AN: I do not own Touhou Project, it belongs to Team Shanghai Alice, also known as ZUN.

Scarlet Formam Diaboli

(Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil)

(Part 4)

(Stage Start)

Marisa shot down the hallway blasting Fairy maids along the way as Cirno picked up the stragglers, Vaati once again hanging on for dear life as they abandoned any pretense of subtlety, lasers and bullets flying everywhere in the gigantic mansion.

"This is a mess." What Vaati had said was no understatement, as fairy after fairy maid had stepped up and got shot down by Marisa and Cirno, but they just kept on coming. "I did not know there was this many fairies in Gensokyo, I only thought there was like a hundred or so!" Marisa shouted as she dodged and weaved between danamaku fire, the myriad of fairies constantly shooting just getting bigger as Marisa and Cirno kept firing, but with all the fighting they had been doing they had been tiring. "At this rate we'll never get to the clock tower!" Cirno shouted over the sound of danamaku fire and explosions, they had been stuck in the main hall for the past half an hour fighting wave after wave of fairy maids.

"They run out eventually… I hope." Vaati complained as Marisa kept on dodging, his face a little green from the high speed maneuvers the witch was making on her broom. Left right and center was nothing but danamaku, danamaku, and even more danamaku. Slowly the clothing damage had racked up on all of them to this point, Marisa having lost her apron and her top have become practically sleeveless, never mind the amount of cuts and slight burns on her clothing.

Cirno wasn't faring much better, having lost her bow and her blouse having been tore in several places and several marks and slight burns marked her arms and face. Even Vaati, who hadn't been fighting had received more then his fair share of injuries and clothing damage, having lost one of his sweat pant's legs and both his sleeves as some soot marred his face from when he took a shot to the face during the fire fight.

"I would say pray for a miracle, but that's not going to happen…" Marisa said as she and Cirno continued to fight on, desperately looking for an opening in the endless number of fairies.

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: They're FAIRIES! The protagonists don't NEED a miracle! They can just plow through them!

WildMath55: All the more reason for me to make named characters in my head canon (both Outsiders and Gensokyans) One-Man Armies barring few exceptions.

Sin Count: 21

Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)

Outside the manor Meiling was standing guard at the gate, watching the sky as she saw a glowing red dot appear over the lake, and it was moving quickly towards the mansion. "Great another one?" Meiling complained to herself as she flew up to meet who ever was coming, getting into a fighting position as the dot appeared as a figure.

The black haired girl in a shrine maiden outfit stopped her speed flying just before Meiling, now she was able to see the two Ying-Yang orbs orbiting around her. "I'm guessing you're the Hakurei shrine maiden Reimu?" Meiling asked, it was obvious but she wanted to be sure.

"Yeah that would be me, why are you asking?" Reimu replied then asked skeptically. Meiling pointed behind her at the mansion. "A few hours ago some Witch named Marisa came here with a fairy and a guy, they haven't come out for a long time." Meiling said, slightly worried about Cirno and Vaati… not so much about Marisa, crazy witch.

Reimu put her hand on her face, muttering something that Meiling could barely hear. "Darn it Marisa…" Reimu then looked up before speaking. "Are you going to let me through or what?" Reimu asked as Meiling got back in her fighting stance. "In order to get past me, they had to beat me… that and I felt sorry for socking the poor guy in the nose." Meiling said, then added under her breath.

"Well then if I beat you, will you let me in?" Reimu asked, already knowing the mutual answer. Meiling nodded as both of them started firing off rapid fire, Meiling throwing Kunai danamaku as Reimu threw out her ofuda. The paper tags and kunai danamaku colliding in mid air with small explosions.

Meiling took the time to advance on Reimu, getting in close before swinging her fist. Reimu dodged low and tried smack Meiling with her purification rod. Meiling however caught the stick, but grimaced as slight smoke came from where she was grabbing it, causing her to have to let go.

"You're a youkai?" Reimu asked, seemingly surprised. Meiling nursed her red hand for a moment before responding. "Yeah, what about it." "You don't seem to act it." Reimu said, surprised at Meiling's behavior.

"What did you expect all youkai to just attack you at random? I'm here fighting you because it's my job. I have to guard the mansion." Meiling said, getting back into her position again.

"Well then as my duty as the Hakurei shrine maiden, it is within my boundaries to exterminate you." Reimu said as she fell into her own position. Within a second both of them had shot further into the sky. Firing at each other with danamaku and ofuda. Meiling avoided getting in close, an issue for her as a fist fighter, but the shrine maiden could hurt her severely if she wasn't careful.

The two traded shots in the sky for a bit, a few hits getting in causing slight damage to Reimu's outfit and small cuts on Meiling's arms, but nothing major. But then things picked up when Meiling pulled out her first spell card.

"Rainbow Sign: Wind Chime of Colorful Rainbow!" Meiling yelled as a myriad of rainbow colored bullets formed around her. Meiling her self started spinning around, producing movement in the danamaku a spinning it outwards in a spiral. Reimu however just kept flying around and through the gaps in the danamaku, throwing her own senbon at Meiling's wall of bullets as she kept spinning.

Even in her motion she noticed the senbon, stopping for but a moment to grab it, and return it before it's purification could take it's effect on her before returning to powering her spell card in a swift motion. Reimu saw not prepared for the senbon that had been thrown back into her path, stopping for a split second to let it pass, but that spilt second was all Meiling needed to send a wave of kunai danamaku, intermixed with her spell card at Reimu.

The kunai shaped bullets smashed into Reimu, the direct hit popping her Yin-Yang orbs. She scowled but focused on the battle, they would return eventually. But she had enough of Meiling's spell card, and taken out her own. "Sprit Sign: Fantasy Seal – SPREAD!" Reimu called activating her spell card.

A large wave of ofuda had surrounded Reimu, who pointed her purification rod at Meiling, the seals all flying forward as move surrounded Reimu. For a split second the waves upon waves of Danamaku and ofuda clashed, but eventually the larger amount of ofuda won out, Meiling being forced to retreat for a moment before flying straight into Reimu's spell card, dodging the massive amounts of seals expertly, but her large size still permitted some to graze her clothing.

Now the tables had turned in favor of Reimu as Meiling flew straight into the mass of seals, dodging my left right and center as she tried to get closer to Reimu, hoping that with some good hits she could cancel this spell card.

This continued on for a few minutes until Meiling had broken past the waves of ofuda, Reimu not prepared when Meiling threw a punch straight at the center of her mass, sending her flying backwards and dispelling the ofuda bullets.

Meiling pressed her advantage, getting in close and punching high, aiming to knock Reimu out, but Reimu dodged and smacked Meiling's side with the purification rod, her side starting to burn as she grabbed Reimu's arm and hit it with her other hand, causing her to lose grip on her purification rod and sending it spiraling into the mansion's garden.

Without her weapon Reimu was forced to continue dodging Meiling's quick strikes, getting more and more fed up with her struggling. "That's it no more games." Reimu said as she stopped moving, Meiling about to punch her once again in the chest.

But it never made contact, her fist past right through Reimu and Meiling froze up for a moment before looking the shrine maiden right in the eye. "This is my power gate guard, my ability to float, even away from reality. It is simple to float out of your range." Reimu said before she shattered into a storm of ofuda, the paper clone's mini explosion cutting into Meiling's body with the purifying seals.

Reimu was above Meiling as she held a large Yin-Yang orb above her head, the massive ball of purifying energy glowing with power. "Not again…" Meiling mumbled as Reimu threw the orb at Meiling, who gathered power into her fist. The yin-yang ball of doom ever closer to her.

In almost slow motion the ball was before Meiling as she slammed her glowing fist into it, Meiling's hand burning even with the added protection, but a shockwave occurred when she slammed her fist into the orb, Meiling's power clashing with the orb as Reimu floated above, waiting for her Yin-yang orb to do it's work.

With a yell of rage Meiling poured more power into her fist, the momentum of the yin-yang orb being countered by her massive physical prowess. Slowly the orb reserved direction, Meiling's power overcoming it's momentum as she sent the orb back at Reimu, who scowled and dodged out of the way as the orb exploded into light.

Reimu looked at Meiling, who was panting hard and nursing her fist, which had turned completely red and was slightly smoking from having combated the purifying energy of the orb for that long. "I'm impressed, no one has managed to combat the Hakurei orbs at that level. Most youkai would have just disintegrated."

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Pretty sure she wasn't that strong minutes ago.

Omega E The Reader: She's also a stage 3 boss so she SHOULDN'T be very strong.

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: She was weaker in her first fight. So this makes no sense.

WildMath55: Last I check, Reimu and Marisa gave Meiling a bullet storm in canon. So yeah, this is kinda wacky. Her being the fandom's butt-monkey is the reason why I kept her later power-up in my headcanon. If you ask me, she's just ill-suited for ranged combat, and that doesn't make her weak. I'd wager she'll be able to stallByakuren in CQC.

Sin Count: 22

Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)

"What can I say, I have a will to fight on!" Meiling shouted as she flew at Reimu, the shrine maiden pulling two senbon out of her sleeves and holding them like short swords. Meiling's fists meet the purified metal as Meiling grunted in pain. The two clashed for a moment before backing off, Meiling barely flying and breathing heavily from having fought such purifying power, and her own dual with Reimu beforehand.

"Give it up gate keeper, and let me through, I have an incident to resolve." Reimu said, keeping an air of stoicism about her. "I won't until you've knocked me out cold." Meiling said, panting heavily, she would fight until she could fight no more, the witch was less of a problem then this but unlike this shrine maiden she didn't have the power to outright kill youkai, and she wouldn't let such a threat get into the mansion.

"So be it." Reimu said quietly as she threw her senbon at Meiling, who dodged out of the way as a trio of ofuda slammed into her, causing her to grunt in pain as she was knocked out from the very final barrage, to tired to continue as she fell to the ground like a rock, leaving a lard indent in the dirt, moaning in pain.

Reimu landed nearby and picked up her Purification rod, walking towards the door of the mansion she hear a large amount of explosions and yelling from inside, most likely Marisa in Reimu's mind.

Opening in the door she was greeted with a large hallway filled with Faires dressed in maid outfits, only one standing out with her icicles wings, and the fact she was fighting the maid fairies along side the black and white witch, who was looking worse for wear with all the clothing damage she had and the marks on her arms.

She didn't recognize the guy on Marisa's broom with her, most likely these two were the ones Marisa had brought with her into the mansion, fighting the rather large amount of maids. "Always have to bail you out don't I Marisa." Reimu muttered under her breath as she pulled out her spell card, ready to join the battle.

Marisa and Cirno were barely hold on, Vaati keeping his head behind Marisa as more and more bullets filled the hallway. "I'm almost out of it!" Marisa yelled as she fired off a small laser, the danamaku to weak after all her fighting to even completely take down a fairy, just causing it to spiral to the floor.

Cirno wasn't much better, panting in pain as she dodged past even more danamaku. "Unless we get a miracle, I don't think we are getting out of this." Marisa said to her allies as all the danamaku in the hall seemed to disappear as four balls of colorful light flew past them, exploding into a mass of light among the fairies, causing them to explode and litter the hallway with knocked out fairies and ones embed in the wall.

"Me and my big mouth." Marisa mumbled as she turned her broom around, seeing Reimu floating behind them with her arm outstretched, obviously the one who had fired the spellcard.

"So you finally showed up Floaty Britches." Marisa quipped, still just alert enough to annoy Reimu at least a little bit. "I would ask what you are doing here, but it's pretty obvious Marisa." Reimu snarked as Cirno and Vaati looked at her. "Well I think we got our miracle Marisa." Vaati deadpanned as Cirno chuckled, Marisa to tired to even slap him back for his quip.

"Shut up Vaati." Marisa said, as Reimu rolled her eyes at their banter. "I assume you two are the guy and the fairy Marisa brought with her?" Reimu asked Vaati and Cirno. "And you know that how?" Vaati asked, having not seen or met Reimu before. "The gate keeper mentioned Marisa had brought a guy and a fairy with her."

"That would be us, my name is Vaati, this is Cirno." Vaati said, pointed at Cirno who puffed out her chest in pride despite how tired and injured the trio was. "I'm surprised she hasn't died yet." Reimu deadpanned at Marisa, about Cirno seeing how she was still kicking yet so injured.

"She's a tough one, if she's going to achieve her goal she's going to have to be." Vaati said, taking Marisa's question somewhat defending Cirno. "And that would be?" Reimu asked, Marisa to tired to reply as Cirno took the question. "I'm gonna be the strongest and Vaati has been teaching me!" Cirno said, pointing at herself and then drawing her sword and lifting it high in a pose.

"Keep dreaming." Reimu said bluntly as she started floating down the hallway. "You coming?" Reimu asked before shooting off down the massive hallway. "Well we've come this far." Marisa said before shooting off after Reimu, Vaati holding onto her broom for dear life as Cirno followed them.

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Were they seriously struggling?

Omega E The Reader: It would seem like it.

WildMath55: Well, no point in arguing.

Sin Count: 23

Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)

The halls were practically empty as the four flew through the halls, and it was quiet as they ascended through the mansion, not a single fairy or opponent in sight. "This is both boring… and unsettling" Marisa said as she and Vaati flew alongside Reimu. "I most likely blew up all the fairies for now back down stairs, you had pretty much the entire mansion staff on you three." Reimu stated as Cirno caught up to them, having been lagging behind a bit.

"You do know that now that you've talked about it we are going to be attacked right?" Vaati mentioned. "Come on this mansion is huge, I highly doubt there is someone in our way, it's just us and the one at the top of the mansion." Marisa said, tempting fate.

The four remained silent for a moment, Vaati and Cirno a little more aware, not that it helped as neither could sense anything at all, as neither knew how to, so they tried to rely on eyes and ears.

After a flew minutes of flying nothing happened, prompting Marisa to make a quip. "See, nothing!" She shouted. Suddenly Reimu stopped and threw up a barrier, Marisa and Vaati slamming into it as several silver knives hit the barrier. "Be glad I saw that Marisa." Reimu stated as the knives fell a few hundred feet to the floor.

As Marisa righted herself she turned around to glare at Vaati, who had a smug grin on his face as Cirno tried to keep from laughing. "Shut up." She said as she turned around to face the hallway, more knives shooting out of the darkness at the four, as they scattered to avoid them.

"Those aren't danamaku, those are real knives!" Reimu shouted as she saw them fly past her. "You mean we are fighting someone who isn't following the rules!" Marisa shouted back as large waves of knives flew past them, growing more and more numerous with each wave as they advanced forward.

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Why is Sakuya going against the rules? This is so OoC for her.

WildMath55: I'd say this issue will later be addressed in my head canon via Sengoku Gensokyo. But yeah, I concur on this particular part. SG hasn't even created yet.

Sin Count: 24

Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)

"Seems like it, be on guard." Reimu said as they flew past the knives. "What do you think we are doing!" Cirno shouted back as she froze some of the knives in ice, not noticing as they disappeared afterwards. The three just kept on dodging as Vaati hung on trying to avoid getting a knife anywhere important. "I feel like the universe hates us right now." Vaati proclaimed out loud as Marisa dodged a set of knives. "You and me both for once." Marisa said.

They continued like this for a few minutes, flying forward and dodging knives, but they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. "This is ridiculous; I think we've been going in circles!" Marisa yelled as they kept on dodging the silver cutlery.

"I'm inclined to agree with you Marisa." Reimu said as she threw a senbon into a nearby wall. The four flying on for a few minutes before they ended up passing the senbon again. "I knew it!" Marisa yelled. "However is there, come out or we will use force." Reimu said, watching the halls as the knives stopped flying at them.

"Are you not already forcing yourselves into the Mistress's mansion?" Someone said as the trio flew back to back, watching to halls as a silver haired girl in a maid outfit appeared in front of Reimu. "Nice trick, you a youkai?" Reimu asked as she threw a senbon at the girl, who caught it, Reimu noting the lack of any burning unlike with Meiling.

"I am a human, and you are trespassing in the mansion, perhaps I should use you as the mistress's dinner." The girl said as she readied several knives in her hands. "I don't think she's joking." Vaati said, the vibe he was getting from this girl very off note. Not even bothering to wait for her opponents the girl threw her knives, everyone moving to scatter as suddenly the few knives she had thrown turned into hundreds of knives, startling everyone.

"WOAH!" "WATCH OUT!" "That's not normal…" the trio said all at once as Cirno froze several knives to try and use as a shield, but they disappeared as soon as she froze them. "What the heck!" Cirno shouted as she went back to dodging knives, the girl not dignifying any of them with a response as knives that flew past them disappeared only for her hand to fill with knives again.

Vaati watched as the knives that missed them disappeared as the girl kept resupplying… the trick seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it. He was thinking about it as Marisa started returning fire at the girl with magic missiles as Cirno and Reimu fired icicles and ofuda respectively.

As they fought with the girl Vaati kept thinking about where he had seen the disappearing and reappearing act before, thinking back to Patchouli's tea cup… how it had just appeared out of nowhere. 'A maid that can do some sort of teleporting trick? Compared to everything else that seems rather reasonable.' Vaati thought.

"Everyone she's using some sort of teleporting trick to resupply, see's using the knives she's throwing over again!" Vaati shouted at them as Cirno continued to try and flash freeze knives for cover, the knives disappearing before she could even use them as cover.

"That's nice, BUT THAT DOESN'T HELP RIGHT NOW!" Marisa shouted as she kept firing, the girl seeming to move out of the way of each shot at the last second and reappearing else where with more knives at the ready. "As if that's the best you can come up with." The girl responded to Vaati's shouting as she threw even more knives.

"This girl is a knife nut." Reimu complained as she decided to fire on the knives rather then at the girl, knocking them out of the sky with her ofuda, but the girl just kept getting them back each time she hit them, but only large groups at once.

'Is she really teleporting them… what else could she be doing?' Reimu thought as she observed the girl and her allies, watching as Cirno's attempts to freeze knives kept disappearing as Marisa couldn't hit the girl.

"Guess it's time to take a different course." Reimu mentioned as she active her floating powers, floating herself away from reality as the World seemed to turn grey, all except her and the girl, who were still in color as she rapidly threw knives a few at a time before snapping her fingers and time unfroze, the color returning as Marisa and Cirno kept dodging, the girl stopping time to smash her knives out of Cirno's ice or move position constantly, not realizing that Reimu was with her.

"So that's it, your stopping time, one heck of a party trick there." Reimu said while time was frozen, the girl seizing up for a moment before turning to Reimu, Reimu noticing that the girl's previously silver eyes were currently red.

"So you've found me out, how are you not frozen?" The girl asked. "Tell me your name and I'll tell you." Reimu asked as the girl continued placing knives even while they spoke. "I am Sakuya Izayoi, head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, that is all you need to know." Sakuya said as she unfroze time, Marisa gawking at Reimu noticing she had moved just like the girl was doing.

Omega E The Reader: Wait, is it even possible for Reimu to realize someone is stopping time?

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Well it's less she figured out and more like "she can somehow fly out of time and figured it out once she flew out". The main issue is that Reimu never did such a thing as far as I know.

WildMath55: How about floating out of reality? This is why in my head canon, there are quite a number of characters that are resistant to temporal powers, Reimu included. But that will happen way later, so the point still stands here.

Sin Count: 25

Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)

"She's stopping time to throw and gather her knives, all of you get back, I'll handle this!" Reimu shouted as Cirno backed off, Marisa not one to back down flying ahead with Vaati on her broom. "Dammit Marisa." Reimu complained as the Girl stopped time again, this time actually catching Reimu in it as she gathered her knives and unfroze time as she was in front of Reimu.

Reimu was startled as Marisa looked for where the maid had disappeared to, thinking fast and blocking the girls attempt to swipe at her with knives with her purification rod, the two clashing for a moment before she frozen time again, leaving Reimu and Sakuya the only ones unfrozen.

"Gonna fight me on even ground?" Reimu asked as she placed her Purification rod on her back, pulling out two senbon to use as blades as the girl drew several knives, making the imitation of claws. In a flash the two clashed, Sakuya constantly starting and stopping time to throw knives at Reimu who kept dodging.

To Marisa, Vaati and Cirno it was like the two were teleporting, only appearing in a flash in several different locations clashing with senbon and knives. "That's Reimu for you, always the prodigy." Marisa complained as the two fought, as Cirno and Vaati gawked.

Eventually the two stopped clashing, floating before the spectators with time unfrozen. "It seems I can not best you Shrine maiden." Sakuya said as the two were somewhat evenly matched. Sakuya glanced to the side formulating a plan as Reimu threw out some senbon at her, drawing more to use as blades. Sakuya however just dodged to the side and threw her current set of knives at Reimu, more appearing in her hands as Reimu copped her dodging. "But while I have all my knives, you only have limited tools." Sakuya taunted at Reimu, who realized she was right.

'Gonna have to end this fast.' Reimu thought as she and Sakuya clashed once more, not realizing as Sakuya stopped time for just a moment to throw a single knife each at Marisa and Cirno, unfreezing time as Reimu heard a yelp from her allies, seeing a frozen knife in front of Cirno and Marisa ducking…

And Vaati with the knife aimed at Marisa in the middle of his chest, bleeding. "boll… coks…" was all he had to say as he past out, his grip on Marisa's broom slackening as he fell off, unconscious from the pain. "VAATI!" Cirno yelled as he fell, speeding after him as Reimu gasped, Sakuya using the chance to slash at her, getting a cut on Reimu's cheek.

Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: That was rude. I mean, this is in direct violation of the Spell Card Rules, right?

Omega E The Reader: I am more surprised Reimu hasn't reprimanded Sakuya for violating the rule.

WildMath55: Well, I guess I better prepare for the time when Flan appear, then.

Sin Count: 26

Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)

"If I can't have all of you, I will take a constellation prize for my mistress." Sakuya stated as Vaati fell head first, Cirno speeding after him with Marisa and Reimu in shock.

(To Be Contiuned!)

AN: Ladies and Spies, the first cliffhanger ever in this story, expect one an arc, but will Vaati be ok? Will Cirno save him, Will Sakuya kick everyone's asses? Find out in the next Chapter!