AN: I do not own Touhou Project, it belongs to team Shanghai Alice, aka ZUN.
Scarlet Formam Diaboli
(Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil)
(Part 5)
(Stage Continue!)
Cirno shot after Vaati, the falling teen not falling as fast as she could fly, flying under him and creating a sheet of ice under him, righting the fallen teen and slowing his decent to a halt as Cirno brought herself and him to the ground. Floating up to his chest she looked at the knife in it and his labored breathing, fearing for her mentor's life.
And while she worried for Vaati in the sky Marisa had joined Reimu against Reimu, avenging the one she had caused to fall, not that she would ever admit it as Sakuya had to contest with Reimu's senbon and Marisa's broom, the deadly dance in the sky filled with knives, senbon and magic missiles as the three combatants fought one final time.
Sakuya parried Reimu's senbon with her knife as she stopped time to avoid Marisa's broom and magic, her powers could only stop Marisa, and the angry magician was making herself a bigger threat then the Shrine maiden while time was unpaused. She had no time to try and strike Marisa as Reimu slashed at her arm, her cheek still bleeding from when Sakuya took a slash at it.
Unable to focus she restarted time, throwing an array of knives at both Marisa and Reimu, who dodged before attacking her in tandem, Marisa's powerful strikes bending her silver knives as Reimu's senbon were held back by three knives. Doing a high kick she kicked one of Reimu's senbon out of her hands and stabbed a knife into Reimu's other hand, causing her to drop the other senbon before grabbing onto Marisa's broom and using it as a pole to swing on to kick both the witch and the shrine maiden.
Reimu, pulled the knife out of her hand, screaming in pain as she looked up at the maid that was kicking their asses, Marisa abandoning any subtlety of performance as she pulled out her Hakkero and unleashed an instant Master spark, fueled by her rage.
Sakuya simply stopped time and dodged it, a smug grin on her face as Marisa kept rapid firing small master sparks at her. "STOP CHEATING AND FIGHT!" Marisa yelled, angry at the maid. "Why would I do that when I'm winning, I am simply doing my duties to keep unwanted pests away from my mistress.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Why is Sakuya such a bitch, in this part?
Omega E The Readerr: Why is she a cheater?
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: No idea, and her characterization completely changes in the next arc.
WildMath55: I don't think ruthless is the right word here...
Sin Count: 27
Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)
Cirno looked at Vaati for a moment tears in her eyes as she turned angrily at Sakuya. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR DUTY!" She shouted, forming a large sword made of ice as she shot up at Sakuya, attempting to slash at her as the maid simply stopped time and dodged it, kicking Cirno in the face a second later.
"I can go on forever, you can not." Sakuya said as she formed a magical barrier to stop the senbon Reimu had thrown at her as Marisa launched another Master spark that she stopped time to dodge. "I WILL GO ON FOREVER IF I HAVE TO!" Cirno shouted, fueled by her rage at Sakuya's nonchalant attitude about the situation.
As Cirno kept slashing at Sakuya, who kept toying with the fairy Marisa ran over to Vaati, ripping his shirt off and pulling the knife out of his chest, electing a gasp of pain as he awoke, coughing up blood as Marisa pulled out a potion.
"Drink it, NOW!" Marisa shouted, shoving the bottle into Vaati's hand, not aware it was his bad one as she pulled a roll of bandages out from her pocket and lifting him up slightly to wrap the roll around his chest to stop the bleeding. "Wrong… arm…" Vaati coughed out as Marisa grabbed the bottle and pulled to cork off, laying Vaati back down and force feeding him the contents.
"Stay down, that will help you heal that wound." Marisa said, all cockiness and playfulness erased from her voice as Vaati lay back down, cold from the sheet of ice he was laying on as Reimu and Cirno continued fighting the maid as Marisa went back up to join them. Vaati passing back out as she flew up.
Cirno saw engaging Sakuya still as Reimu was firing at her with ofuda and Marisa angrily with real magic instead of Danamaku, if she couldn't be bothered to play by the rules she wouldn't either.
Sakuya toyed with the trio by enough was enough as she disappeared from view, the three fighters looking for her a they heard a sharp whistle. Cirno looking angrly at Vaati's positon in shock, seeing the teen now being lain against a wall with Sakuya holding several knifes over him, ready to throw them.
"Surrender or he dies." Straight and to the point. Reimu floated down not willing to sacrifice a human as Marisa and Cirno angrily floated down after her, not happy about her unfair tactics.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: This is just wrong on so many levels. Sakuya would NEVER resort to such dirty tricks in a Spell Card battle.
WildMath55: Temporal power is still acceptable if canon is any indication.
Sin Count: 28
Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)
"Now you will leave this place and never return, got it? I have things to attend to." Sakuya said as Marisa and Cirno angrily scowled at her, Cirno's grip on her makeshift ice blade tightening as she wanted to stab Sakuya so bad. This did not go unnoticed by the maid.
"I will be keeping this man here, if any of you come back in, you know what will happen, now leave." Sakuya said as she and Vaati disappeared, leaving the trio along in the massive hall. "VAATI!" Cirno yelled, stabbing her blade into the wall where Sakuya was formerly standing. Reimu placed her hand on Cirno's shoulder, trying to guide her in the opposite direction, but recoiled when she saw ice forming on her hand just from touching the angry fairy.
"There is nothing we can be, we have to regroup, we can't take her on like we are now." Reimu said to Cirno, but she would not listen, her expression on of pure anger as she tried to think of some way, any way to save her mentor.
Marisa however had calmed down just enough for her to not think exclusively about murdering that maid, remembering what someone else in the mansion had said. "The lady in the library… I don't think she would stand for her new apprentice to be dead by the hands of the maid." Marisa said, thinking back to the short conversation with Patchouli, the one she had almost instantly flown away from after finding out about the clock tower.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: See? Not only is it OoC for Sakuya to do this, but this is also straight up idiotic since it will just piss off Patchouli. Who technically OUTRANKS HER, by the way.
WildMath55: Yeah. Good thing I further reinforced this point by giving H-Patchouli her own army that is independent from Scarlet Defense Army headed by Remilia.
Sin Count: 28 (unchanged)
Sue Cirno Count: 2 (unchanged)
Reimu was skeptical about what Marisa had said but went along with it, following the magician as she sped down the hall towards the great library, Cirno staying for a few seconds longer to clench her fly after them. "I'm not about to let you die, not after what you've done to help me, even as your injured."
In the top of the clock tower the vampire Remilia sat in her chair, looking at the open red sky above her, before looking at the boy Sakuya had left in the chair across from her, the bleeding red bandage from an obvious knife wound on his chest, still out cold laying in the chair.
"I do not understand why you did not just do what you normally do to other humans Sakuya, why bring him to me?" Remilia asked her loyal maid. "My apologized lady Remilia but this human was with lady Patchouli when I brought her tea, I did not catch the entire conversation, but she seemed to be offering him something." Sakuya said, bowing to her mistress.
"Carry on with your duties, and when you find the time tell Patchy to join us up here." Remilia said, dismissing her head maid. Bowing again to Remilia Sakuya disappeared as Remilia looked at the human across from her.
"So many strings of fate attached to you, for someone so frail, there are almost as many here as there are on Patchouli…" Remilia observed drawing on her power of fate. She had always boasted about how she could manipulate fate, that was how she had gotten her beloved maid Sakuya, but in reality it was much harder to manipulate fate then it seemed.
"I can't just manipulate your fate now can I, you're to important in the grand scheme of things, just like Patchy and my poor gate guard." Remilia mumbled, resisting the temptation to dig her teeth into the injured human. "You are not destined to become a vampire, yet destined to become immortal, to live until the end of time and beyond… such an interesting human, for one that I have never met. But what kind of immortal?" Remilia asked herself, stepping out of her chair and walking around the human, the short vampire girl with greyish blue hair and a white dress pulling on one of Vaati's stands of fate, one connected to herself.
Omega E The Reader: Wait why isn't she important in this grand scheme?
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: And why is the Chinese punching bag at the gate more important in the grand scheme of things than Sakuya?
Omega E The Reader: Hell! Why are REIMU and MARISA NOT IMPORTANT?! They are the main characters of the Touhou series and should be involved in this grand scheme!
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: About Marisa, more on that later, as she IS actually listed as someone important on the grand scheme of things. But for now, 20 sins for Sakuya and Remilia not being important in the grand scheme of things.
WildMath55: 9 points on Sue Cirno Count since she's also important in said grand scheme.
Sin Count: 48
Sue Cirno Count: 11
"It's hard to manipulate fate, but you wouldn't know… I can only manipulate the string of fate of those connected to me. Now let's see what your fate entails…" Remilia said observing the string. It was a simple strand, one that had said they would meet here, and he would be angry at her and Sakuya… that would not do for her, she wanted a nice conversation, after all if he was to be Patchy's apprentice, he would be seeing a lot of her in future times.
"Let's change this up a bit, shall we." Remilia said as she grasped the strand, it struggling against her will, but it was a very weak strand of fate, one easy enough to manipulate. He would only be mad at Sakuya… everything else would be left to chance, it would cause to much havoc to change much else.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Did the author make Sakuya act uncharacteristically bitchy just to have Vaati hate her?
Omega E The Reader: In fact I am just wondering if the author HATES Sakuya?
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Maybe.
WildMath55: Among my favorite Touhou characters, Sakuya is definitely in the Top 3.
Sin Count: 49
Sue Cirno Count: 11 (unchanged)
Letting go of the strand she walked back over to her chair, jumping up onto it as she waited for him to wake once more, sipping her cup of tea. She already had two people destined for greatness by her side… surely a third would be great as well.
The trio entered the library, Koakuma once again directing fairies in organizing books from the knocked over shelves. Reimu was amazed as Marisa kept her kleptomania in check and they snuck past the fairies and Koakuma, quickly and quietly running towards the back of the library.
Sitting at the table surrounded by books was Patchouli, sipping a new cup of tea as she looked to the side, seeing Marisa, Cirno and a shrine maiden walking up, raising an eyebrow at the lack of Vaati. "Dare I ask where my future apprentice is, rat?" Patchouli asked, throwing a slight insult at Marisa unaware of the situation.
"The head maid got him, and it's my fault. Last we saw him she tried using him as leverage to get us to leave before disappearing with him, he's bleeding Patchouli, he got a knife to the chest, and it's my fault." Marisa said, Reimu's mouth actually dropping open at the lack of anything snarky or any lies in her explanation.
"That would explain why there is ice forming around the edges of my book cases." Patchouli said as the trio could see her breath as she spoke, the temperature dropping rapidly as Cirno's anger and sadness continued building. 'Well… that's unexpected…' Patchouli thought as she observed the Ice fairy, the ice in the room starting to build slowly as temperatures continued dropping.
"I assume you came to me because I would not wish to lose my future student to the maid of the household, yes?" A quick nodded from Marisa confirmed her suspicions. "Then I believe it is time I left the library, come, I hope that Sakuya will allow me past her to see Remilia." Patchouli said as she floated out of her chair, Marisa nodding as she started floating with them as they left the library, Koakuma catching them leaving and sending an angry glare at Cirno, only to yelp in fear as a spear of ice nearly impaled her, sending the scared little devil back to her duties.
As the group of four entered the foyer they saw Sakuya standing at the top of the stairs leading to the hall way, Cirno instantly forming a spear of ice and throwing it at Sakuya, who simply dodged out of the way of it. "I thought I told you to leave, what are you doing with them lady Patchouli?" Sakuya asked as Cirno send another spear of ice at her, it shattering against the wall as she dodged, waiting for Patchouli's answer.
"It seems you have stabbed my future apprentice Sakuya, and I want him in the best condition he can be when we start our studies… and considering he is nearly as frail as I am…" Patchouli left hanging as Sakuya's eyes slowly grew wider as she indulged in the information before shaking it off. "Regardless he was an intruder, and dealt with the way intruders are, I severe lady Remilia, not you lady Patchouli so if I have to fight all of you to keep lady Remilia's plans undisturbed so be it." Sakuya proclaimed as she drew knives out of her pockets Marisa and Cirno glaring at her angrily as they prepared fro their rematch with the maid, Marisa grabbing her Hakkero and Cirno reforming a sword of ice and grabbing her plastic sword off her back and flash freezing it into an ice sword, giving her dual blades. Reimu grabbing her purification rod off her back as Patchouli opened her book of spells.
"So be it." As Sakuya said that she floated off the ground, knives surronding her and spinning as Cirno and Marisa glared are her harshly. "You do not know my full powers of Space, and Time." Sakuya stated as within an instant she in in front of Cirno, trying to hit her with a knife but pulling back when the freezing temperatures Cirno was excluding flash froze her arm.
"How…" Sakuya wondered out loud. 'how does a fairy have this much power?' she thought. "It appears what you have done to anger her has made her stronger Sakuya, I rate your performance a twenty-three out of ninety-six." Patchouli said, making her observation as she pointed her finger at Sakuya, a stream of water shooting out that flash froze as it simply past over Cirno, forming a stream of ice that Sakuya flipped out of the way of, stopping time and throwing a few hundred knives at the four. Marisa and Reimu dodged out of the way as the knives froze and fell like rocks as they got close to Cirno, Patchouli blocking the ones thrown at her with a barrier.
Sakuya growled as she stopped time to gather her knives, unable to gather the ones by Cirno as the sub zero temperatures kept her at bay. Throwing knives all around Cirno she trapped her in a literal barrier of knives as she flipping back onto the upper floor of the foyer as she unfroze time, watching in shock as the knives froze solid and fell to the floor around Cirno.
"Fine then, if that's how you want to play it." Sakuya said as she dodged red danamaku from Patchouli and magic missiles from Marisa, stopping as some senbon implanted into the wall in front of her, flipping over them and stopping time, throwing an array of knives at them as she advanced on Marisa, hoping to take at least on of them out of the fight.
The knives she had left flew forward as she unfroze time right in front of Marisa, startling the witch as she barely blocked her stab with her broom, Cirno running up behind her and swinging her ice blades, Sakuya scowling as ice formed on her back just from being near the subzero temperatures of Cirno, but it was a double edged sword as Ice formed on Marisa's broom and arm, causing her to yelp as she stopped time and flipped out of the way, gathering her frozen knives Cirno had left unguarded.
Omega E The Reader: Canonically Sakuya would have EASILY wiped the floor with Cirno.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Cirno is getting too strong too fast.
Omega E The Reader: Getting strong too quickly is signs of a Mary Sue.
WildMath55: Put that point in, Omega E, OverLord.
Sin Count: 50
Sue Cirno Count: 12
'If I can't hit the witch or the fairy, and I can't hit lady Patchouli, then I'll take out the shrine maiden.' Sakuya thought as she ran behind Reimu, not even suspicious as she threw knives at her back, unfreezing time.
The knives landed in Reimu's back, Marisa and Cirno letting out a gasp as Reimu fell to the floor, about to grow even angrier as 'Reimu' exploded into a cloud of ofuda, the paper seals swirling around as Sakuya gasped as they flew at her. Running away and stopping time to avoid them… not noticing as she ended up with her feet caught in two pentagons of ofuda, looking down and gasping as she saw the trap, unfreezing time as everyone heard a voice… Reimu's voice.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: That is a rather lame reenactment of the end of the Memories of Phantasm fight against Sakuya.
Omega E the Reader: I am wondering why hasn't Reimu use this more often against Sakuya in later games anyways?
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Or against anyone, for that matter.
Omega E The Readerr: But in all actuality, Sakuya would most likely not fall for that trick because she has time powers to prevent herself from being caught.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: This is all so stupid.
WildMath55: Like I said, there will be many in my head canon that can counter Sakuya. But it will be way later.
Sin Count: 51
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
"I knew we would encounter you again, so I decided to prepare a little something just before we left the library. And you feel right for it." Reimu stated as everyone looked at the second floor of the foyer, Reimu standing at the top of the stairs leading up to the hallway. Reimu looked at Cirno, who nodded she she ran at Sakuya, the maid freezing time as Cirno was feet away from her, raising her arm to throw some knives at her.
But her arm was caught, looking up she gasped as she saw the glowing ofuda surrounding her arm, locking her in place. A fourth chain of ofuda locking her other arm in place, leaving her at the mercy of the angry ice fairy.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: You see that moment? This is where Reimu peaks out. It'll only go downhill from there on, for her.
WildMath55: It's kinda insulting, indeed. Heck, I actually put Reimu on the same strength as my flagship OC/Author Avatar hybrid, Yasei! Currently, none of them can gain a definite win against each other. That's how much I respect her status as Touhou Main Character.
Sin Count: 51 (unchanged)
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
Unfreezing time Cirno brought her the sword with the plastic one in it to her neck, not strike her down despite having a reason to do so. "As immoral as you are, you need to think about what you've done. Be thankful that she isn't going to kill you, if you had killed her mentor, she, Marisa and I would not have stayed her hand." Reimu said, remembering the plan they had formed with Patchouli to deal with Sakuya. Out of all of them she knew Vaati the least, but allowing another human to get away with murdering another was out of the question. She would have stayed Cirno's hand either way, but it was a way to get Sakuya to think about what she had done, using her actions against her.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: I'm pretty sure that Reimu should be angrily chastising Sakuya about being in direct violation of the Spell Card Rules.
WildMath55: Or just outright blasting Fantasy Heaven at her. That should render her immune to temporal manipulation.
Sin Count: 51 (unchanged)
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
Sakuya watched as Marisa, Patchouli and Reimu went down the hall, leaving her and Cirno alone. Cirno got in close to her, Sakuya helpless as ice started to form on her cheek from the proximity between her and Cirno. "I want to hurt you so badly for what you did to him, even if it was just a single knife. But I'm not going to, because that's not what he would have wanted. He's fine with fighting, but killing someone is off limits… and I'm not a servant, he's my friend and my mentor. He taught me about how fair fights work, and you don't fight fair. And I'm not you, so I'll fight fair. And one day, I'll beat you, on my own, on equal ground."
Cirno then flew after her allies, leaving Sakuya alone trapped by the ofuda. "What the heck did you do to the poor guy?" Sakuya looked to her left, seeing Meiling at the door. "I ended up hitting him with a knife when that witch ducked." "You gloated about it, didn't you, I mean I accidently hit him in the nose when Marisa ducked, but I apologized and got him out of there afterwards so I could have a fair fight with Marisa." Meiling said, leaning against the door.
At the very least Sakuya had the dignity to look sorry right then and there. "Cut me down… please?" Meiling just laughed as she went and grabbed one of the many knifes littered on the floor to cut Sakuya down.
Remilia had dozed of for a moment when she heard a slight groan from her guest, opening her eyes she watched as the teen in front of her. Slowly he raised he arm to his head, feeling like he had been stabbed in the chest. Opening his eyes Vaati saw a little girl in a white dress with a white mop cap, with red eyes and blue hair. But her most striking detail was the pair of bat wings on her back.
"I… would guess… your Remilia…" Vaati struggled to get out, looking down at his chest and seeing the red bandages as the memories of the battle with Sakuya came back to him, remembering the knife ending up in his chest when Marisa ducked.
Remilia placed her arms on the table, laying her head on her arms before speaking. "And your Vaati, but not really are you?" Vaati opened his eyes wider as he mustered the will to give a small glare at Remilia, but she lifted her head and raised her hand. "Who you used to be in the outside world no longer matters, your Vaati now aren't you?" Remilia said. Vaati slacken as he looked at the little girl before him.
"Why am I here?" "That's a good question, my maid, Sakuya brought you here after she found out you were Patchy's future apprentice, she wouldn't want me mad as her for her accidently killing my best friend's apprentice." Remilia lied, she had looked at his fate to find that one out… but he didn't need to know that.
Vaati laid back in the chair he was in a bit, looking up and sky, seeing the red clouds above them. "Why did you cause this?" Vaati asked, referring to the scarlet clouds above them. "O this? I just wanted to go outside during the day, so I covered the sky in scarlet mist to let me, the sun wouldn't kill me, but I prefer being able to use my powers rather then being weak in the sun." Remilia said. "Out of everyone I've talked to here, only your head maid and the little devil seemed to be openly hostile." Vaati said, more or less asking why that was.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Actually, the sun does burn vampires in Touhou. They don't instantly turn to ashes, but it still burns.
WildMath55: In my case, the Scarlets will gain resistance to sunburn by participating in Soccer tournaments consistently. I'm not kidding here, we all see how Flandre is trained to build her water resistance by Okina in order to face Yuuma in Touhou Gouyoku Ibun.
Sin Count: 52
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
"They are dedicated to their duties… a little to dedicated to their jobs." Remilia said, trying to describe Koakuma and Sakuya. Vaati nodded, not showing that inwardly he was quite mad at Sakuya, but Remilia already knew that.
"Now then, I know that Patchouli asked you to be her apprentice, but why is that." Remilia was in full 'business mode' as Sakuya had once addressed it. It was hard being grown up, so except in special times like this, she never had to act like it.
"To be honest, I don't know why she asked me, I just told her that I had been teaching Cirno and she had offered to teach me if I could give her the one thing she did not have in the mansion." Vaati replied to Remilia. "And you offered yourself as an apprentice, someone for her to pass knowledge onto and to give a new perspective in her magical research." Remilia answered, Vaati nodded at her.
"Do want to know what I think? I think it was fate that she offered to teach you, and fate that you accepted." Remilia revealed. "I would take a famous quote to never put any stock in destiny hogwash." Vaati said, trying to roll his eyes. "Fate and destiny are two different things, and I know it was fate for that is my power, manipulation of fate." Remilia said, watching as Vaati's eyes went slightly wider.
"Fate does not always bring good tidings, if what has been happening to me is any indication." Vaati said. "Then do you intend to challenge the bad fates you may receive, and come out on top?" Remilia asked. "I will challenge my fate if it dooms me so, and you will not hold sway over my fate." Vaati said, knowing full well that if this little vampire could keep that maid in line then she was not one to trifle with.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: I didn't get any of that.
Omega E the Reader: Somethng something something something fate. Something something fate is not bad or something.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: The author didn't even fully explain what's the difference between "fate" and "destiny". And it won't be the last time that the author says that two just about synonymous things are different without properly explaining it. More on that later.
WildMath55: Even The Outsider by Savato93 did a better job at explaining the difference. That's why I re-post said story, since it's truly a hidden gem. Perhaps you might want to check it out, OverLord.
Sin Count: 53
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
"Such spirit for one such as you. I like it." Remilia said. "Then I will let you do so, you can feel free to challenge your own fate as it comes to pass, but I want to ask you something." "Yes?" Remilia got up from her chair and walked up to Vaati, lifting up his hand, his fingers ever so slightly blue at the tips. "You fight so hard for her, even though you use not magic, but words and kindness. Yet in return her power is slowly killing you, and you've realized this, yet in kindness do nothing to stall it."
"I promised to teach her, and teach her I will. She is my friend, and I will do what I can to help her." Vaati replied as Remilia let go of his hand. "You will not last long mortal, she would be so sad if you died." "And I don't intend to." Vaati said, locking eyes with Remilia. "Such fire for someone like you, and I still like it. I hope that you succeed it altering your destiny." "My destiny, not fate?"
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Remember that moment where Vaati says he doesn't intend to die.
WildMath55: This will be important later.
Sin Count: 53 (unchanged)
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
"Fate shows what you will do, but only you and those around you can control your destiny." Remilia said, ending their conversation with a cryptic note. "Let's see if your companions share the same resolve." Remilia said, leaving Vaati outside at the table as she walked inside the clock tower. She had a small gang of 'heroes' to confront.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Still doesn't properly explain the difference between "destiny" and "fate".
WildMath55: Like I said, The Outsider did a better job at that.
Sin Count: 54
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
Patchouli, Reimu, Cirno and Marisa walking into the bell tower, seeing the little girl floating before the clock face. "So you've finally arrived, you are here to stop me, and Patchy I thought better of you." Remilia said. "I want my apprentice back Remi, after all I have much to teach him, we've yet to even start." Patchouli said to Remilia, opening her book as she got into position to fight. "I want to save Vaati, and to be the strongest!" Cirno shouted, joining Patchouli as she drew her plastic sword, flash freezing it into ice.
"In the name of Gensokyo and for the honor of the Hakurei shrine, I must end this scarlet mist!" Reimu shouted, floating next to Cirno and Patchouli. "Well I wanted to one up Reimu, but not I'm going one up her and get Vaati back!" Marisa shouted as she got on her broom next to Cirno, the four lined up ready for battle.
"Then let the games begin heroes!" Remilia shouted as the clock struck twelve, the loud gong of the bell tower giving way as the roof flew off it revealing the scarlet sky as Remilia flew upwards into it, the four allies flying after her as she started by firing an array of scarlet danamaku. "Finally someone following the rules!" Reimu let out as she was I the lead, dodging the first wave as Marisa flew past her, Cirno floated in front of Patchouli and froze the bullets, providing Patchouli a bit of cover as she flew out to join Reimu and Marisa.
BGM: Mystical Chain: Remilia's and Flandre's Battle Theme
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: This theme only works if Flandre is part of the battle. Which she is not.
WildMath55: Semantics aside, I'm actually a music appreciator myself. I think I'll check this out.
Sin Count: 55
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
"Enjoy my first test Heroes! DIVINE PUNISHMENTL YOUNG DEMON LORD!" From around Remilia an array of blue lasers shot from the sky, everyone moving to dodge them as Remilia starting firing round after round of bullets in a spiral, the bullets spinning in alignment towards the heroes.
They all ended up separated as the lasers cut them off in a diamond shape, each of the four trapped within their own diamond of lasers. Reimu dodged the bullets as she was closest to Remilia before returning fire, using homing ofuda to get a few hits on her. Marisa and Cirno were both equally as far away from Remilia, dodging the array of bullets as they returned fire, Cirno and Marisa both using blue and green danamaku respectively, Remilia dodging them as a yellow danamaku hit her from behind, Patchouli's spell having boomeranged back at her with Remilia even noticing she had fired. "Spirit sign, FANTASY SEAL!" Reimu shouted, four colorful orbs surrounding her as they fired, canceling out most of Remilia's spell card, and slamming into the little Vampire.
Remilia smiled despite the singing she received from Reimu, stopping her spell card before firing off an array of lasers around her in a circle, followed by several small danamaku shots in each lane she had created. For Marisa and Reimu, dodging the danamaku was fairly easy, but Cirno decided to Flash freeze the danamaku in her and Patchouli's lanes, to give them some cover.
"Your creative little fairy, but can you four withstand this! HELL SIGN! MOUNTAIN OF A THOUSAND NEDDLES!" A large shield of red danamaku needles surrounded Remilia obscuring her from view as shots started randomly firing from the shield. The team dodging left right and center as the shots flew at random. Patchouli had put up a shield to block shots coming at her, but also to gather power. "Water Sign, Bury in lake." Patchouli quietly proclaimed as an array of lasers shot out from beside her, opening a path between her and Remilia as her spell canceled out path of her shield. Patchouli gave a small smile as she fired several large blue danamaku through the path, giving Remilia no space to dodge as she flew there and took it, both of them canceling their spell cards shortly there after.
"Well it appears the librarian has some nice counters to me, but now for my next trick!" Remilia stated as she skipped firing off an array of danamaku, the four allies gathering together for her next spell card. "GOD ART! VAMPIRE ILLUSION!"
Around the four allies several lines of red danamaku shots formed, but the gaps were big enough to pass through, not that it helped when the closely packed large red shots were fired by Remilia, down each chain of danamaku. "Back off, get as far away from them as you can and then try to dodge them!" Marisa shouted, seeing the chains spreading out farther down the sky.
The four flew fast with the danamaku hot on their tail, but just barely they got in between the large shots, but not without getting grazed as Marisa's hat lost it's edges, Patchouli lost on of her sleeves, Cirno's sword of ice got cut in half but she reformed it as Reimu, who was in the back, lost both her sleeves.
"My turn, I got this covered, leave it to me!" Cirno shouted, pulling out her own spell card. "Freeze Sign! PERFECT FREEZE!" Around Cirno a large amount of white danamaku and blue danamaku appeared, flinging them at Remilia as her spell card was canceled out by Cirno's and while Remilia was dodging the shots, Cirno fired a freezing laser, Remilia seeing it just in time to dodge it just enough that it grazed her clothing, tearing some of it off in the icy ray.
"Alright, you go me there but I got two more spell cards to go!" Remilia having abandoned any grown up mannerisms, acting like the little child she was. "SCARLET SIGN! SCARLET MEISTER!" Remilia just straight up started shooting rapidly, giant red balls of danamaku inter laced with small shots that spread slowly, the large ones moving fast. "Marisa, I'll get you an opening!" Cirno shouted as she flew forward at the shots, flash freezing the small ones to block the large shouts behind them. Marisa grabbing her Hakkero and charging power. Remilia firing more and more large shots to try and break through Cirno's ice barrier, Marisa finishing her charge.
"Outa my way, time to feel my annihilation of love! LOVE SIGN!" Marisa stared as Remilia broke through the ice, Cirno falling back as Remilia rapid fired off a large amount of red danamaku at Marisa, not that it did any good as both Reimu and Patchouli back off behind Marisa. "MASTER SPARK!"
The giant rainbow laser fired at Remilia, the little vampire smiling with glee as she responded with her own Red laser, the two lasers meeting in the middle, struggling for dominance for moment. But the Master Spark was the superior, as Marisa poured her own power into the Hakkero, the Master spark over taking Remilia's laser and engulfing the small vampire, before dying down. "And that's how it's done!" Marisa shouted as Remilia was breathing heavily. "No so fast. I still have one card left!" She shouted.
BGM: [Touhou – UI- 70] Septette for the Dead Princess
"LAST WORD! SCARLET GENSOKYO!" Remilia shouted, drawing power from the clouds, the scarlet clouds dissipating and revealing the night sky… and the moon blood red behind Remilia. "We can't fight back during a last word, but if we outlast it, we win." Reimu said as a large aura of power surrounded Remilia. "I think we've already won; the clouds are gone." Marisa quipped. "But she still has Vaati, if we don't win!" Cirno shouted, bringing up the point of Vaati. "He'll be fine, I promise, now let's win this, I haven't had this much excitement in a hundred years." Patchouli said, happy she had joined this little adventure at the last minute.
Remilia started by firing of a spiral of Large danamaku, and each of those firing off their own shots of small red danamaku. The girls all dodged the shots, knowing one shot would mean they were out. Reimu danced through the shots, cutting between two large danamaku at the cost of her bow. Marisa stood on her broom and went for a joyride, flying rapidly between shots, whooping for joy all the while.
Cirno had put her sword up, flying around shots like crazy, smiling all the while. But patchouli wasn't so lucky, as the slowest of the group she took a direct hit from a large shot, being sent fly down towards the clock tower before righting herself, seeing Vaati watching the spectacle from a table on the roof. Patchouli floated down towards him as the battle continued in the sky.
Reimu got hit next, a stray red shot catching her in the back, leaving Marisa and Cirno alone in the sky as she plummeted towards the roof. Cirno and Marisa continued to dodge shots left and right, the awe inspiring sight of the pure red sky as two dots of blue and yellow danced around in it, a bright red moon illuminating the whole spectacle.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Now they're finishing the fight against Remilia without Reimu? That's BS.
Omega E The Reader: I mean really, Reimu is important in the original EOSD as she was a major character in it.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: And in Touhou overall.
WildMath55: And so important that I made Touhou the center of my head canon. I basically made Gensokyo, Japan, and Earth the Center of the Universe that way.
Sin Count: 56
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Remember how I said that Reimu taking out Sakuya was where Reimu peaks out? Well this right here, this part where Reimu gets knocked out of the fight and fails to witness the very first Combo Spellcard, this is the part where Reimu begins to be a total joke. And it will only get so much worse from now on.
WildMath55: While I admit I kinda nerfed Reimu in my head canon early on (from year 2017 to 2022), especially in year 2019 period via Animal Realm debacle (WbaWC and Gouyoku Ibun), that's me showcasing the increasing level of the threat that Gensokyo will face in order to allow her to get gradual strength increase that will never stop.
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
Remilia's spell timed out, but none of the combatants realized it, and neither did the spectators. Cirno and Marisa collided in mid air, as Remilia kept on firing, tiring quickly. "One final spell should put this to rest." Marisa said, grabbing her Hakkero, looking at Cirno as she gathered icy power in her hands. The two of them flying past Remilia as she looked up at them. "TIME FOR THE GRAND FINALE!" Cirno and Marisa shouted together, the moon behind them turning from red to blue as Remilia floated awed in the sky. "FROZEN LOVE SIGN! FREEZING SPARK!"
Two figures, one black and one blue, floated upside down illuminated by the moon, a large flash of blue the only warning as a massive blue laser firing from the black one, extra power provided by the blue one. On the that moment a friendship had solidified, a bond that had been started by one injured boy bringing the fairy and witch to join forces, now striking together for one final spell, the first Combo Spell Card!
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: While the concept of Combo Spell Cards IS very interesting, it should've been Reimu and Marisa first. In fact, Reimu should've AT LEAST been conscious to witness this marking moment.
WildMath55: It will only be made canon via Violet Detector. In my case however, that's already present as early as year 2006 via Soccer Tournaments. Again, I'm not kidding here.
Sin Count: 56 (unchanged)
Sue Cirno Count: 12 (unchanged)
Remilia floated awed even as the freezing laser engulfed her, the pure power of the laser knocking her out of the sky as in the black night, a figure appeared, grabbing her mistress in the sky before appearing on the roof, Sakuya having stopped her mistress from falling, a smile on Remilia's knocked out form.
Marisa and Cirno floated down to the roof, seeing the gathered party of people there, and seeing Vaati, still shirtless but with his bandages covering him, well and ok, they could forgive her for now.
Omega E The Reader: Seriously? Why did Cirno do the final blow?
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Because everything from now on is total biased BS. In fact, this fic also turned Scarlet Gensokyo into a Timeout even though it canonically isn't (And Then There Were None is the first canonical Timeout). And how did no one realize that the spell timed out?! ALL THE BULLETS DISAPPEAR when the spell times out! And if no one realized it, HOW DID MARISA AND CIRNO EVEN THINK OF DOING THAT COMBO SPELL CARD WHEN ATTACKING IS SUPPOSED TO BE IMPOSSIBLE DURING A TIMEOUT?!
Omega E the Reader: So how many sins for this segment alone?
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: Thirty?
Omega E The Reader: Sure.
WildMath55: 18 on Sue Cirno Count.
Sin Count: 86
Sue Cirno Count: 30
The door to the clock tower slammed open as Meiling stood there, seeing everyone all standing together, and Remilia out cold. "What did I miss?" was all she asked as everyone still conscious on the roof started laughing. Even Sakuya to much everyone's surprise. Remilia smiling form not betraying her mind having seen the bonds of fate one more time before the laser had fired…
'Yes those five are going to do great things, especially once they find the last two bonds of fate.' Had been her last conscious thoughts of the night.
Lunatic-Over'9000'Lord: The five she mentioned are Vaati, Cirno, Marisa, Patchouli and Meiling. Only two are worthy of such a destiny, one is an OC whose later issues should've knocked him straight out of such a position and the remaining two are weakling who are not deserving of such a fate.
WildMath55: If you ask me to create a team of the important six for both Outsiders and Gensokyo, this is my result.
Top Outsiders: Yasei Sugaku (C), Lucy Thesda, Izayoi Sakamaki, Iseya Sugaku, Vaati Star, Sumireko Usami
Incident Resolvers: Reimu Hakurei (C), Marisa Kirisame, Sanae Kochiya, Sakuya Izayoi, Youmu Konpaku, Reisen Udongein Inaba
WildMath55: Four of the Outsiders are OCs, with the Sugakus being my OCs, Lucy being Savato93's OC, and Vaati being this story author's OC. Izayoi is the MC of another series, while Sumireko is a Touhou canon Outsider that managed to shake Gensokyo's balance once. On Gensokyo's side, all listed characters are playables and major characters. I just want to show that there's still someone who appreciate this work regardless of the quality. This also further reinforce my point of Reimu being so OP since ZUN-sama said himself that Reimu has a special place in his heart. Naturally, I will respect the Word of God. Anything less than Equal-Strength Rivalry won't cut it, so that's why Yasei and Reimu are at same power level in my current head canon.
Sin Count: 89
Sue Cirno Count: 30 (unchanged)
(Incident Solved!)
AN: And that is the end to the main Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil arc, little bilingual bonus but each arc is the Latin name of the English translation of the original games, so take a guess what the next arc is going to be called in a review. Hope you enjoyed the first arc of Fugere Illusion: To Escape To Illusion!