After traveling through the cold night sky, Marisa, Suika and I finally make it to our destination. Apparently it was another temple, which Marisa called the Myouren Temple. Pretty amazing, even in my drunken state, to see all these different kinds of temples present in Gensokyo. This temple though was a bit more grand than Reimu's little temple. We landed right at the bottom of the steps leading up into the temple.
I hopped off the broom, as did Suika and Marisa. "Well, now! This place is big," I said with a bit of laughter.
"Nice, ain't it?" Marisa asked.
Suika took a drink from her gourd then wiped her lips of the excess alcohol. "Too big. Temples are supposed to be humble. But what do I know?" she said before taking another drink. She then handed it to me. I reluctantly took it and then drank from it. I then let out a loud belch.
"Nice," Suika said with a thumbs up.
"Well, that probably alerted people that we're here," Marisa stated.
I handed back Suika's gourd. I felt woozy, but still alert. "So we going in or what?" I asked.
Marisa put her hand up to her chin in a thinking pose. "Hmm… I was thinking about raid- err, visiting the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum. What do you think, Suika?" she asked.
"Sounds good to me," Suika answered. A grin then appeared on her face. "We might have to fight our way inside." She made it sound like she was thrilled with the idea.
"A mausoleum? Now that sounds cool," I said.
"Then let's get a move on!" Marisa said excitedly.
As we walked, I observed the temple with a keen eye. It was absolutely stunning the more I looked at it. Made me more and more excited to see how this mausoleum was in comparison. Suika mentioned that we might have to fight our way inside which made me a tad worried considering both I and the oni were close to being quite drunk. We could barely walk straight as it was. Marisa, on the other hand, was doing okay. She led us to what I assumed was going to be the entrance to the mausoleum.
We made it to a graveyard that sat directly west of the temple. I silently apologized to the dead as we walked along their graves. We made our way through the graveyard and it wasn't too long by the time we came to what I was sure was the entrance to the mausoleum. There was someone standing right in front of the closed doors. I wondered if this person was someone we were going to need to fight to get inside. Looking from a distance, the person was a girl. A pretty girl, to be expected. The girl had pale skin such as my own which immediately made me think that maybe she was a vampire unrelated to the Scarlet sisters. But her dark blue eyes made me think differently. She also had dark blue hair while wearing a blue hat with a yellow star. There was something stuck to her forehead. An amulet of some kind? I wasn't sure. She wore a red shirt with a pink trim on the sleeves and a black skirt with the same trim wrapped around it. For some odd reason, she kept her arms out forward as she stood there.
Marisa shouted out to the girl. "Yo!"
The girl took notice of us. She eyed all three of us before settling on me. She then came running towards me. I was feeling dumb and decided to open my arms wide while holding onto a big smile, just ready to give the girl a big hug once she got into range. The girl didn't stop and ran into my grasp. She hit me hard enough to send me backward onto my back. She had grasped me back, holding on tight as we laid there on the ground. My smile widened thanks to the feeling of a pair of breasts pushing up against my chest.
"Well, hello to you too!" I exclaimed. "Guess you like to get up close and personal with your greetings, huh?"
As soon as I had spoken, I felt a sudden, excruciating pain on the side of my neck. Tears of pain rolled from my eyes then I let loose a terrible howl into the night sky. I immediately started to try and break out of the girl's grip.
"Gaaah! She's biting me! She's biting me! Get her off!" I shouted, but both Marisa and Suika were too busy laughing their little asses off to be of any help. "I'll kill you both!"
Then I heard it – the sound of ripping as the skin on the side of my neck was being stretched. Once it was stretched far enough, the girl tore a large chunk of flesh from my neck. She sat on top of me with the chunk of flesh in her bloodied mouth. She then drew the flesh into her mouth then gulped it down. Blood was gushing from my neck, but the terrible wound healed as fast as it was made, but the god awful pain remained. I shoved the girl off of me, sending her tumbling backwards. I quickly got to my feet then slapped Marisa and Suika across the back of their heads, silencing their laughter.
The girl got to her feet, arms out forward once again as she glared at me. "That hurt. What was that for?" she growled at me.
I was shocked by the question. "Are you stupid or something? You just bit a chunk of my neck off and ate it!" I bellowed.
The girl looked shocked herself. "I did? Then that would explain why there's blood on my mouth," she said before wiping her mouth off on her shirt.
Angry, I turned to Marisa and pointed at the girl. "Who the hell is she?" I demanded an answer.
Marisa smiled at me. "She's Yoshika Miyako. She's a jiang shi who guards the entrance to the mausoleum," she informed.
"A jiang what?" I asked.
"A zombie, basically."
I smirked at the word "zombie" and I was about to give the girl shit before remembering I too was an undead. At least I was a cooler type of undead.
I gave the girl a death stare. "Okay, Yoshika. Explain yourself. Why did you bite me all of a sudden?" I demanded.
The girl tilted her head to the side. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" she asked.
"Answer my question first, damn it!" I shouted with a temper.
Marisa tossed her arm over my shoulder. "This guy here is named Isaac. He's the new vampire in town. Heard of him?" she said.
Yoshika tilted her head to the other side. "A new vampire? Isaac? Why should I care?" she said.
"You're a rude dude," I stated irritably.
"Anyways," Marisa began, "We're here to visit the mausoleum. Care to let us in?"
"Nope. Not happening," the rude zombie girl said. She then looked to me again. "Who are you?"
I just stood there befuddled. I leaned towards Marisa and softly spoke. "Is she okay upstairs?"
"This is just the way she is," Marisa stated.
The dead girl took a step forward then stood up straight as can be with her chest puffed out. "I demand that you trespassers leave at once or I will remove you by force," she declared, her eyes looking for a fight.
"Well, there you have it," Suika said. She then shoved me forward. "Have at it, champ."
I stumbled forward right into Yoshika's arms. I almost knocked her over, but I caught her. We then found ourselves staring into each other's eyes. I actually thought about biting her in retaliation for her biting me, but the thought of biting into a zombie didn't sit well with me. Her eyes suddenly started to shine as her expression showed some sort of realization.
"You're a vampire, aren't you?" she asked me.
I took a step back to give the girl and myself some space then pinched the bridge of my nose. I let out a drawn out sigh. "Yes… Yes, I am…"
"And you're name?"
"It's Isaac! Stop forgetting things!" I shouted at the dumb girl, making her wince in response.
Marisa and Suika were snickering behind me. Apparently they were enjoying watching me deal with this forgetful zombie. But I wasn't going to deal with it any longer.
I turned around to face Marisa and Suika. "You two can obviously fight better than me so take care of her so we can go inside-"
Suddenly my senses kicked into high gear. The girl behind me thought she was being sneaky, but I felt her sudden aggression. I quickly twisted around to find the girl had lunged towards me, her mouth spread wide open to a gruesome degree, ready to tear into my flesh like she did before. A horrid hiss emanated from her mouth as she drew close to me. She aimed for my jugular, but I quickly dipped below her to avoid being bitten. I then swiped my leg under her feet in an attempt to trip her up, but she somersaulted backwards. She had caught me by surprise with her sudden evasion. She, at first, looked too stiff to be able to perform such a move, but she proved me wrong. The girl then pulled from her pocket a spell card and suddenly I was in a confrontation for my life.
"Poison Nail "Poison Raze"!" Yoshika declared.
The spell card burst into magical flames and a sudden wave of what I learned to be called danmaku came flying towards me. These danmaku were in the shape of kunai; a strange type of dagger I learned about from Meiling. I tumbled forward to avoid the first wave. The second wave I was forced to leap over. Each wave I avoided brought me closer to Yoshika, but every time I got within melee range, she would somersault backwards to avoid me. She landed atop a tall tombstone and launched a few waves of kunai all at once at me. Try as I may, I wasn't able to avoid all the waves and was struck by the third. The kunai stuck into me like a pincushion, knocking me back onto the flat of my back. Hurting, I quickly got back to my feet while pulling out all the kunai out of me.
"Turn back now!" the zombie girl demanded.
I was a little shaken up from her last attack. I wracked my brain on how I could get close to her. I only stood a chance if I could force her into melee combat. I did have a trump card, but I really did not want to waste it if I could avoid it.
I turned my head to Marisa and Suika in a search for help. "Hey, you two like to give me a hand sometime today?" I asked, only to find the two making their way into the mausoleum. I gritted my teeth as I growled angrily. "Hey, you fucks! Don't use me as a decoy!"
"Oh, no! I can't let anyone into the mausoleum! For reasons!" Yoshika exclaimed in a panic. She leapt from atop the tombstone she was standing on and down to ground level. She took off running towards the entrance of the mausoleum, completely forgetting about me.
"Damn those two," I said under my breath as I took off running as well, not wanting to be left behind.
Running behind the zombie girl, she sprinted into the entrance and down the stairs. But as soon as she did, an explosion erupted from inside the mausoleum. The explosion shook the ground, nearly knocking me off my feet. I stopped where I was and watched as the zombie girl was suddenly blasted out of the mausoleum. She went flying out into the further parts of the graveyard with a billow of smoke trailing her, disappearing into the distance.
"What the hell?" I said as I stood nervously.
Marisa and Suika, both covered in soot and smoke, came sprinting out of the entrance to the mausoleum. They both came running to me before jumping behind me.
"We were ambushed!" Marisa exclaimed.
"I nearly pissed myself," Suika said.
"Serves you both right," I said angrily.
Footsteps were heard coming up from the entrance of the mausoleum. Me and the two girls stood in wait for whoever the footsteps belonged to make their appearance. After a short moment, a woman with blue hair had exited the mausoleum. Her hair was tied in two loops with a rather large hair stick running through it. She wore a teal dress with flowery designs on it. She also wore a white and blue vest.
Marisa suddenly shoved me forward. "You defeated the guard now defeat the master!" she exclaimed.
"But I didn't-!"
Before I could finish my sentence, I stumbled forward right into the blue-haired girl's arms. My chest pressed against hers, leaving me feeling a nice sensation. I loved being pushed into the arms of beautiful girls and all, but I was about ready to kick Marisa in the ass. Suika too, for short measure.
I went to quickly back away from the woman, but she actually held onto me.
"Well, who do we have here?" she said with a smile. Now that I was up close, I could see that she possessed a set of very pretty blue eyes. They were captivating. The woman held me tighter, her chest pressing further into mine. "Oh, I think I can make an educated guess as to who you are, dear…" She had a beautiful voice to go along with the rest of her features. It was mystical. "You're the newborn vampire they call Isaac, are you not?"
I swallowed hard, feeling quite nervous from being so close to her face. "I am, Miss…?"
"I am Seiga Kaku. It is a pleasure to meet you, young man," she said before finally releasing me.
I stepped back then took a deep breath before slowly exhaling it all out. "Same here," I said.
"I see you wish to enter the mausoleum. But I'm afraid I cannot allow that. You defeated my servant and I must avenge her," Seiga said.
"That was all him," Marisa said, desperately wanting me to slap her I'm sure.
"I did not-"
"Oh, so this young vampire has some bite in him," Seiga said, followed by a mischievous chuckle.
"Like I was trying to say. I didn't defeat-"
"Then I will be your next opponent, Mister Isaac. If you wish to enter the mausoleum then you are going to need to go through me," the woman said as she pulled out a spell card.
"Wait! No! I'm not looking for a fight!" I shouted. I was too tired from my short scuffle with the zombie girl and too drunk to do any kind of real fighting. Especially not against this woman. She was clearly more powerful than the zombie girl so I stood no chance against her. "We're just here to talk!" I lied.
"Nonsense, Isaac! You can take her!" Suika shouted excitedly from behind me.
"You two be quiet!" I yelled at the two goof balls. I turned my attention back to Seiga. I needed to defuse the situation so I tried throwing out a lie. "Look, I really lick you. Oof!" I clasped my hands over my mouth the second I spoke.
"Tsk tsk tsk. You really are a dog, Isaac," Marisa said with disappointment in her voice.
"Nothing wrong with that!" Suika said with a jolly laugh.
Seiga just stared back at me with eyes wide open. She was obviously and understandably shocked.
I quickly collected myself. "I meant like! Like! Look, I'm drunk. Give me a break here," I tiredly begged.
Seiga continued to blankly stare at me before finally speaking. "I'll be declaring my spell card now," she said emotionlessly.
I then went into a full blown panic. "Shit! No, wait!"
Not slowing down in the slightest, she declared her spell card. "Evil Sign "Guhun Yegui"!"
In an explosion of magic, four glowing spheres followed by a string of smaller, teal spheres were launched towards me. My entire front lit up from all the mystifying light emitted by the danmaku. The four larger spheres came at me from all angles, leaving me with nowhere to run, leaving me no choice but to use it. As quickly as I could, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a spell card, one forged with the help of both Meiling and Patchouli.
"Metal Sign "Spiral Bullet"!" I declared.
In a burst of purple fire, my revolver materialized in my hand. I quickly took aim down the center of the incoming danmaku and pulled the trigger. Glowing purple, a single bullet came spinning out of the barrel. The second after it left the gun it split into thirteen bullets that spiraled around in a large circle. Each bullet left a trail of purple fire, scorching the air and the ground as the spiral of bullets travelled through the air. I had unleashed my spell card in the nick of time. My spell collided with Seiga's spell, exploding into magical fire upon impact. I dove for cover behind a tombstone to avoid the blast.
I shook some, feeling rather invigorated from the rush of magic running through my veins. Using a spell card actually felt wonderful. No wonder these chicks are quick to declare them. I would have stood up and declared my second spell card if I had one. It took some time to get the first one made and perfected. It may be a while before I have myself a full deck like these females seem to have.
Now that my trump card had been used up, I was left defenseless against the blue-haired woman. I said I was defenseless, but an idea on what to do next quickly popped into my head. I couldn't let the woman get her next spell card declared so, using my abnormal speed, I leapt over the tombstone I had hid behind and rushed Seiga. She had pulled out a second spell card and had opened her mouth to utter its name, but I was quick enough to stop her. I wrapped my arms around her, lifted her off her feet and squeezed. She gasped as I forced the air out of her lungs.
"H-Hey…! T-This isn't how you handle a woman, you know!" Seiga gasped.
With her captured in my grasp, I shouted to Marisa. "Marisa! Do that thing of yours!"
"Huh? What thing?" she asked stupidly.
"You know what the fuck I'm talking about! Just do it!" I bellowed.
I've seen Marisa use this amazing spell before. It was one of the most awe-striking things I have seen in Gensokyo. She's used it on Meiling quite a few times whenever she would try to break into the mansion. I was desperate for her to use it. The girl in my arms was struggling ferociously. She kept trying to declare her spell card, but I kept constricting her, leaving her breathless and unable to speak.
"Oh! That thing!" Marisa said as she pulled from her pocket a strange wooden, octagonal shaped device. "Are you trying to tell me to use it on you?"
"Yes!"
"Roger that!" Marisa happily responded. I hated how she didn't hesitate whatsoever. She took aim at me, a wide grin flashing across her face. I turned so Seiga was the one to be hit first, using her as a kind of shield. "You ready then? I know I am." The wooden device in her hands glowed an array of colors. She then thrust the device forward, yelling the attack's name. "Master Spaaaark!"
In a blinding explosion of light, a multi-colored beam of pure magic blasted from Marisa's wooden device. The beam grinded the ground beneath it as it traveled through the air. The air itself quaked and my ears rang from the mind-shattering sound the beam made. It was a devastating attack and I was about to make Seiga and I eat it. I braced myself for the impact by burying my face into Seiga's chest. It was barely even a second after Marisa fired the beam did it strike us. We were devoured by the beam in an instant and blown back across the graveyard. My skin was scorched by the beam worse than the sun's rays ever could, but it was over as quickly as it happened. My eyes could see nothing but bright white. My mind was in shambles, barely able to think. I thought I had died for a moment because I couldn't feel anything, but feeling came back to me after a few moments.
My eyesight slowly returned. I found that my face was still buried in Seiga's chest even though I was lying on the flat of my back. I realized then that she was lying on top of me, groaning in pain. I didn't mind the situation that I was in, but pain suddenly racked my body and I too groaned in pain. I gently pushed the woman off me, her body rolling off me and onto the ground. She continued to moan, seemingly only half conscious. I slowly sat up as I winced from the pain. It wasn't my brightest idea in the world, but looking at Seiga's current condition, it worked out.
Marisa and Suika ran up to me. "Man, you took that like a champ!" Suika excitedly said.
Marisa nodded in agreement. "He sure did. I held back only a little too," she said.
Seiga slowly sat up with a hand to her head. She looked awfully dizzy. "That… That was totally unfair. Who taught you how to fight like that, huh?"
"I'm weak compared to y'all so I have to improvise," I insisted.
Marisa laughed. "Yeah, he can't even fly."
"Shut it," I said crossly.
"That may be true, but that was an interesting spell card you used to block my own," Seiga said as she flashed me a smile. Then, with a single finger, she gently rubbed the bottom of my chin, sending a chill up my spine. "If you agree to serve me, I can teach you to fly… Among other things," she said with a wink.
In a little panic, I jumped to my feet. "Uh, no thanks. I already serve someone," I said.
Seiga faked a frown. "Oh, that's too bad. Maybe you should sleep on it?" she suggested and I promptly refused.
"Nope."
Suika took a drink from her gourd. "Now that's settled, the mausoleum is ours!" she declared.
"Not quite," Seiga said as she got up onto her feet once she felt able. "The others are awake, so if you go down there you will have to fight them as well."
I took Suika's gourd from her and took a big drink from it. "This mausoleum sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Isn't there somewhere else we can go that doesn't mean pointlessly fighting?" I said.
Marisa grabbed the gourd from my hands and took a drink herself. "Don't be such a puss. You can take them!" she said with a thumbs up for encouragement.
"Stop trying to get my ass kicked!" I shouted at her.
Seiga wrapped her arms around one of mine. She looked to Marisa and Suika. "Why don't you two go bother the fools at the Myouren Temple?" she said then made eye contact with me. "I'll happily give you a tour of the mausoleum if only you listen to what I have to say about Taoism and its wonders."
"Taoism?" I said questionably.
"Bullshit, basically," Marisa commented.
"Like I said… Why don't you two go somewhere else?" Seiga said, her anger visible in her expression.
"Nah, I better leave with them. We'll stop bothering you and go somewhere else," I said politely.
Suika opened her mouth to speak, but a hiccup came out instead. Seems the alcohol is starting to hit her too. She giggled. "Yeah, let's get out of here. We got all of Gensokyo to explore!" she happily said. I wasn't sure about the exploring all of Gensokyo part, but I did want to see somewhere new.
"Oh, alright, dear," Seiga said as she released me. "Come visit me so we can talk. Preferably when you are sober," she said with a beautiful smile.
"Will do," I said, smiling back.
Marisa signaled Suika and I to follow her out of the graveyard and so we did. We didn't get to see the inside of the mausoleum, but I did get to meet two new ladies (whatever happened to the zombie girl?). We set off to a new destination. I just hoped I would remember where it was that I was supposed to go before the nights end.