Author's Note: Stage five! We are getting pretty close to the end of the incident! It's pretty much a whole rewrite of the original stage 5. I wasn't really sure how to really deal with Sakuya vs Sanae fight, since the maid is literally extremely powerful and most likely would have defeated the wind priestess without much issue, considering that Sanae is pretty much a newbie shrine maiden here and isn't as skilled as in MoF or later games. I think that this scenario that I have written is more or less plausible, considering the limitations of Sakuya's ability because of spell card rules. Without further ado, please enjoy the chapter.
Sanae left the library, according to the magician, she would find the mistress on the roof of this mansion.
Well, the only way to get to the roof would be going up, so she would have to keep finding the staircases leading up to get to the upper floors.
Of course, she could also leave the mansion and just fly up to the roof, but the outside was filled with that red mist, and she didn't want to risk more exposure to it.
The interior of the mansion was strangely devoid of the mist, so while it wasn't the fastest way to get to the roof, it was safer here than outside.
The wind priestess then climbed through floors of the mansion to reach the roof, the fairy maids still attacking her, thankfully there wasn't much of them this time.
She finally reached the top floor after a bit, so the only thing left to do was to find the door leading to the roof.
Sanae was about to explore the floor, but then she felt something cold push against her throat.
She froze. It was a knife.
-Welcome, miss shrine maiden. I see that you're enjoying your tour of the mansion, perhaps there is something I can do to make your visit even more enjoyable?
She felt her attacker pushing the knife harder against her throat.
Sanae swallowed nervously.
-N-no. T-there's no need.
She heard a dry chuckle behind her.
-Normally, I would have slit your throat right here and now for breaking into the mansion of my mistress, however, there are rules in this land, and breaking them wouldn't be beneficial for me and my lady. That is why, I have to settle for beating you up in danmaku duel.
The wind priestess felt the attacker release her.
She stumbled forward and clutched her throat reflexively.
That was the scariest moment of her life. She thought she was going to die!
Sanae turned around to take a look at her attacker.
She had bright red eyes, silver hair worn in long braids on both sides of her face with green bows at the ends and a white maid headband. She was wearing a dark blue maid's outfit with an apron, short sleeves and a green ribbon.
So this was the maid that the magician warned her about...
-M-maybe we can come to some kind of compromise? I just want to talk with your mistress, nothing more!
She shook her head.
-Denied. You're just here to stop her plan of covering Gensokyo in the scarlet mist.
Sanae was aggrieved.
-Why are you even doing this? People are dying because of that mist!
The maid shrugged.
-That's no concern of mine. If my lady wishes it to be so, then it will be so. I'm here to remove anything that is a nuisance to my mistress, and you're one of them.
The maid declared her spell card Conjuring "Misdirection"
The spell card would be pretty hard to dodge, but Sanae noticed that it was easier if she just moved to the opposite direction of where the maid was moving.
The wind priestess declared Wonder "Night with Bright Guest Stars"
The maid dodged it without any issue, she was obviously extremely skilled, defeating her would be really hard.
She declared Illusion Ghost "Jack the Ludo Bile"
Sanae at the start of the spell card wasn't surprised, it was regular danmaku for the most part, that changed when in a split second dozens of aimed knives appeared flying towards her.
She was bewildered that she had to immediately use her spell card bomb to avoid getting hit.
Where did they even appear from? She was looking closely at the maid, and there wasn't anything that would suggest her summoning them.
She had to observe the maid's spell cards to get more clues.
For now she declared Miracle "God's Wind"
The maid once again wasn't challenged by the spell card, obviously the wind priestess had to catch her off guard to actually win.
She declared Maid Secret Skill "Killing Doll"
Sanae once again didn't have much trouble at the start, but it changed when the knives appeared out of nowhere. The wind priestess didn't have any clue how they appeared.
She was forced to bomb through the spell card once again.
The maid chuckled.
-Are you going to bomb all of my spell cards, shrine maiden? You only have limited amount of them.
Sanae was desperate for answers.
-How are you summoning these knives that fast!?
The maid raised her pocket watch.
-Time doesn't matter to me. There are, however, few restrictions. Perhaps giving you this hint will make things more interesting.
Time? Restrictions? Wait, does that mean that she can manipulate time? However, when the wind priestess thought about it, it all made sense. She wasn't summoning them at extremely fast speed. The maid stopped time then threw the knives and resumed it every time. As for the restriction, maybe she can only use it in a spell card? Sanae didn't notice any bizarre movements during dodging part of the maid. She had one thing in mind that could be used to defeat the maid, but it was extremely risky and wasn't really fair.
-I pass my turn. You can use another of your spell cards.
The maid raised her eyebrow.
-How generous of you. I'm afraid that won't make me go easy on you.
She declared Illusion Image "Luna Clock"
It was time to do this.
Sanae waited for the right moment then once again used her last spell card bomb, then she quickly charged at the maid and dissolved the bomb and immediately declared her spell card Great Miracle "Yasaka's Divine Wind"
The maid was bewildered, she wasn't expecting this, she tried her best to dodge the incoming danmaku, but the close proximity and extremely fast movement of it caused her to fail. She got pelleted by the bullets and fell to the ground.
Sanae dissolved her spell card and looked at the ground to check on the maid.
But there was nobody there.
Where did she go? She most likely used her time manipulation to escape, meaning that she was fine.
This was definitely the hardest opponent she fought so far.
Sanae was slowly doubting her chances of defeating the owner of this mansion alone, but if push came to shove, she still had her trump card...