goes that bullshit again!

Recalling the last image of the hallway that was once lit by Flandre's light before it dimmed, he grabbed the possible area through the darkness where he remembered a small table was posted against a wall.

And he caught the leg of it.

Having no time to celebrate his luck, he effortlessly pulled it from the ground, swung it around him once and released it to the colorful ball of illumination that was Flandre. Taking no time to know if he hit her or not, he quickly bolted off once again. Taken from the sound of the furniture hitting what seemed to be solid ground, it was possible that she dodged it.

His eyes widened at the sight in front of him as he ran, his speed not slowing.

….I can….see…through the….darkness…..

There were still shadows, there were still inky murkiness at the corner of his eyes. At the distance, the hallway disappeared thanks to the dim. But in his point of view: whatever was within his line of sight at a 5 meter radius was actually visible. Going by the colors of only grey and a lighter shade of it, he could actually see the floor, the wall, the numerous tables he passed by, he could even see slightest shade of crimson that lined the carpet.

Taking advantage of his sudden ocular ability instead of wondering how it came to be, he ran and ran, endlessly and quickly, taking glances behind him to be safe. The vampire began to fire danmaku at him, telling him to stay and play. He zigzagged haphazardly or took evasive maneuvers to avoid them. The fight in the library must've improved his evasion ability, as he was quite successful in the predicament of not getting hit by her. Colorful orbs struck wall, carpet, and furniture, the sound of magic dispersing as it filled the dark hallway's silence along with his growled heaves and rapid footsteps. After a while of running and dodging, he successfully saw the door that lead to the lobby before he could end up smashing himself into it like a blind man.

It's near. My escape is near.

*BAK!*

He skid to a stop, his momentum pushing his upper body forward and he rolled on the floor to kill it.

Flandre was stood at the door, blocking his way, her wings doing the work of barring the wide passage with its long length, crystals illuminating everything around her. Including her face. And she was no longer the immature vampire that led him around the mansion anymore. She was the splitting image of the general impression he had on all murderous vampires who delighted on nothing but the death and blood of their victims. Her smile had gone psychotic, wide enough to nearly split her head in half. Her blood red eyes were glowing brightly, clashing against the mesmerizing display of lights around her. Her nose was visibly flaring, heaving in all the delicious scent he carried around him.

She Stands In The Way!

He growled at her, tightening the grip on the knife on his right hand.

"Mister Eman, you're possessed again!" She gleefully commented, stepping closer with her hands held out in front of her as if she was trying to grab him the sooner he was in reach. "And you really smell good too. Will you let me drink you if I get the bad spirit out?"

ENOUGH OF THIS POSSESSION BULLSHIT!

[HHHRRRRRAAAAGGHHH!] He barked, stomping his foot and it resonated like a stone falling to the cement floors in the dead silence of night. The action only made the impression of demonic possession Flandre had on him even clearer.

"You are wild, Mister Demon! Get out of Mister Eman now!" She already pounced right as she finished the sentence, teeth bared and fangs springing out like thick pearly white needles from the upper teeth of her mouth.

BASTARDOUS REQUEST!

He quickly shifted to the side, Flandre whipping against his recent position and landing the floors with a crushing thud that cracked the floors underneath the carpet. She turned to him, "You're pretty fast, Mister Demon! I'm impressed!"

KILL THIS BRAT!

Defying his entire instinct to kill her before she kills him, he bolted to the door—

*SMASH!*

He was instantly pinned against the wall, his back suffering the damage and his head cushioned by the frame of a portrait, snapping the wood and shredding the canvass. The vampire had him by the shoulders, pushing him against the wall with the force of an elephant. A couple of snaps resonated but the pain was lost on him. He didn't feel it.

"Not fast enough~!" She sang, mouth preparing for the bite.

I've had enough of you!

*STAB!*

"GAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!‼!‼!‼!‼!‼"

He stabbed her in the eye.

As soon as her arms removed themselves from his shoulders, he quickly pushed himself from the wall and brought her down to the floor, keeping the tool stuck inside her eye. Now the one overpowering her, he pinned her arms with his knees, a death-grip keeping the knife in his hand and down inside Flandre's skull. He mocked her screams by screaming in unison with her, trying to sound like he was suffering the same pain as her.

*Twist! Twist!*

She squirmed underneath him, and it sent an electric feeling of arousal at the area in-between his thighs. Her agonized screams only added to the excitement of the moment. The fact that it sounded so childlike only pushed him even closer to a climax. It felt like he was murdering a child. Why did it feel so good?

Ah~ Music to my ears, and a gird to my loins!

He was nearly there.

*TWIST! TWIST!*

The corners of his screaming mouth lifted up like a twisted smile, excitement filling him as he twisted and turned the knife on both sides like a screw driver. She tried to fight back, legs kicking and arms trying to lift themselves or slip out of his knees, it didn't work. She only succeeded in elevating him from her wrists, only to be overpowered by the strength of his legs that kept them spread and down on the carpet. He never bothered to wonder how he was overpowering her, the thought was lost on him. The anger was too great, the horribly exhilarating feeling of stabbing a (non)living being rolled all across his form like ecstasy. He applied more pressure to the stab, hoping to reach her skull, all the while listening to her scream and scream.

Scream for me!

Make Her Suffer!

Feed Me With Her Pain!

A sudden jingling sound on his left and—

*whack!*

—Flandre's right wing whipped him across the face, a crystal managing to leave a gash on his cheek.

Rolling to the floors thanks to the strike, his head had luckily kept itself from flying off his shoulders and recovered to a crouch as soon as the momentum was gone before charging her again. The knife still stuck in her eye, Flandre took too long to remove it before a knee came flying for throat, her untouched eye widening before closing in the shockwave of the strike.

Back into the same pinning position as before, he quickly ducked under a stab from the right wing before parrying the left one into sliding over his back. The crystals that dangled from them left gashes and large scratches on his forearm and back, but he didn't feel them. He instantly found out that the wings had a limited angle: he instantly pressed his chest against Flandre's own, feeling the vibration as she struggled and screamed endlessly. The wings had only one joint; thanks to being pinned against the floor, they couldn't rear back for a clear aim towards him. She could only succeed in slapping his back, the crystals leaving bloody wounds, but he didn't feel them.

An Eye For An Eye!

A Tooth For A Tooth!

Both Eyes For My Blood!

Wickedly smiling, 2 fingers and a thumb quickly inserted themselves into Flandre's other eye. As soon as it entered, they quickly got a firm grip on the ovular organ with the fingernails and quickly pulled it out, the strings of muscle dragged out before separating entirely.

Eman never experienced an orgasm. He never had sex, he doesn't even know how to masturbate. He doesn't know how it is like to experience a climax in a copulation. He thought that the feeling was only limited to sex, but tonight, he knows that there are so many ways for people to suffer an orgasm.

Flandre's bloodcurdling yet arousing screams are all that was needed to push him over the edge.

Jumping away from her and landing on his back to the floor, holding the bloody knife on his right hand and the mutilated eye on his left, he moaned breathlessly as he tilted his head back over the electric sensation that ran across his body. The tightening on his pants was ever painful, yet so arousing. But the music that filled his ears, the pained and excruciating screams that was loud enough to crack the walls (literally) was everything he needed to make him lose grip from his coherence and drown in the morbid pleasure that he never knew could possibly happen from pulling someone's eye out.

Her screams…..AaAaAhHhH~~~~!

His sense of touch had gone hyper, he could feel everything his entire being touched. The fabric on the floor, the fabric of his wet clothes, even the wet damp of his wardrobe was perceptible. The pain that was finally settle on his person was also arousing, a masochistic drive arousing him even further.

I'm getting aroused by pain…..I'm really getting depraved.

Kill Her And Feed Your Lust With Her Blood.

Feel Pleasure.

Feel The Ultimate Release.

More…..I need more!

Upper body rising up, he nonchalantly rose up to a stand. He carelessly threw the bleeding eye to the ground and made it squick as he stepped on it, splattering it beneath his soles.

Come here, baby Flandre. Kuya Eman will end your suffering.

Closer and closer, he was beginning to reach the screaming and thrashing form of the vampire, on her knees as she covered her bleeding sockets. Colorful lights whipped around her like 14 disco spotlights swatting all around, her wings whipping in all directions as if she was keeping anything from touching her.

I'll fuck your CORPSE once I kill you!

*BOOM!*

The wall on his left suddenly exploded, freezing his carnal thoughts to a halt and in its place surprise. He looked through the holed opening, showing a vacant guest room.

*BOOM!*

Another explosion, this time the ceiling just 1 meter before the doorway to the lobby. The dust and debris that fell suddenly blocked the way. He can no longer leave in that direction now unless he took the effort to lift each heavy debris just to clear it, which will take long. He doesn't have the time to do such a thing.

Coherence finally returning, his words finally made its way to his lips, [What the fu—]

Flandre suddenly made a grabbing motion towards him—

Eman quickly fell flat on his back, and what happened after she closed her bloody fist that was aimed at his former position: a hole suddenly exploded open at the opposite end of the hallway they were in. He turned to look that way, and he witnessed the sight of the monster storm finally breaching in at the sudden opening, rain creating puddles and a single thunder crash bellowing across the hall.

She can make things explode….by crushing it in her hand from a distance.

He shot the kid a wary glance, now worried and his intentions reconsidered, his boiling rage and carnal drive disappearing entirely. The increased severity of the situation left him no room for being the top dog anymore.

This kid is dangerous.

He now wanted to leave this place.

"AAARGGHH! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Her voice was full of anger and hurt? "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! ONCE MY EYES HEAL, I WILL BREAK YOU! I'll KILL YOU ALONG WITH MISTER EMAN IF I HAVE TO!"

She sounded like a child having a temper tantrum after suffering a bullying.

He took a step back—

Her face, a horrifying image of an eyeless visage complete with bleeding sockets and sneering teeth that could forever haunt him in his nightmares for as long as he lives, turned his way, screaming in a magnitude that nearly exploded his ears, "HA!"

He barely leaned his body away from her flying pounce and her savage claws before she smashed into the wall, breaking it apart and sending dust and debris all over, creating a large opening into another vacant room. She growled, frustrated over her miss, "Where are you!?"

She can't see but she can hear me.

As the dust cleared, he quickly picked up a small rock of debris that managed to roll below his feet and threw it to the opposite wall, making a large plak as it collided against cement and broken furniture wood. Covering himself with his hands, he held his breath. Lured by the sound, Flandre blindly exploded the source of the sound.

The aftermath made all circumstances go out of control.

The wall exploded, thus creating another hole. Thanks to her still missing her eyes, she couldn't see that she had exploded the only barrier separating them from meeting the storm outside.

Eman expected only dust and wet air, what came instead was wind and hard rock propelled by the typhoon. The storm outside had not waned at all. One managed to hit him in the forehead, enough to disorient him and send him to the floor but not enough to knock him out. So much for using the storm to keep her out.

A powerful orchestra of storm, rain, and wind exploded all over him. Thunderclaps, hard rains, and screaming winds, they invaded his mind fully. He lacked all thought. He only felt the dizziness, the pain, and the painful stings of each rain drop that plummeted him.

He wasn't sure how long he had been lying on the floors, clutching his bleeding forehead and getting waterlogged by the rain, but taken from the puddles that were starting to develop, it must've been more than 3 minutes. Enough time for him to wait the pain away, enough time to gather his wits about him, and just enough to start crawling to the unexposed hallway just ahead of him.

Clawing his way through, stabbing his knife through whatever surface the floor was made off to drag himself forward, leaving a wet trail behind him, the storm lessened as he got further away from it. Until he could no longer feel any rain hitting his feet did he finally stop moving and rolled to his back, greedily taking in lost breath.

Why did this happen to me?

Desperate tears leaked out of his eyes, mixing with the water. He had enough of the predicament. He wanted to scream, to lash out and break everything he sees just to vent out all his frustrations, but the exhaustion was too great. He wanted no more than to be able to sleep, to rest all the stiffness out of him, to finally sleep in a stormy night. Instead, he was clawed, antagonized, and had all his plans gone against him.

Is this how Gensokyo is? Is this how it is!?

Before he could let out a shout to express his breaking point, a sudden glow of light on his eyelids made him froze. Apprehension filling his nerves, a cold chill rolling across his back, and the dread filling his being, he opened his eyes and looked up.

Ever so slowly, the glow of illumination that originated from the corner of his vision began to intensify, the source coming closer and closer, the recognizable jingles that managed to be heard despite the roaring storm gave away who it was instantly.

Flandre.

The Vampire stood over him by his side, eyes cold and fully healed, but burning like fiery red lights, threatening to burn a hole in his skull for what he had done to her. Her face was still matted with blood, giving her the image that she had cried tears of blood. She was scary before, now she looked indeed infuriated.

Tiny clawed hands took ahold of his wet shirt and he was forcibly brought to sit up, Flandre's height not giving her the satisfaction of making him hang from his feet. Sneering, saliva leaking out of her wickedly sharp teeth, they parted to seal his fate with her words, "You will PAY, Mister Demon…..!"

Suddenly yanked upwards in such speed that made him bend his head backwards as she took flight a few meters above the ground, he unwittingly had his neck exposed to her claim.

Her wings glowing brighter than before, her demonic power causing the walls around her to crack and shatter, nearing to the state of collapse, she hissed grotesquely and—

*KKKBBRRRSSHH!‼!‼*

Another explosion of cement, dust, debris, and hard rain happened on the wall beside him. Despite him being thrown sideways from the force of the explosion, he briefly wondered why he wasn't surprised when it happened. What was actually surprising was that he caught a glimpse of black and yellow, having an overly bright laser blowing behind it like a booster before he lost sight of it and landed on his front, slamming his temple on the floor, giving him another dose of dizziness, another headache, and another series of rain plummeting his form thanks to being close to the opening to the storm.

This seemed familiar. He found out amidst the delirium.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Marisa groaned painfully, but at least she should thank her luck. She would've broke the front of her skeleton right on the wall if it weren't for the cracks showing on it. Not only that but she managed to land on a bed. Back-first too! Would've been a good time to take a nap on something soft and classy in this kind of weather, even if her clothes are wet down to her bloomers, but right now she got priorities.

Right. Now why the hell's this place gettin' dark?

She quickly sat up, bouncing off the bed at the same time with her flight. Beckoning the broom to her hand, she quickly fished out the Hakkero out of the whisk and casted a simple light magic to make a makeshift flashlight.

The sight of glowing crystals and a combination of red and white cloth lying on the floors at the side of the bed groaning already made her regret not choosing a window to get in.

Making a beeline out of the room using the makeshift hole, she kept her head down to make use of the wide brim of her hat to block the breaching storm from landing on her face. When she turned to the left and pointed her light on the floor, her eyes widened, "Eman!?"

The man looked like he had went through hell, and got away with so many cuts on his skin, and a large gash on his right shoulder.

And there was a large piece of cement wall on top of his waist.

Shit. If Reimu hears about this, she's gonna rip the ovaries out of her throat. "Hang on, dude! I'm comin'!" She shouted amidst the roaring storm, hoping to be heard.

Whether he responded or not, she couldn't hear him thanks to the storm as well. But she noticed him shifting, his fingers curling and upper body attempting to rise up. Marisa quickly grabbed on to the slab and pulled it off him with a grunt. Slamming to the floor with a thick thud, she turned him over to his back to look at him: and he looked horrible.

There were more scratches on his arms, many claw marks on his shirt along with the flesh underneath. His face had an ugly gash on it. His hands were noticeably bloody, Marisa doesn't want to know how he got them that way. Taking his wrists, she gently pulled him up to a sit up, his head sagging forward. He looked exhausted, but he was still conscious.

"Dude, what happened!?" She laid a hand on his shoulder—

[AGH!] He grunted gutturally, recoiling from her touch as if she had touched a sensitive spot.

"Oh shit, sorry! I didn't see that!" His head suddenly snapped towards her, as if finally realizing that she was there the whole time. His hand quickly grabbed ahold of her collar, then shoulder, then her face, caressing it as if to confirm her physical presence. Once he confirmed it, he instantly wrapped his hands around her neck. "Wa-wah!?"

[Oh, thank God! Marisa!] His voice was lethargic but full of genuine gratefulness, [Thank God you're here! I thought I was going to die! Flandre was about to kill me! I thought she was about to but you managed to get here in time! Thank you! Thank you!]

"Okay! Okay! You're welcome now leggo! You're choking me!" She pushed him back feebly, the amount of gratitude sent her way was too overwhelming, and actually foreign.

He quickly parted the hug and shot up to his feet, only to stumble towards the wall. Stopping himself from making his face meet the wall, he leaned against with his back for a short intake of breath before he walked passed her saying, [We need to leave!]

"What!?" She replied, raising her voice to be heard. "I can't! I need to check up on everybody here! There's a shitstorm goin' on outside-da ze!"

[No need!] He shouted back in reply, covering his face with his arm to resist against the breaching storm coming from the opening on the wall. He looked like he was searching for something amidst the rubble on his feet, [Everybody's gone out!]

Marisa couldn't hear him, "WHAT!?"

[EVERYBODY'S OUT! THEY'RE NOT HERE!]

"I STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

[Here you are!] He audibly exclaimed, fishing out a black knife that was underneath a tiny debris before running back to her, [We need get out of here! Flandre's gone nuts!]

"What!?" She was pretty sure her face had gone paler than a sheet, "What'd you mean she's gone apeshit!?"

[Exactly as I say it!] He began to drag her away from the storming part of the hallway, [We need to be somewhere! Anywhere! Somewhere that Flandre can't get to us!]

"I-I—Dude!" Everything was going too fast, she couldn't keep up with it but she was getting his gist, therefore focused on that to stay levelheaded. "But where could we go!?"

[I don't know!] He began to rake at his own head, desperately trying to figure out something, or maybe he's trying to calm down. [Wait! The library! Is that good!?]

She frowned, but when she looked back behind her, where 2 holes on the walls are bringing in hell in the form of a hard rain and violent wind, she figured that a place layered by many walls away from the typhoon sounded like the most shelter-like area to huddle into. The Scarlet Devil Mansion library is exactly that place.

She nodded vigorously, "Good idea! Get on!" She hopped up to her broom, with Eman quickly latching on before properly positioning himself on it. Despite the situation, she couldn't stop herself from smirking. She's gonna show him how she rolls in a desperate situation, and maybe, he'll look up to her like an apprentice, "Hold on tight 'cuz this gonna be rough!" Hakkero in hand, she zoomed forward while blasting the blocked doorway to the lobby with a Master Spark.

Right into the lobby, Marisa led herself along with Eman right through the passage that led to the biggest library in Gensokyo. Using her Hakkero flashlight, she navigated through lots and lots of turns and lots and lots of dark hallways, her speed unrelenting and quick, her passenger's grip was thankfully tight, but did it really have to hurt?

After several close calls of nearly smashing themselves into a chandelier, several walls, and even an explosion of debris caused by a sudden bolt of thunder that struck the wall and nearly killed them, she successfully reached the basement and was nearly there into the library.

[She's here!]

Even if he was talking in common, the panic that came to her afterwards is still the same. She didn't have to look behind her, the second pair of eyes that prickled at her neck is all she needed to verify the younger Scarlet trailing after them.

[Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster!]

"I know! The hell you think I'm doin'!?" She shouted back, leaning forward to avoid air resistance and an increase of speed. She had to be careful on the sharp turns, any wrong angles and she'll end up flinging her friend to the walls and splattering him.

"Marisa-nee! Come back! Mister Eman's possessed!"

Marisa nervously chuckled, the voice of the kid straight-up horrified her. "Left!" As the turn to the corner neared, Eman leaned sideways alongside her to control the momentum of their weight, nearing 90 degrees as they curve-turned to the left before speeding up again, her knuckles turning white from the grip.

"You two, wait!"

[QUIT FOLLOWING US!] Eman screamed, he sounded much more desperate than Marisa was.

"Wait! Mister Eman! You're back!"

"HOLD OOOON‼!" Marisa roared, the speed of the broom became horrifyingly quick, as if it was about to perform a full-on collision, Eman guessed.

He looked forward over her shoulder: the double-doors leading to the library was coming closer and closer.

[SHII—]

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

The explosive sound of the library doors slamming open by the point of a broom jolted Koakuma to a full state of consciousness from her dozing after a time of quality reading with one of her best books.

Blinking her bleary eyes from the sleep, she turned her eyes to the entrance and witnessed a missile moving in the speed of a bullet. Only then when she blinked another time did she found out that the missile was Kirisame Marisa—why was Eman there with her!?

"He-hey! You two! What are you doing at this hour!?" She shouted, taking flight and attempting to intercept them.

"Outta the way, Koakuma!" Marisa violently gestured her to move aside with her hand. "We gotta bigger problem right now!"

"Yes, and that's you making the eighth attempt this week!" Koakuma conjured up a fireball in her hand. She was left to guard the library with the best of her abilities (which was the RAREST order ever given to her by her Mistress), to fail would only signify her uselessness at the most crucial hour.

"If you wanna problem, FUCKING LOOK BEHIND ME!"

Koakuma flinched upon how violently how the Witch relayed it. She barely heard Marisa talk in such urgency and….worry, she would usually talk like everything was normal or casual whenever in her raids but the expression on the magician's face was saying that things were not right.

Koakuma looked past the shoulders of Marisa and—

She paled immensely, her nerves dropping cold.

"I-Imouto-sama!?"

"Koakuma! Outta the way!"

"Whua!" Too late.

Too much in a panic, too much in the struggle, Marisa wasn't able to swerve and instead crashed straight into Koakuma, knocking her instantly into unconsciousness before they were sent crashing into the floors.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Numerous spikes erupted around his body as he rolled on the floors from the momentum of the fall, the injuries in his body threatening to bleed.

When will it stop!? He screamed mentally in desperation.

Only by sheer willpower and the complete stubbornness to stay alive just like all the other times before gave him the motivation to roll to his front and try to at least kneel, if not stand up. His body protested against his movements badly, as if physically screaming at him to stop straining it even more than he already had.

As always, he refused to give in and forced himself to stand up, shaking in his efforts and growled in defiance to the numerous aches that came with it. Patting his thigh: yes, the knife is still holstered there. Patting his stinging shoulder, earning himself a wince, he located Marisa's lying form just a few ways behind him, her hat missing from her golden head. Quickly running to her, he held her arm and pulled her up to her feet, [You doin' alright?]

"Tha' wuz nothin'." She gruffly replied, smiling smugly. Looking around her, she gave a slight sigh of relief, "Looks like we're here. No more scary storm comin' in-da ze."

[Unless those holes cause a flood and overflow here!] He swiped her black hat of the ground and threw it to her, which Marisa caught. [But that's not our main problem!] He looked past her, his form visibly stiffening and his apprehension practically enveloping him.

Marisa took a very deep breath, knowing well the inevitable. She exhaled, "Yeah." She nodded, calling her broom before slowly turning around, "We got a tiny piece of destruction comin' our way-ze."

Flandre stood just a few meters away, wide red eyes looking over the both of them, but general glances are all directed to the Outsider. Her face was still bloody from the mutilation, her clothes bore noticeable shreds and crumples, her mobcap was also bloodstained, her side-ponytail unkempt, and one of her crystals had a bloodstain on them (owner unknown), but overall she looked generally fine.

Eman drew his knife, skirting around until he was behind Marisa's back. He kept a hand on his clawed shoulder, making sure anymore blood doesn't leak out and make her snap.

Marisa squared her stance, trying to appear imposing in front of the kid, "Hey, Flan!" She greeted with a smirk, "You're up on the evening."

"Hi, Marisa-nee…" She lowly greeted, turning her attention back to Eman, "Get away from Eman-san. He turned bad, he took my eyes out."

Eyes wide, she glanced over her shoulder towards the Outsider before addressing Flandre again, "I'm sorry, what? He…took your eyes? Like, he gouged them out?"

"Yes." She answered, now walking towards them slowly, "Marisa-nee, you gotta get away from him! The Demon will come back and hurt you!"

[SHUT UP!‼] Marisa nearly flinched when Eman suddenly barked gutturally, [Do you see any black eyes in me!? Huh!?]

"NO!" Flandre screamed back, her shrill voice made Marisa wince, "I know you're inside him! You're hiding inside him! Get out of him, bad demon!"

[I! AM! MYSELF!] He stomped on the last word as a punctuation, filling the library with the sound, [If you're asking why I did what I did, YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL ME!‼!]

"You were possessed! I was trying to help you!"

[BY TRYING TO BITE ME!?] His was nearly incomprehensible, voice turning into a grotesque octave and his guttural throat made every word sound like a bear learning how to speak, [YOU LOST CONTROL!‼! YOU JUST WANTED TO SUCK ME DRY! YOU WERE NEVER TRYING TO HELP ME AT ALL!‼!]

Pay No Heed To The Brat!

She Lies To You!

She Cares Only For Your Blood!

She Doesn't Care About Your Well-Being!

[AARGGHH!] He suddenly held his head, as if it was suddenly struck. His heaving breath turned into growls, each exhale making him more animal than man. His hands began to scratch himself all over, far too violently that it seemed he was bit by a thousand mosquitoes. The hatred, the anger, and the frustration was starting to build up inside him, and his body burned, [You only wanted my blood….! I forgave you once, you did it again afterwards….!]

Marisa looked between the two, now completely conflicted and extremely confused. She was completely lost, she wasn't sure who started what. She wasn't even sure who was the victim. But one thing was clear, Flandre's story was starting to get credible. She slowly backed away from Eman and drew out her hakkero.

"Eman-san, you're getting possessed…." Flandre took several steps closer, close enough to be right at Marisa's vicinity but firmly planted her attention on the man who was clearly starting to show symptoms of his possession. "Eman-san, you're getting possessed again!" She took ahold of his shoulder.

[HHAGH!] He yelped in surprise, lashing out with his knife. Luckily, Flandre was able dash backwards before she could get hurt. Marisa was immediately on edge at the sight of his eyes, [You get away from me…..!] He turned to the Witch, [Marisa…! What are you doing…!? I'm the victim here!]

Marisa did not recognize him with that voice. It was too deep, too guttural, and too full of malice. She figured Eman as somebody who would stay cool and only lose it when he's pushed too far. This was something that's gone out of control. "Sorry, brah, but I don't think that's you." She aimed her hakkero at him, the point glowing with power and awaiting the prompt to blast, "Look in the mirror, you're eyes've gone black-da ze."

His blackened eyes widened in surprise at what she said.

He clearly doesn't realize it. Marisa mentally commented. I think this demon is making him as stubborn as a bull and with a temper to match too.

Eman's surprised expression slowly contorted to being vengeful, acknowledging that he was being turned on by his friend, [So you take her side instead of mine….?]

She shrugged carelessly, "Hm, pretty much." She fused certain amounts of magic into the hakkero, just enough to set off a Narrow Spark. The tool in her hand began to vibrate at the pent-up energy, "It's alright. I'm just gonna give ya a little beating and maybe you'll get your true self back!"

"Yeah! It worked that way before." Flandre added.

The anger on Eman's face only began to grow even hotter, his pale face was turning extremely red, and how his form could get anymore stiffer than it already had is anybody's guess. He still hasn't stopped scratching himself with a free hand.

He was twitching.

[You…..massive…..MOTHERFU—]

*BOOOM!*

Her hakkero smoked from the activated Narrow Spark, "Yeah, yeah, no need to cuss in front of the kid-ze." Her crooked grin turned into a gape as she found out that his charred body wasn't there, "Where'd he go!?" He just disappeared.

"That way!" Flandre pointed to an open isle of bookcases, the area that was nearest to his recent location, "I saw him ran off that way."

"Thanks!" She was about to fly off but she remembered that it was Flandre who told her, and it looked like she's going to help. With Eman bleeding like that, oh no. "Um, would you be a good girl and stay here?"

"Aw, why?" She pouted, "I wanna help."

"Because…" Her argument came very fast to her mind, the reflex to lie easily suppressed, "…I think he'll listen to me more than you. From the looks of it, he clearly doesn't trust you-ze."

It took just a small amount of seconds for Flandre's expression to fall, crossing shame, "…oh."

Now Marisa felt uneasy, she never liked making kids look like this, but what else could she say? She's clearly the one at fault here but how could she say it without making it sound harsh? "I guess I'll go…." She lamely gestured, quickly flying aloft on her broom and heading off to search for the guy, but not before saying, "You owe me an explanation, 'kay?"

Cherry red eyes looked up to meet blue and Flandre nodded, side-ponytail swaying in the motion.

"Good, I'll have this done in just about—WHOA!" A thrown library chair flying at dangerous speeds cut her off. She was quick to swerve sideways and avoid an indignant display of being smashed by furniture in front of the child while talking, "Hey! What's the big deal!?" She shouted to the direction of wherever it came from.

The reply came in the form of a guttural roar that echoed in the spacious library, [AAAAARRRRGGHHHH!‼] The guttural vocalization was thick with frustration and anger, lots and lots of anger.

"Hehe…." Marisa nervously chuckled at the sound, somehow perturbed by what the hell her friend had just become under a simple fit of rage wrought by betrayal, "…He sure is angry. This is really gonna take a while-ze." She propelled forward and searched for him, her body brimming with danmaku ready to be thrown.

Going to the one place where there would be chairs, the reading area where Patchouli's general desk usually resides along with a few vacant tables for anybody who wants to read, she looked about to see where could he be.

Nothin'.

"Geez, where'd ya be if you wanna beat up somebody with a chair?" She asked herself. She had been to this place more than a thousand times, she even had the minor details in mind. For example, the number of chairs each table has: there are usually 8 in 1 table. She saw one chair being thrown earlier, how come that table over there was missing 2 chairs instead of—

"HEY!" Instinct kicked in and she blasted herself upwards just to avoid the other missing chair of the table flying towards her. As the chair landed back to the floors and likely shattered apart, she rounded on the direction where it came from with an annoyed glare, "The hell's wrong with you throwin' chairs, eh!? Are you havin' ideas on chair danmaku or somethin'!? Cuz it's not flashy and kinda stupid!"

{PAGHILOM, TRAYDOR!} Now that was something she didn't get. Was that a new language or something? Was the demon talking in his own forgotten language through Eman's mouth now?

"Dude, you're really losin' it to that demon-ze!" Magic ready, she flew forward to the location of the shouting and prepared loads of danmaku ready the sooner she sees him. Skimming right above the isles of bookshelves and knowledge, she arrived to the spot with a yell, "YAH!" She fired a giant star danmaku to his location, "Gotcha now, Ema…..n?"

She only left a smoking crater shaped like a star instead of leaving a smoking body of a white teenager.

"Dude, where you at!?" She yelled out, flying all over to find him, "How the hell are ya hidin' from me—HEEEEE!‼" She dodged another chair. She looked at the main reading area again and there he was. "Dude! What the hell!? How're you goin' from here to there so fast, eh!?" She asked as she flew towards him at breakneck speeds, shooting danmaku.

He ran off from view, a bookshelf obstructing her view. Increasing her speeds, she elevated upwards and looked around the area where he went—she couldn't see him. She already flew a more than a hundred meters off the ground, giving her a bird's-eye view on the area and she still couldn't find a black and orange suited guy. How was he hard to find in this wood-colored place?

"GRRR! Quit disappearin' on me, Eman! It's starting to piss me off-da ze!" She roared, a frustrated vein already showing on the temple of her head. One more time and she's gonna consider blowing everything up just to expose him.

*DAK!*

A explosion of noise that could be no other than a bookshelf tilting sideways and falling to the floor resonated deep within the library followed by the sound of books avalanching to the ground, magnified by the vastness of the library. From the silence that followed as the echoing sound vanished, she heard a monster growling just a few hundred meters away.

Eyes narrowed, she propelled forward, "Yer not getting' away from me this time!" Screwing the 'proper conduct' of subjugation, she began firing danmaku in her wake, firing out in all directions, patterns both mesmerizing and disorienting, peppering everything that was within her range. After performing the danmaku equivalent of a strafing run, she reached the toppled bookshelf and the impromptu ramp of books.

She noticed a small blur of black and orange on the right.

"GOTCHA!" Concentrating all danmaku to the location, she gripped her hakkero and propelled forward. As she reached the isle he went through, she saw him running away at speeds that she never knew he could actually do. Wildly grinning, she readied her spell card, "«Love Sign—Master Spark»!"

Just before she finished casting the spell, Eman twisted around, blackened eyes glaring hard at her, jumped several meters to the air, and threw a blue book to her famous laser as soon as it fired.

The contact between laser and knowledge was catastrophic: her Master Spark got split into several extensions like a mirror reflecting a beam of light. Charred and smoking lines were left behind by the split lasers as the book spun in flight towards her. She shut down her spell but was too late to dodge the book, her forehead met it head-on.

Her head tilting backwards and knocking her off the broom, she fell on her behind on the floor and rolled several times before stopping. Her head swooned from the blow but her body suddenly began to roll to the left before she even realized that the right bookshelf was tilting towards her. Dodging the books that slipped out of their compartments from hitting her anywhere, the structure slammed on the floor and there was Eman growling at her, standing behind the fallen woodwork.

Calling the broom to her hand, she swung it towards his feet as soon as he got in range. Eman dodged by jumping to the air and attempting to drop-kick her prone form. Marisa managed to lean away, making him hit the bookshelf behind her and it toppled backwards, creating a domino effect as it struck another bookshelf, then another.

We're makin' a mess, arent' we?

"This feels familiar, doesn't it?" She asked him, body tensed up to jump away.

[GGRRHH!] Marisa rolled away from the plunging knife stab that was about to come her way and took to the air, throwing danmaku behind her. Taken from the grunts of pain behind her, she managed to nail him.

Turning around, he was holding his smoking shoulder before lifting the fallen bookcase into its opposite side and he dug out the same book that split her Master Spark from the pile before running away into another isle.

"Oh no you don't!" She quickly followed him into the isle, his feet a blur as he ran at insane speeds. As she fired precise shots at him in the narrow-spaced isle, he didn't turn around or look behind him as he dodged every shot expertly. If it weren't for the blackened eyes that looked at her over his shoulder, she would've thought that Eman had already mastered the second step of fighting a danmaku battle; dodge everything. "Well, whoever you are, yer really good at dodgin' my shots-da ze!"

Amidst the ambience of bullets flying and exploding, she heard him growl and he kicked the left side of the shelf isle, bouncing off it to rise upwards, then did the same to the right side to gain even more altitude, and he was positioned in mid-air to catch her if she doesn't stop flying towards him.

Ain't gonna happen, brah. Marisa smirked, she'll be seeing him falling flat on the ground.

She motioned a ramming-speed maneuver; leaning forward and letting the point of the shaft protrude forward, then she sharply swerved to the right before coming into contact—

The whisk of her broom was grabbed instead.

Inertia taking its course with her body, she was thrown forward and if it had not been for her stone-strong grip on the shaft, she would've been flung several meters away and crashed into a shelf. Switching her grip to avoid breaking her wrists, her momentum fought against Eman's own going the opposite direction and subsequently fell to the floors together with a loud thud.

Marisa was quick to be back on her feet thanks to her battle-hardened body, but so does Eman. Sprawled on his front, the black-eyed boy sprung forward like a frog and tackled her to the floor, knocking the hat off her head. Quickly tilting her head sideways to avoid a punch, she aimed the hakkero at his face—her wrist was caught and the Mini-Spark fired upwards to the ceiling.

"Argh!" Tight! Too tight! The large grip on her wrist was actually painful.

She punched him several times on the rib, but Eman didn't seem to budge at her blows and instead reared his free hand back for a clobber. She leaned her head away at the strike but the grip on her opposite hand pulled her back to the spot and yapped as she got slapped.

Oh, he did NOT just bitch-slap me!

She returned the favor of gripping his wrist and held it back from strangling her. Her hand was too small, an infant comparison to Eman's large structure but she was getting successful at keeping it away from her neck. Tilting her hand that gripped the hakkero into his direction, she fired.

*BOOOOM!*

The Narrow Spark missed its mark as Eman released her wrist and jumped away before he could get blown sideways into a bookshelf. Doing her personal kip-up using one hand, she swiped her hat off the ground to place it back on her head and rubbed her wrist. There was a noticeable bruise growing.

Glaring, she gave Eman a psychotic smile, promising a lot of danmaku beat down on him. Taking her broom, she held up one spell card and shouted, "«Magic Sign—Stardust Reverie»!" All colors and sizes of stars exploded outwards from her, spreading out and sending galactic hell into the library, leaving toppled shelves and smoking craters.

He frantically moved out of the way from every star that happened to come his way, confused between going forward and be caught in a barrage or go backwards and be cornered. Slipping through a gap between two giant stars, he ducked down to dodge a fast bullet spinning like a Frisbee before throwing his hips backwards to evade another from slicing him in half. Amidst the chaos, two stars came his way, one above and the other below, leaving him no room to crouch or jump. He quickly performed a horizontal corkscrew, slipping through the middle gap.

The barrage finally cleared, explosions and bright lights no longer happening, he turned to face—

*Pak! Pak!* A glass container landed next to his feet.

Jumping backwards at the sudden appearance of the object, he found a small glass bottle containing blue liquid boiling at his feet.

Instincts flaring, he quickly dove—

*BOOOOSSSHHH!* It exploded on him.

Blown backwards into a bookshelf charred from the barrage of the Stardust Reverie, it toppled on the force of his crash and slammed with a loud thud, his shirt smoking and lost most of its cloth.

[Rrrgghhh….!] Despite suffering the explosion of a miniature grenade, he was still conscious and growling. He rose his neck up, glaring with his blackened eyes.

"Yer still up!? Nice work!" She praised, smiling cockily as she rested her broom on her shoulder, "Ya wanna go for more? Come at me then! I'll be here all night-ze!"

His temper only rose at the arrogance of her words, making him growl even louder. As if he hadn't suffered a face full of explosion, he rose up to his feet without the slightest limp and stepped down from the fallen shelf, looking like he was about to go into the aggressive.

He looked down on his feet and picked up a swamp green-colored book from the ground, flipping a few pages.

"Uuuhh…" Marisa's left eye twitched, unsure of what the hell he was doing when he totally looked like he was about to go apeshit on her. "….you gonna read or we gonna fight?"

His head snapped up, blackened eyes stared at her wide-eyed.

The book in his hand snapped as he slammed it close.

He tucked it under his arm and extended a hand for her as if he was receiving something from her.

Then from that open hand, a tiny ball of fire came to be on his palm.

"WAH!?" Marisa was absolutely flabbergasted. "Dude! Since when'd you learn fire magic!?"

He gave his answer by flaring his nose, taking in large amounts of oxygen and blew into the fire in his hand. A small jet of fire erupted from the act, a surge of heat invading her being before she flew out of the blazing inferno.

"Dude!" She called out again, still stuck in her shock as she floated above the charred floors, "When'd you learn to do that!? You should'a told me that yer gonna be a magician too!"

She received a spiteful glare as a response and he blew another jet of fire towards her, two times stronger than the first. She flew to the side, the inferno chasing after her in a sweeping motion. Not wanting to be in the defensive, she threw danmaku at him.

That made him stop and ran away, the book still tucked under his arm and the tiny ball of fire on his free hand vanishing. Despite blowing large amounts of air, he could still run several hundred meters and even managed to lose her.

Marisa got miffed for losing him again. Just by zigzagging several isles of bookshelves without breaking his speed and dodging danmaku, she lost him in the barrage of danmaku and he took that advantage to escape somewhere. "Yer really good at hidin' there, Eman! Come out an' face me like a real man, eh!? That's how a Spell Card Battle's s'pposed to work-ze!"

*Flutter. Flutter.* The sound of pages fluttering echoed behind her.

In a speed that would've harmed an average human spine, she spun around and beheld him standing atop a bookshelf with the same book open in front of him, a free hand gesturing like he was pulling something out of it. After several pages had fluttered, a smoking ball of fire was brought out of the book and into his hand, glowing hot red like a miniature asteroid. With a guttural grunt, he reared it back and threw it towards her.

The speed of the projectile was laughable, it's not even enough to considered danmaku. She simply hovered sideways and watched the thing fly past her with a disinterested stare, ignoring the heat that came with it. She turned back to him with a condescending smile, "Ya gotta do better than that, Ema—"

*BSSHH!* A strong surge of heat emitted behind her.

She looked back at the place the fireball landed and she beheld the miniature equivalent of an asteroid impact zone. Besides the books that were enchanted to survive even the Royal Flare spell card, every piece of woodwork and cloth had turned into ash. It seemed like the burning process didn't even happen, it just skipped to the complete incineration part.

"Wha-wha-what the hell?" She stuttered amidst her shock. "How the hell did you know this much magic, dude?" She asked, turning back to him just in time to see him conjuring 5 more of them in the air above him. Forming the 6th fireball in his hand, he reared it back and the other fireballs flew forward as soon as he power pitched.

Flying upwards and away from the expected impact zone, the wave of heat that followed after the explosion was so hot that she had a flashback on the Underground Incident in the lava chambers when she witnessed a heat haze pass by her flying form. Daring to look back at the damage over her shoulder, it looked like an actual asteroid had crashed into the library and left the books as the sole survivors of the incident. The massive smoking crater is something Patchouli's not going to be happy about if she finds out about this.

Swerving around for a 180 turn back towards Eman, she saw him flipping pages again, probably reading at glances instead of skimming through each text, the act made a blurry outline of his form, as if he was generating a heat haze. Snapping the book close, he turned his fist into a claw and conjured another ball of flame, charging it instead of throwing it instantly. After a few seconds, he weaved an intricate image of red in the air in front of him. It was almost as if he was painting on a canvas with his hand and used flame as the paint.

When he managed a rather squiggly cloud made out of red flames, he took a deep breath and the art exploded into mini-fireballs as he blew into it, spreading out like a blossoming flower.

Now that's danmaku. Marisa was proud of him despite the situation, then her eyes widened when she recognized the pattern. This kinda looks like Patchouli's Agni Shrine.

A smirk easily made its way to her lips and she flew towards the attack with confidence. It felt like she wasn't putting any effort in grazing at all, her body moved automatically as she remembered the passage of the pattern and slipped through the gaps she predicted to present itself. After performing what could've been the easiest spell card capture done by flighty dancing (if he had actually declared it!), she drew out her own.

My turn!

"«Ritual Sign—Orreries Sun»!"

She got the feeling that she's been using this spell card way too often but hey, it's practical in this setting.

The globes appeared around her, began to spin, and they turned into the spell card equivalent of the coolest weapon in the Outside World called the Gatling Gun. White bullets fired from each globe, the rapid-fire rate promising lots of damage.

Eman conjured a circular pool of fire in front of him, and it absorbed the white bullets like a sponge. He jumped off the bookshelf he stood on and landed to the floors without so much as a bend of his knees at the 18 feet fall. Marisa kept the suppressing fire on him but the round fire shield kept itself pointed at her like a sunflower while behind it Eman was reading several more pages.

Oh yeah!? Smirking even wider, she stopped the white bullets and let loose the lasers. Instead of letting them spiral outwards, she let them concentrate entirely on him, screw the finesse. The attack clearly agitated him: the fire shield failed to hold up and he jumped into another isle before the laser could breach through the barrier and hit his back. Not eager to lose him again, she quickly followed through his path without stopping the lasers, leaving a lot of black lines on whatever area they hit that wasn't Eman.

She was lucky to see him standing still in the middle of one isle, idly reading his book while the fire shield looked like it became more solid, good enough to withstand a Stardust Reverie. His snapped his blackened eyes to her and fired another flower of an Agni Shrine, much more erratic than the first, focused on mainly killing her than disorienting her.

Oh dude, yer makin' it so easy for me!

No beauty, no pattern. That usually meant that everything that comes her way moves in the most predictable direction, particularly towards her body. What she'll do? Just swerve to the right, away from the trajectory of the spread fire and return fire with a spiral of lasers. His shield held well against the assault and he fired another flower towards her, which she dodged by swerving to the left. Dodging the next batch of fire flowers thrown, she fired a few bullets and went into a power turn towards a blind spot: Just right beside him. He was too late to cover himself with a shield once all revolving globes around her stopped moving and opened fire.

One laser struck his abdomen, the other lasers followed suit and concentrated their aim on him, sending him tumbling even further into the isle.

Surely this'll knock'm out. She revoked that thought when she saw him still gripping the book as he tumbled and rumbled across the floors until her Spell Card timed out.

Slowly but surely, he rose to his feet. The book was still in his grasp.

Whether the Demon was actually in control or Eman became too irrationally angry because of the possession, Marisa was impressed with his fortitude. No untrained Outsider could survive that unless they went through the same number of battles any professional Youkai hunter had experienced. He clearly wasn't one of them, "Damn, dude, yer a tough nut to crack-da ze!"

He opened the book once again, it looked like he was nearing the last few pages, and he seemed like he was carefully skimming through every verse to make sure he doesn't miss a single word while at the same time making sure he hurries up before his enemy gets the hand on him.

Hmm…

"Please, take yer time." Marisa lied in her broom like a reclining chair on a beach, her head inclined on the whisk as a pillow, pulling her hat down to cover her eyes, "No hurry here-ze."

[MMRrrrrrhhhhm….!] She could imagine just how mad he is as he looked at her relaxing, it definitely looked like she was treating him as somebody that's not worth all the worry and stress about. That's only gonna provoke him even more.

I wonder what'll happen if I let him finish that book….

After a couple dozen seconds of simple silence save for her breathing and the fluttering of pages, the sound of a book snapping close made her shot open her eyes and set herself back to the horseback stance on her broom, hat tilted upwards to let her eyes see.

Eman held the book in his two hands, looking at her balefully and silently, black-eyed gaze ever burning and hateful. With the nonchalance of a person discarding a piece of trash, he threw the book over his shoulder and stomped his foot on the floor, filling the stiff silence with a loud echoing thump.

His form was starting to emit a heat haze, his surroundings blurring at the rise of temperature. Where he laid his feet, smoke spewed out from underneath his soles, the carpet singed and charred. His hands began to glow yellow, like the glow of a bonfire, and they too emitted smoke. Soon enough, they ignited into flames and encased his arms down to the elbow with angry fires, spewing black smoke and burning whatever came near it. Strangely, his clothes were unaffected.

Marisa threw her hakkero up then caught it as it fell to her hand, smirking at the prospect of an incoming fight that placed her and Eman in equal grounds. He was now able to use magic, he could take a hit, and he looked ready to die. That promise of a continued Spell Card Battle between him and her several hours ago before lunch...looks like they'll be fulfilling that now. "Let's do this, Brah."

Whether he heard her or ignored her, he expressed his response by rearing both hands back and whipped them frontwards like a double straight-punch. Out of his burning palms, the St. Elmo's Pillar.

Marisa spun to the side, dodging the jet stream of hellfire and returned fire with danmaku, abandoning flashiness and style for precision and a surefire kill hit. Colorful stars, ranging among all hues found in the spectrum, sizes varying from the size of her fist to the size of the mansion's doorway, they came in the form of a hailstorm to strike back against the possessed Eman.

Relying on quick dashes to escape the tunnel of flames, she was relentless in her galactic assault, placing quality over quantity, keeping him pressured and moving, unable to fire back. Eman relied on the same fire shield, this time it was practically the 2D rendition of a tiny sun, hot and dangerous, sucking in and burning whatever projectile had come his way. There are some shots that was too spread out to hit him and, due to the gravitational pull of the tiny sun, they curved and landed on the floors nearby him whenever it wasn't burnt apart by the shield. The explosions that followed after each impact staggered him, lagging him in the effort of keeping the tunnel of fire active.

Not eager to stay in the stalemate, she threw a vial of explosive towards him, shaken vigorously to guarantee a bigger boom and its trajectory was instantly botched by his fire shield, sucking it inwards to the fire. Taking advantage of it, she aimed with a pistol finger at the exact spot where the vial would fly to in her quick calculations while she flew and dodged. And then….

"Bang-ze!" She fired a laser.

A direct hit, and the ensuing explosion blew him backwards, breaking his shield and his constant flamethrowering. It was gratifying. She was having enough of the same strategy to fight back against his St. Elmo fires.

Rolling a few times before stopping, Eman rose to his feet and charged forward with arms aflame, leaving behind charred footprints on the already singed carpet and floors. Using a bookshelf, he laid a foot on one of the edges and ejected upwards to stand atop another bookshelf, threw fireballs in mid-air. Running across and jumping towards another bookshelf while throwing more fireballs, he power-jumped off the edge and threw a bigger fireball towards Marisa, guaranteed to explode upon impact.

Marisa simply barrel-rolled out of the way, curving to the side at the second fireball, then dipped downwards at the third before skimming across the floor, going for a jousting charge towards him with the point of her broom primed and ready. He readied a fist burning with explosive energy, reared back to meet her face once she comes close. Eman spun to the left twice, dodging the ramming charge and swung the explosive punch. Marisa on her part simply tilted her entire form sideways, one hand keeping the hat on her head as her face nearly skidded against the floors in her effort to prevent her head from blowing up via punch-to-the-face.

Thanks to the momentum, he couldn't stop his fist from slamming against the nearest bookshelf, creating an explosion with the blast force of a grenade, breaking the entire woodwork apart (save for the books) and nearly sending him stumbling to the floors out of the recoil.

The whisk of Marisa's broom skidded against the floors as she spun the cleaning tool around horizontally and stood on it like a board, flicking a Spell Card out and bringing out her octagonal super weapon. Whole body slanting forward, weapon aimed at the target, she screamed the declaration with a roar, "«BLAZING STAR»!‼" Out of the point of the Hakkero a solidified sunbeam, breaking out with a thunderclap and brimming with heat and light as it engulfed Eman whole. Her legs flexed and tensed to brace against the recoil of her spell, the broom on her feet flying further backwards and passed through several bookshelves with a whoosh-whoosh sound, barely heard over the roaring spell.

As she got further and further away from Eman's last position, the spell finally died out and she relaxed on her transport with a sigh of relief, setting down on it like a bench and wiping a brow on her forehead. "Whew." Pocketing the hakkero, she held the shaft with one hand and flew back to the area he was last seen.

The isle was black from her monstrous spell, floor and bookshelf stinking with charcoal and smoke. All the books and knowledge are ever stubborn to remain unscathed and unharmed from the entire ordeal. The library was starting to look exactly the last time she, Eman, Patchouli, and Sakuya left it before brunch, except that the aftermath here was caused by a lot of fire spells and so many danmaku.

She gave a half-hearted chuckle, looking all over the damages in an elevated vantage point, "I wonder how Patchy's gonna react to this mess…"

A guttural groan caught her attention and she found Eman at the very end of the really long charred isle. His shirt was no longer suitable for wearing, the ankle part of his pants had been singed off yet the remaining part of it still managed to hold itself together (although blackened). His pale skin that was red from the heat was now stained with black charcoal and ash, Marisa found it funny, though the laughter drew his attention as his stare snapped towards her and got him to stand up to his feet as if he wasn't just blasted a hundred meters away by a photon cannon.

Marisa wasn't sure if she should take the man seriously or no. "How're you still conscious, dude?" Despite all that, this guy's still getting back up like it was nothing. She found herself respecting the guy even more for his drive, possessed as he was.

Eman's black-eyed countenance remained the same, scowling, hateful and full of silent anger. He reached for the only thread slung on his shoulder that kept his shirt on him and ripped it off his body without a care of losing the half of his modesty, baring his athletic and lean body in full glory, several areas charred black but somehow unharmed and some areas remained pale, protected by the measly fabric of his shirt, making him resemble a snow leopard.

Tilting his neck to elicit a crackle of bone, flexing his arm back to do the same, he began to stand even taller, spreading his arms and conjuring the flames back into his arms, then his shoulders. A geometric circle conjured below his feet with him in the middle, making his feet glow a mix of yellow and red as it swirled, Marisa recognized the symbols within it under the domain of the fire element.

I swear: if he does the Royal Flare, I'm gonna flip the fuck outta mah mind! The prospect excited Marisa. If he pulls it off, she's gonna invest everything she borrowed on him.

In a feat that left her both surprised and unsurprised, he jumped 20 meters into the air and hung there as if he was levitated. Then in a gigantic swoosh, a massive geometrical circle emerged behind him, swirling in a hypnotic spin. With him dwarfed in the middle of the gigantic incantation, posing in the same way Rumia regularly does in a spell card declaration, the entire vicinity suddenly became incased in the color of red.

For the first time since it all began, he had finally declared the very first Spell Card of his life:

"«Second Coming—The Lake of Fire»!"

And then, all hell broke loose.

From the bottom part of the incantation circle came out a bright red stream of hellfire, flooding the floors full of inferno like a breach of a dam spewing out water across a flat-surfaced terrain. This time from the upper part of the incantation came a red-orange mist-like cloud emerged and filled the ceiling. Whatever the surface of the lava would have looked like if viewed from below, Marisa definitely figured that this was it.

From floor to ceiling save for the walls, everything was set on fire. The temperature was slowly reaching three digits, and Marisa struggled to stay in-between the burning surfaces. If she steers too close to the floor, her feet will burn. If she steers close to the ceiling, her upper body will definitely be incinerated and kill her. And being in the middle is still too hot for anybody that doesn't live in Old Hell.

Marisa's eyes widened in realization. Wait, this feels like the time me an' Orin duked it out in Old Hell for the first time! The overwhelming heat, the blazing terrain, the familiar wavy air, the distasteful hot oxygen filling in her lung as she breathed; it gave Marisa a lot of nostalgia.

Almost without thinking, Marisa dashed to the right and managed to avoid a hot molten ball that abruptly jumped out of the burning floor from turning her into ash, its flight path leading it to the burning ceiling and merging together with it. Not a second later, another fireball came out of the ceiling and crashed down to the hellfire floors from a couple feet away.

Soon enough, more and more fireballs began to arrive from top to bottom, going up and down, some nearly hitting her as she moved out of the way as quick as she could without raising nor lowering her elevation in the air. Marisa quickly wore the mindset in dodging as much as possible, making sure she stays in the middle of the burning cavern to avoid setting herself on fire accidentally and not screw this up or, let the gods be her witnesses, she'll see herself scorched straight to Hell. This could've been some kind of environmental danmaku but there was no rhythm or pattern found on the fireballs. Everything was random, and with the heat all around her, it makes grazing every fireball slightly difficult.

What a contrast of events, Marisa remarked. The first thing that happened as she was going to this mansion, she bullshitted her way through what could've been the worst storm she had ever experienced in her life. She suffered being unable to see thanks to the absurd moisture in the air, had difficulty breathing as there was more water than oxygen every time she inhales, and was in a state of panic as she was nearly struck by a thunderbolt. Not to mention that it was bloody cold, and she was wet in the entire process. And now, she was helping her friend escape Koumakan's tiny little disaster, only to end up turning on him as she found out he was possessed by some demon that's making him more belligerent than a young animal Youkai. Then after a few fists were exchanged, she was suddenly placed in a simulation of Hell, dodging fireballs going up and down, sweating like no tomorrow underneath her thick clothes.

Just another day of Marisa's usual life.

She couldn't keep count of time as she maintained a levelheaded composure amidst her wild dodging but she was certain that a minute or 2 had already passed since the declaration of the Spell Card. As that much time passed, the firestorm gradually lessened, then there were no more raining or rising, though the ceiling and floors remained lit with hellfire.

Is it over? Marisa practically begged in her thoughts, she wants the entire burning thing to stop. Anymore and she's gonna pass out from the heatstroke, and all the sweat around her's gonna leave her entire clothing damp and stinky.

Eman's next move answered her thoughts with the bluntest no she ever seen: as the incantation behind him remained active and spinning, his hands suddenly lit up yellow with flames, interlocked them together in front of his chest before separating them, the fire in his hands floating in front of him like a balloon. 4 smaller geometric circles emerged and formed in a box formation behind him on the larger one, symbols matching the primary incantation, and out of each shape is a cluster of fireballs. The two small circles above him ejected fireballs in the shape of flowers, filling the space of both middle and above into a beautiful inferno garden. The other two below him fired fire danmaku in a streaming zigzag, mainly focused on the lower area the other circles left out, neither rising the aim upwards or downwards. Lastly, the small globe of fire in front of him began blasting out larger fireballs, thankfully patterned as only 4 of the burning globes keep coming out and fired in the same spot, mainly the middle.

Well…! Marisa gritted her teeth at the ultimate Hellhole she had got herself put into. Not only he make a Spell Card, the fuckin' thang's a Last Word Spell Card!

The Outsider's clearly ahead of his time as an amateur Spell Card Duelist.

The Witch's desperation to stay in the most stable temperature zone was getting the best of her, her flight pattern as she dodged each and every danmaku bullet coming her way was becoming sloppier and sloppier. Few edges of her clothing had been burnt off, the whisk of her broom had been lit aflame for who knows how long, and she could barely see any other color that wasn't yellow or orange anymore. Her bomb spell cards are just temporary reliefs; they may have cleared out the danmaku but the heat doesn't go away, which is starting to become the one thing that's gonna kill her if not the relentless barrage of inferno.

She never once visited the actual Hell, the place where all bad people go and get tortured by the Oni, but thanks to Eman's fancy spell card she'll know what to expect. There ain't no Oni, the river of suffering souls wasn't there, not a lot of screaming too, but the pit of hellfire was spot-on. It's enough to make a good representation of the place. And thankfully, she gets the chance to crawl out of this Hell—or rather, be lucky enough to see this Hell cool down at the next couple of seconds, and that's the one thing keeping her from passing out.

If there is one important thing about Spell Cards, it is that they always have a time limit on how long they'll stay active once casted. She was glad enough that Eman adhered himself to the boundaries of the Spell Card System, even if he was possessed. If it had been otherwise, she would've been a Roasted Ordinary Witch a long time ago.

5…..

She barrel-rolled to the right, escaping a giant fireball and grazing more than 6 tiny ones. Even if she was in the middle in-between burning surfaces, the danmaku that passed by kept raising the temperature at her inconvenience.

4….

She retreated a few feet away, giving herself extra breathing-room. Despite how futile it would be, she continued firing her own danmaku back at him, along with a few lasers. For some reason, the fireballs kept eating her stars apart whenever they touched each other, and the lasers kept thinning the further they go, making their effectiveness even lesser. She could try to get close to him but the heat is much worse there. How the hell is he still breathing there if it was?

3….

Narrowing her eyes and wiping her brow for the umpteenth time, she took her hakkero out and her Fujiyama Salamander scale. Placing the artifact at the center point of the tool, she licked her parched lips and aimed the weapon at him.

2….

The tool in her hand vibrated as she began accumulating her magical core into it, infusing more magical energy than she was supposed to for her usual Master Sparks but given the situation she was in, she's gonna have to give her best. Desperate times, after all.

1….

As she was sure she got the amount right, she began, "«Magicannon….." It had been fun, and it was certain that Eman might've enjoyed himself in the hustle, but Marisa thought that it's time for the fun to stop. People need to rest, the both of them are still humans after all. "…Final Spark»‼!‼"

…0

Every danmaku that flew and burned suddenly collapsed to nonexistence, and the relief of the slightest cooling of the temperature pushed Marisa into exhuming more magic into the hakkero as the gigantic beam of pure heat and light lit the entire hellfire cavern in a clash of bright white light against burning orange light as it engulfed him once again. It was her idea of a very direct payback: fire against fire.

She failed to remember that the anti-magic tome that once ended her battle with Patchouli and split her Master Spark into several pieces is still with him.

As he was blown backwards by the massive laser, the book slipped out of the waist of his pants and immediately detected the ginormous amount of magical energy in the air now that the spell caster no longer had his lock placed on it whenever touched. In reaction to the excessive amount of energy in the air, it gathered all the stray magical energies that leaked out from whoever had been casting spells for the last hour and a half, the amount proportional enough to disrupt the natural flow of energy everywhere.

What came afterwards was the same as always. A white circular explosion of anti-magic energy erupted out of the pages, killing every fire and magical energy it touched into nothing. The results were quite instantaneous: once the hellfire on both ceiling and floor was touched by the white energy, they are quickly extinguished and the fires connected to them followed suit into being put out like a candle light, like a reverse reaction of a gasoline leak catching a tiny spark of ember. Marisa's Final Spark was not spared as its flashy powerful greatness was as quickly snuffed out as a speck of dust on someone's shoulder. Marisa had the mind to not enforce more magic into the tool and instead circle back, run away from the wave of anti-magic energy before it touches her. The fires may be gone but those floors don't look cooled down like it was supposed to a couple hours ago. She's not eager to fall face-down into it when her broom loses its magic.

Soon enough, the energy field cleared out like a mist, and for the first time since the past hour and a half, everything was quiet. No crackling cinders, no buzzing ambience of flying danmaku, no audible growling heaves of breath, all that resonated was the pulse in Marisa's chest and every inhale/exhale that came in and out of her mouth.

She sighed a massive breath of relief. Thank the gods it's over. Her body slouched forward on her stationary broom, removing the hat to let some air seep into it and fan herself with it. "Damn….that…was…..hot….ze…" She rasped, even her throat was dry. She felt tempted to go outside and face the storm again if it meant her body would cool down from all this damn heat.

She sighed again. Maybe later. She's too tired for a challenge made by Nature. Right now she just wanna go somewhere cool, just not here specifically.

*BRRRRRSSSSHHHHH!‼!‼*

She stared exasperatedly at the direction of the sound, wondering if the furniture-destruction's ever gonna stop, "….the hell?" That sounded like a table just got smashed by a sledgehammer.

Like steering a horse, she panned the point of her broom towards the desired direction of her flight and flew forward.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

There was no sledgehammer, but the way the table was broken in half, the comparison is very accurate. By the look of the Outsider's swollen right fist, she can tell how he did it.

Eman took a random book from the ground, limply positioned himself in the middle of the broken halves and reclined himself there, his upper body resting against the upward half and his feet elevated by the other half. With the book in his hands, he opened a page and an unnatural blizzard wind blew from the text like he just opened a window to a cold winter outside.

For all the world, he looked like he was sunbathing on the windy beachside, lying on a reclining chair and holding a sun reflector.

When he turned his eyes to the Witch again, his eyes were no longer that foreign blackness anymore, the usual hazels Marisa always knew him by are back again. His face lost all its baleful ire but he is just as surly as if he had been pranked.

When he turned his eyes to the fruits of his labor, the ultimately charred-to-near-oblivion section of the library glowing with embers and perfectly undamaged books, his expression changed to surprise, then a grudging resignation. Marisa followed his stare and briefly wondered why there hasn't been a single fire suddenly combusting on the already-charred wood. With all the possible components to cause a forest fire and the kind of heat present together, there should be a blaze already.

He turned to Marisa once again, his voice annoyed and low, but altogether human, [I did all this?]

The Witch simply shrugged, her hakkero in a free hand and pointed to herself, blowing a wind spell to cool her face.

His eyes rolled to the top of his head as he lightly thumped his head against the half of the table he reclined on, groaning angrily and annoyingly, his breath coming out in a mist thanks to the book he held. [I am not vouching for any of this.]