CH 11: The Siege of Kyoto I

They're here.

The thought flashed into Aya's mind. The mist she was familiar with from Gensokyo warned her. The Hero Faction were here, but there didn't seem to be a spy that let them in so easily.

Was the human magician they had that skilled then? Was Patchouli wrong all this time? That meant there was no spy to root out like they thought.

Aya turned towards another of her brethren and sisters, signaling to them that the enemy were here. Footsteps echoed throughout the night that could barely be heard, but the sharp hearing of the youkai weren't to be underestimated.

"Now!" Azusa declared as crow tengu spread their wings and dashed towards the intruders.

From the Hero Faction's point of view, they had come out of nowhere and even through some of the walls of the illusionary houses. Completely caught off guard, the humans shouted in shock.

"Hold firm!" Cao Cao rallied, drawing his spear from his back.

As a tengu flew at top speed towards him, faster than a speeding bullet, he cut the crow tengu down with his weapon easily.

However, his allies were not as composed as him. The members he knew were strong, such as Siegfried and Herakles, battered the oncoming opposition with ease. They were thrown aside like a brick crashing through a window by Herakles' physical strength or cut down with swords from Siegfried. Jeanne evaded their dive bombs, retaliating with her own holy swords. Georg simply brought a physical barrier to block the attack before casting another spell to ward them off.

Aya eyed the powerful humans. She immediately recognized the two whom she had encountered last time. Strangely enough, there was a young child in their midst who didn't appear to do anything.

"Well, you weren't wrong Georg! They were prepared!" Cao Cao laughed excitedly as he battered another foe with the shaft of his spear.

"It was easy to predict. But it won't stop us. Leonardo, go ahead." Georg calmly ordered as the boy nodded.

Black pulses formed underneath him while members of the Hero Faction protected him from the onslaught of crow tengu. The shadows underneath him shone purple and spun as he silently continued his cast. Anybody within the immediate vicinity could sense the power behind the cast. Finally, black portals emerged from the ground and widened to an enormous size.

A bright light finally burst from the completed cast, blinding everyone as the ground shook from the power of whatever was summoned. The blinding effect was even more effective from the sharp eyesight of the crow tengu. As the light faded, the hulking figure of a red ogre remained. It was enormous as well, easily tripling the size of the average tengu, and it wore a loincloth. In its hand was an iron club with metal studs along the ends of it. To finish, the telltale signs of two horns emerged from their heads, slightly covered by wild brown hair.

"Oh no…" Aya murmured to herself as the figure of someone of past folklore appeared before them.

"I-It's an Oni! It's an Oni! How did they…" Someone from behind her shouted in absolute fear.

"Stay calm!" Azusa ordered, halting the attacks of her troop. "Ao! Call the White Wolf Tengu! Now!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

The impromptu messenger flew off at top speed as the Hero Faction regained their morale previously lost from the ambush.

"We'll have the Oni pave our way for us towards the inner shrine! Kill any in your way! Let's go!" Cao Cao enthusiastically shouted, prompting the humans to cheer.

"Ayayaya, this doesn't look so good." Aya commented to herself, snapping one picture before putting away her camera. "We can't let something like this anywhere near the shrine."

"Any idea how to stop it Aya?" The crow tengu asked, visibly straining to hide her nervousness at taking on such a foe. "I don't think Naoki's group can handle something like this."

"It's just here to keep us from regrouping at the shrine while the humans keep moving forward. We need someone to distract it." Aya suggested as if fighting something on the level of an Oni was not as dangerous as it seemed. "Or we could send in something else that's as strong as that."

"Other than another Oni, do we even have someone as strong as that?" Azusa rhetorically asked.

"Yeah, of course! Me!" Aya declared cheerfully, landing in front of the group of humans with no care for her safety. "Keep the other humans busy while I take it on!"

"Hoh?" Georg glanced at the new challenger in front of them. "You think a tengu, whom was subordinate to the Oni, can challenge them?"

"Wind Sign [Wind of the Tengu Path]!"

Aya twirled, materializing the maple leaf fan into her hand, and waved it towards the humans. Several squalls of wind rocketed towards the Hero Faction with a speed that was almost imperceptible to the human eye. Several of the humans were sent flying back to the walls, smashing into some of the evacuated buildings of the youkai. The Oni managed to step forward, using his massive body to blunt some of the wind. The tempest continued gushing forward, shattering some of the windows along the some of the houses from the sheer force of the attack. Eventually, the windstorms ended with debris and dust flying all over as the Hero Faction were forced to reevaluate Aya's threat level.

"That control over wind is far beyond anything I've ever seen." Georg noted, narrowing his eyes at Aya's power who continued to give an innocent smile at them. "If she could do something like that with a flick of her fan, we may need another beast Leonardo."

The boy silently nodded before beginning another cast. This time, his shadows began to shift and grow in size, along the floor.

"Magic Sign [Artful Sacrifice]!"

Elegant dolls landed into the defensive formation between their feet. As soon as it touched ground, explosions rocked the field, blasting the humans to the sides. Debris scattered all over them as they became disoriented from the sudden attack from above.

"Alice! Good timing!"Aya complimented as the puppeteer floated down from the sky elegantly, landing next to Aya.

Strings attached from her fingers led to countless dolls floating in midair with various medieval weaponry ranging from lances, spears, broadswords, and even muskets. The smoke from her explosive dolls eventually cleared up to reveal some wounded members of the Hero Faction. Burn marks charred along some of their arms and clothes were singed in various places. However, the shadow underneath Leonardo continued expanding whom looked as uninjured prior to Alice's attack.

"Aya, stop him!" Alice cried out, knowing her own speed would not be enough to stop Leonardo's summoning.

"Illusionary Dominance!"

In the blink of an eye, Leonardo was knocked off his feet and into the air. The force of the blow shuddered the area around the battlefield Mortal and supernatural eyes alike couldn't even detect Aya's movements. By the time anybody realized what had happened, Aya had already disappeared. Not even a second passed after the first hit before a second came with the same force as before. Then a third, fourth, and so on.

Georg immediately tried placing a barrier up to stop her assault on Leonardo, but it shattered like glass as he was completely unable to repel Aya's attacks while Leonardo coughed up blood while he was punted around like a ragdoll.

"Georg, get him out of here!" Cao Cao demanded, as Georg followed his orders and brought the purple mist over the dark-skinned boy to teleport him out.

Aya stopped her attack, reappearing back next to Alice and the other crow tengu.

She pointed her fan towards the Hero Faction as the others looked at her with various reactions. For those on her side, barring Alice, they stared at her in absolute amazement at her powers. To her enemies, a reanalysis of her threat level was already rising.

"Your mist is powerful, if it's able to teleport or trap people in it. But intense gusts from wind can still affect it. A sealed off area can also completely stop it. It's not as invincible as you believe it is. You're overly reliant on your tool, aren't you?" Alice spoke from her thoughts as Georg began to sweat from her evaluation on his Sacred Gear.

"I didn't expect that the Youkai Faction had people this capable…" Cao Cao admitted openly. "But that won't stop us. Jeanne! Sieg, Connla! Hold these two off while we go after Yasaka. Georg, Heracles, Perseus, we're moving forward. Get us to the other side!"

Georg enveloped the advance team Cao Cao designated and disappeared into the mist entirely before Aya could blow it away with her fan. They disappeared entirely with no clue where they went.

"They're gone?" Alice questioned, eyes wandering quickly as she looked for any sign of the enemy.

"Ah, ah ah, magician-chan! Your fight is with us now." A blonde haired woman stepped forward with a rather ordinary rapier in hand with steel armor, colored red.

Her allies also stepped forward, including a man with black hair and fairly tanned skin. His hair was tied into a bun and shades covered his eyes though confusingly, he had no armor unlike his comrade. Finally, another man with silver-white hair and red eyes wearing a priest's coat walked towards them, holding a large double-edged sword with various colors. The pommel itself was a gold, cone-like shape while the blade was black with a red edge. The blade was long with a shimmering red aura that gave an ominous feeling.

"Tengu corps, retreat! We're going back to the shrine. There's only one place they're aiming for! Leave the rest to the White Wolves here!" Azusa ordered, giving an apologizing look towards the Gensokyo combatants.

Almost at her call, Naoki sprinted into the streets flanked by several of his own comrades. She would be no help here, she already knew. The lack of faith in them had lowered their overall strength and could be felt throughout the entirely of the Youkai Faction. Against an Oni, Azusa already knew that she stood no chance. It would be better to retreat and call for reinforcements or defend Yasaka. Leaving the frontlines to Naoki and his combat oriented brethren would be best for them.

"Ahhh, Sieg-kun, Connla-kun. It looks like we're outnumbered. I think we'll have to even out the odds a bit, don't you think?" Jeanne joked, forming a sword in her hand.

"Hmm? You think so? Between the Oni that Leonardo created and us, it looks even to me. I wonder how strong those dolls are. They look like cheap toys." Siegfried taunted, laying his demonic sword onto his shoulder casually. "We might as well have some fun. Connla, why don't you take on that crow tengu. Jeanne and I will see how that puppeteer's dolls will hold up against our swords. Oni, you can go ahead and kill the White Wolf Tengu."

Alice's back straightened as the two sword users walked to the sides, singling her out with Connla doing the same with Aya.

"The Oni is ours! Don't falter here! It will be us who will triumph!" Naoki shouted as his troop marched towards the Oni in formation.

Now in a more isolated road, Alice prepared herself against her two opponents.

"If you're a puppeteer, you must be dexterous. But I wonder if you can handle two blades coming at you." Siegfried mocked, dashing forward at peak human speed.

Alice didn't even comment, wordlessly raising her doll defense to form a shield to defend her. To her surprise, the sword cut right through the shield. The second long shock spurred Jeanne into action, sprinting down to pierce Alice with her plain looking rapier. Alice retaliated with positioning another doll in Jeanne's way, firing a laser at her to stop Jeanne's momentum. Predictably, Jeanne dodged to the side. Meanwhile, Siegfried was already quickly advancing upon her, cutting apart her dolls like a hot knife through butter.

Alice frowned. Her dolls stood no chance against whatever blade Siegfried held. If he continued aggressing towards her, she would have little in the way of defense against him. It would be best to pressure him now and gain the offensive and allow her to dictate the flow of combat. Jeanne didn't seem to have the raw power that Siegfried held as her doll materials were able to hold off Jeanne for now.

Using all five of her fingers, Alice controlled six dolls who thrusted forward with their lances towards each of her opponents. Jeanne was forced to step back from three of the lances, while Siegfried raised his sword to slash his three combatants aside.

With a wordless command, as the blade reached her dolls, they flashed white before exploding right in Siegfried's immediate vicinity. Taking the opportunity, she positioned another eight dolls equipped with muskets above and behind her, remaining in position. Jeanne whom had only regained her footing from instinctively stepping back from being stabbed, was immediately assaulted by musket balls. Jeanne weaved her way through them, though her speed had lowered immensely compared to her initial charge.

Meanwhile, Siegfried burst through the smoke, looking none the worse other than scuffed clothing.

Perfect, Alice thought. Siegfried looked much more aggressive than Jeanne. Jeanne seemed to be the type of person who was more cautious, looking to avoid taking damage while for an opening to attack. Siegfried appeared the opposite, willing to take nonlethal hits in order to score devastating attacks with his sword. He was now in the range where unless he stepped back, he would take severe damage.

"Spy Sign [Seeker Dolls]!"

Alice declared her attack as her dolls dropped their weapons and raised their arms. In front of their hands, red lasers began forming which she knew would burn the skin off humans and youkai alike.

Lasers crisscrossed along the path, leaving no escape room if somebody were in the middle of it. As if seeing the futility of dodging, Siegfried raised his blade to block the laser aimed towards his face while others quickly scorched through his clothing and right onto his skin. He winced as second and third-degree burns scattered themselves across his body. Jeanne didn't dare approach the laser field for fear of getting wounded herself.

While Siegfried was injured, the man didn't look anywhere near defeated, Alice noted. In fact, he looked as if he was having fun. His sword was untouched, despite blocking two of the lasers aimed towards him.

"Well, well. It looks like you're better than I expected. I might have to start getting serious." Siegfried cockily said, paying no heed to his injuries.

"Sieg-kun…" Jeanne lamented over his thirst for battle, raising her own rapier. "It can't be helped I guess. Blade Blacksmith Balance Breaker!"

Jeanne leaped into the air and swung her sword downwards, creating multiple blades that emerged from the ground. They combined together, meshing their steel together and melded into something resembling a dragon.

"Stake Victim Dragon!"

The silver dragon roared as it awakened, its piercing yellow eyes staring at Alice as if it were prey.

"Hoh? You're becoming serious then Jeanne? I can't fall behind at that. This puppeteer is better than I thought." Siegfried commented, shrugging his shoulders casually. "Twice Critical!"

Alice watched as two silver arms, resembling human limbs, emerged from his back and reached into his waist, pulling out two more swords while he himself began dual wielding.

Alice began to sweat. She was now not only outnumbered, but the strength of her dolls weren't made to take on more monstrous beings of this size. Strategies flashed through her mind on how she could take on these foes. She would be hard pressed to defend herself against a dragon while simultaneously fighting off two people whom would be trying to close the gap to her. While she was more durable than Patchouli, she didn't think she'd last long against two melee combatant specialists if they closed the gap. The White Wolf Tengu, she glanced quickly to the right, were too busy fighting off the Oni, slashing at its leg and injuring him.

Aya was off fighting Connla while none of them had any information. Still, she had one ace card up her sleeve and while she didn't think she could defeat all three of her enemies now, stalling was well within the realm of success for her. Perhaps even defeating the two humans was realistic.

"Curse Sign [Straw Doll Kamikaze]!"

The 8 dolls behind Alice, as well as more that she positioned, began firing yellow spheres that flooded the area. Safe zones were near non-existent, limiting the amount of room that the enemies could move. The dragon leapt forward, blocking all of the shots for the two humans as the latter sprinted under the dragon's legs towards her. The dragon roared in anger, visible burn damage being dealt to him, though it looked superficial in Alice's eyes. Nonetheless, her attack wasn't finished.

With a quick weave of her fingers, the dolls behind her all stopped firing their tiny yellow sphere bullets and leapt forward. Siegfried, looking as if he had figured something out, began cutting at the dolls. However, instead of attacking them directly, he cut the strings that allowed them to float and they dropped onto the ground harmlessly. Jeanne performed the same feat, using her quick speed to limit Alice's attacks.

Not to worry, Alice thought to herself, as she positioned another doll in front of her in preparation.

"Curse Sign [Shanghai Doll]!"

The elegant doll in front of her instantly charged up a red beam the size of Alice herself and launched it straight towards the humans. Predictably enough, they dodged to the side. However, the dragon who had recovered from Alice's paltry attack on it earlier, was forced to take the brunt of the beam square on its body. This time, it roared in pain rather than aggravation, leaving a massive blackened mark on its body. As the beam disappeared, several explosions followed from where the dragon was hit.

In retaliation, the dragon inhaled, a yellow glow in its mouth emanating and unleashed a beam of its own. The beam passed by Siegfried and Jeanne harmlessly and straight towards Alice. Thinking quickly, she leapt into the air and began flying as the beam traveled under her and straight into the house behind her, completely vaporizing it. The beam looked holy in nature, different from Reimu's own holy attacks of the divine, but similar at the same time. It would be catastrophic to be hit by something like that if it was designed to kill youkai like her.

Nonetheless, her trap had been set. The humans believed that dolls she could not move via wires would be harmless. That would be a mistake of their own.

All at once, the dolls on the floor began glowing white, self-destructing in a blaze of blue underneath the humans. Multiple explosions went off, causing smoke to obscure the area. As the smoke began dissipating, Alice spotted Jeanne stabbing a sword in the ground, protecting both her and Siegfried with a yellow barrier. She pulled the sword out and both leapt into the air.

However, in the air where she could fly and they could not, she held the advantage as they poised to strike her.

"War Sign [Little Legion]!"

On command, 12 dolls emerged in front of her, all holding swords and flying into the midst. They then began spinning quickly, blades flashing as they cut into human flesh as Jeanne and Siegfried were unable to stop their momentum in the air. Jeanne looked better, wearing armor to help defend herself, but the dolls still managed to slice into unarmored parts of her body. Nonetheless, their resilience showed as they began falling, landing on their feet despite blood now dripping from their fresh wounds. Jeanne was even smirking.

"Go get her Dragon-kun!" Jeanne ordered as Alice's eyes widened.

The humans were the distractions! She had been caught up in fending off the sword wielders that she had momentarily forgotten about the beast, assuming that it had been sufficiently injured enough for her to buy some reprieve.

Alice scolded herself for her lapse in concentration. She had been too focused on bringing down the humans with her strategy that the beast now had time to finish charging its attacks.

It leapt into the air, taking flight using its wings and unleashed a flame breath at her. Almost instantly, the weapon wielding dolls were incinerated and Alice rushed to fly out of range of the attack. She cried out in pain as the flames seared her and her clothing began looking similar in condition to her human opponents. Nonetheless, she emerged out of the attack, still flying with burns scattered across her body. It wasn't enough to inhibit her fighting condition, and she had received worse during the Lunarian Invasion, but it was still irritating to be caught like this. It luckily hadn't been the holy beam attack, or she would've been in a worse state.

"You're a slippery person, aren't you?" Siegfried commented, somewhat torn between complimenting and insulting her. "I didn't think a magician like you would have withstood an attack like that."

The silver dragon roared at her as Jeanne leapt onto the top of her summon, grinning all the while.

"I don't think you can take another one of those. You're pretty clever, but your dolls are too weak to take on dragon-kun." Jeanne bragged, pointing a sword towards Alice.

The silver haired, multi-armed swordsman smirked before something in the air above Jeanne caught his eye.

"Hm?"

He squinted, not quite seeing what it was. It appeared to be a person, but he couldn't identify who it was. Whoever it was, they were free falling at breakneck speed. Features came into view as he caught the sight of two horns on… a female's head?

"Oni Sign [Missing Power]!"

The girl whom had appeared rather petite before, instantly grew to match the size of the dragon Jeanne was riding. A large shadow completely engulfed Jeanne's summon as Siegfried realized what was going on.

"Jeanne! Get off your dragon! Get out of there!"

Jeanne immediately looked up, eyes widening at the massive threat descending upon her. She abandoned her dragon and leapt off as he was crushed under the weight of the new combatant. The fighter then backflip over to Alice's side, decreasing her own size back to petite portions.

"Heh heh! Glad I didn't miss the party! Looks like things are gettin' serious now, eh Alice?"

Alice breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Suika. I was having difficulty fighting off the three of them."

Never before had she been so relieved to see the sight of an Oni on her side.

"Ahhh! No! Get up dragon-kun!" Jeanne almost bawled as her summon slowly began getting back up from heavyweight slam he suffered earlier.

"He's tougher than I thought. Coulda' sworn that shoulda' smashed his insides." Suika commented nonchalantly, grinning at the recovering victim of her attack.

"He was constructed from the blonde woman over there, Jeanne, from holy swords. I'm not sure if he actually has flesh inside, or if he's completely made from steel." Alice remarked, noting her observations to her new ally. "If you can take care of the dragon, I'm certain I can fend off the other two."

"Sure sure! I'll handle 'em!" Suika enthusiastically answered.

"An Oni? How is this possible? I've heard they've already left for the Underworld." Siegfried commented, narrowing his eyes at the new major threat.

"Uhhhh… What is it they say Alice? Rumors of my leaving were exaggerated?" Suika asked jokingly as Alice huffed in annoyance.

"Rumors of my death were exaggerated. Could you be serious this time Suika?" Alice admonished her to which Suika only scratched her head sheepishly.

"I see I'll have to stop holding back then. The power of an Oni is nothing to laugh about." Siegfried warned Jeanne as he hunched over.

"Twice Critical Balance Breaker!" Siegfried declared, as two more silver arms emerged from his back, totaling 4 arms now which both wielded two new swords as well. "Chaos Edge Asura Ravage!"

"Hey, those swords look kinda interestin'! Think you can take me on?" Suika pointed at the swords Siegfried had, each glowing a different color with the same ominous aura. "Even for an Oni, I'm way stronger than most of 'em."

"Then we'll have to see if I can beat an Oni of legend." Siegfried challenged, raising his swords against her.

Suika laughed boisterously. "Here I come then!"

Suika began running forward at full speed, arms stretched upwards as if running in for a hug. Jeanne came in first, creating a sword in her hand specifically to defeat Oni.

That sword shattered in an instant upon contact with Suika's head. Jeanne was knocked aside like a child throwing a toy in tantrum at a wall.

Siegfried was next, leaping forward with and performing a downward slash with all his might and momentum.

His eyes widened as he could figuratively hear his swords screeching in pain against Suika's toughness.

"How? Nothung should be able to cut through anything! Tyrfing should've shattered you, let alone Gram!" Siegfried cried out, baffled at how the most powerful demonic swords in existence couldn't pierce the defenses of a mere youkai.

Unknown to him, Suika had the power of density, allowing her to raise her own body density, and by extension, her own defenses. Combined with her already abnormal strength of an Oni, it would not be an exaggeration to call her one of the greatest youkais in terms of super-strength. No mere human or youkai could withstand her power, which now rivaled the powers of gods. With strength enough to shatter the moon in one blow, it was not unexpected for mere demonic swords to struggle against her.

While Siegfried poured his strength further to clash against Suika's defenses, it was as futile as Jeanne's attempt as Suika pressed on and knocked him aside.

Now in front of her was only the dragon.

Suika stepped forward, launching a fist at the dragon's legs. It looked akin to a gnome or a baby trying to punch a giant. However, the effect was obvious as the dragon roared in pain once her fist made contact and a shockwave boomed in the air. A second punch followed up, followed by a quick sphere of blue, colliding against it. Finally, she ended with winding up her punch for a second and throwing it forward.

As it collided, explosions emerged from her fist.

"Secret of Kings [3-Step Destruction]!"

Suika followed up immediately with her combo, thrusting forward her fist, remaining at her normal size. It collided against the dragon's face, knocking it back. She hastened forward again, enlarging her size to double what she was earlier to throw another fist at the underbelly. One more time, her size doubled against to launch a full powered punch right at the dragons exposed body. Each strike let loose gigantic shockwaves that boomed throughout the air, becoming louder and stronger with each hit.

Instead of the tough dragon scales blocking the attack, Suika's ginormous fist burst right through the entirety of its body. It let loose a silent roar before limping forward against her arm. The dragon then began to shimmer into blue motes of light, its power now reduced to nothing from the damage it took. Eventually, it disappeared entirely, leaving only the two members of the Hero Faction completely exposed to Suika and Alice.

"Dragon-kun!" Jeanne cried in horror at how easily her creation was defeated.

"We don't stand a chance Jeanne. The tables have turned." Siegfried stopped her from avenging her dragon. "So this is the true power of an Oni."

Suika wringed her hands out, wiping off the blood on her hand casually. "Yup! Don't mistake that Oni you have over there for one of us. It looks right, but its awfully weak compared ta' the ones I know."

"Jeanne, we're retreating." Siegfried ordered as his ally looked at him in shock.

"But we're heroes Sieg! We should be stopping demons like her!"

He shook his head. "If someone like that could take out your dragon and my swords so easily, we won't survive. How long do you think we'll last against someone like that magician and Oni working together?

Not long, Jeanne thought though it remained unsaid.

"Besides, we've already done what we needed to. We delayed them long enough for Cao Cao to make it to the inner shrine. That's all our objective was." The silver haired swordsman clarified their mission, as Jeanne took deep breaths to calm herself.

"Right, you're right. We need to call a retreat."

Siegfried smirked at the two youkai. "We'll call this your victory for now. Next time we fight, we'll fight with something more even. Goodbye."

He reached into his coat, revealing a beaker filled purple mist. He threw it onto the ground, enveloping both himself and Jeanne.

Alice and Suika did nothing to stop them as both of the humans disappeared along with the mist.

The blond haired puppeteer sighed in relief, resisting the urge to sit onto the ground. "Thank you for your help Suika. I wasn't confident in being able to keep them away from me for long along with the dragon."

"No problem!" Suika waved off her gratitude, looking more at her fists. "That sword he had, it felt kinda strange when it hit me. Sharp, but not enough to even hurt me."

"We'll took a look later. Let's reinforce the White Wolf tengu here." Alice proposed as Suika nodded in agreement.

xXx

Aya dodged another spear from behind her, emerging from her shadow to pierce her.

This man's power over shadows was a nuisance. However, the range on it was limited and the speed of its attacks were sluggish. While it might catch someone off guard on the first or even second attack, the strength of it appeared weak and its slow speed allowed easy responses. The monsters created from the shadows were feeble enough that any low level youkai could feasibly defeat them. What was more concerning was that the shadows could absorb attacks and redirect them from any other shadow within Connla's range. Several of her gusts had been redirected back at her. But the wind was her friend and nothing he could redirect would affect her.

Keeping her distance and avoiding his attacks was easy. While she certainly couldn't match Suika's strength, she already identified this man's weakness. Snapping a quick picture of Connlan in to taunt and aggravate him was a success, revealing many of his attacks with no success against her.

It was time to end this now. Her eyesight caught the figure of a silver dragon assaulting Alice with Suika congregating herself above the battle.

"Illusionary Dominance!"

She declared her attack once more, completely disappearing from Connlan's sight. Though his eyes couldn't be easily looked at from behind his shades, the visible fear and confusion was palpable in Aya's view. The shadows he commanded moved to defend him, but just like the Hero Faction's defense of Leonardo, it was a matter of fact.

He was too slow. If he could not raise his redirection defenses in time, then only one word could fit his power.

Useless.

Similarly to Leonardo, he was smacked around like a ragdoll, the force of Aya's speedy, momentum fueled blows lifted him into the open air as she broke her speed, and regained top speed in less than a millisecond, attacking from a different angle. Connlan's reaction stood absolutely no chance against her attack. It felt like a pity to win this way, but with so much on the line, even she had to be serious. Each of her high speed, full body tackles into Connlan shattered bones. She could feel them instantly breaking under her assault. He would be lucky to even survive.

Aya ended the assault as Connlan was knocked onto the paved road, completely unmoving. A quick check revealed that he was unconscious, though that was likely a mercy than being awake under the unending pain he would have suffered had he been awake.

"Aya!"

The millennium old tengu turned around to see Alice flying towards her. Off in the distance, the White Wolf Tengu were surrounding the Oni and cutting at its legs. Suika was behind it, holding it down.

"Alice, you're alright." Aya smiled mischievously, nodding her head towards her defeated opponent. "He wasn't much of a threat. I let him attack me a few times before I beat 'em."

"You could at least take it a bit more seriously. We're in a state of emergency." Alice huffed quietly, reprimanding her.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Aya giggled, waving her hand dismissively. "Let's let Suika and the others handle the cleanup and the Oni. We need to head back to the inner shrine."

Alice nodded in agreement. "Right. Let's hurry. We can leave him there for now. I don't think he'll be going anywhere."

They flew towards the inner shrine where their comrades would be waiting but…

"What is that!?" Aya shouted, looking at the massive pink fog in front of them.

The purple fog from earlier had now surrounded the entirety of the inner shrine, blocking the two of them from entry.

"Aya! Blow it away!" Alice commanded as Aya raised her fan.

"Headwind [Route Forbidden to Man]!"

A massive whirlwind engulfed the entirety of the surrounding area around the shrine. Enormous gales and gusts blew away the fog enveloping the shrine. At the same time, the fog continued to try and reform itself, convalescing in the missing spots the wind from Aya caused. Behind the mist however, both Alice and Aya spotted a shimmering glass.

"It's a barrier as well. Hold that gust Aya, and I'll see what I can do." Alice declared, moving six dolls in front of her.

"Curse Sign [Hourai Doll]!"

Each doll fired solid red lasers towards the barrier while Aya continuing driving the mist away. The lasers collided against the barrier, flashing into existence as the dolls held their attack.

However, the barrier held firm and Alice was forced to cancel her attack.

"I don't have any attack powerful enough left to pierce through that barrier." Alice admitted to both herself and Aya. "If I had more preparation, I could have created something, but at the moment, I can't. Perhaps you could, but the mist is reforming too fast for us to risk you being caught."

Aya nodded solemnly. "I'll stop then."

Just as Alice guessed, the moment Aya released her attack, the mist had blocked the view of the barrier.

"We'll have to leave the defense to the inside then. Patchouli is still inside and she's set up everything she could. We'll have to hope it's enough to stop them." Alice grimaced, leaving towards the frontlines instead.

Aya gave a forlorn nod, turning back towards to fly in the direction of the town.

xXx

"They're here."

Patchouli closed her book, preparations concluded on fending off the Hero Faction invasion. She sat on the porch of the shrine, breathing heavily to steady herself as familiar threats approached her.

Cao Cao, Georg, and two new enemies she hadn't seen before, walked towards her with complete confidence.

"How bothersome." Patchouli murmured, standing up from her spot and opening her grimoire.

"Stand aside magician. You might have been able to last against two of us, but you cannot take on four of us at once." Georg demanded, but Patchouli scoffed instead.

"You should know one of the basic rules of a magician. Only a fool steps into a magician's workshop with no countermeasures." She retorted, grimoire in hand glowing with magical power.

"That is the case, with the exception of trump cards. The question is whether our trump cards are stronger than whatever you have planned." Georg pushed up his glasses, intending to taunt her. "In full respect of your abilities as a magician, we'd be willing to let you go if you stand down."

The giant of a man Patchouli didn't know frowned.

"Oi oi, this ain't what we agreed."

Patchouli spoke no further, raising a hand into the air in clear defiance of the Hero Faction.

Underneath the group, a magical circle lit up. The familiar attack left both Cao Cao and Georg on guard, leaping back.

"Moon Sign [Silent Selene]!"

A blue magical circle formed underneath and white beams outlined in blue, shot up into the sky like arrows of light. Condensed moonlight in the form of lasers, increasingly more powerful during the nighttime, appeared underneath their feet and rose into the air. The other two members unfamiliar to Patchouli took the attack. One of them wielding a shield, leapt up into the air and blocked them. The bigger man simply took the attack, shielding his face by crossing his arms in front of it.

Patchouli gave no reprieve as she quickly chained another spell, Spring Wind, blades of wind directed at Georg. He raised a barrier and blocked it easily.

Right, she recalled. Single element spells didn't have the strength to sufficiently take on these enemies. Anything worth casting for damage would have to be dual elements and beyond.

"I'll take that as a 'no.' So be it. Heracles, Perseus, take her down, but be careful." Georg concluded, raising his own hand to begin casting his own attack.

Before he could finish however, a shadow struck him from the side, interrupting his spellcasting. The figure who hit him was surrounded by ghostly blue fire whom then retreated quickly before whoever it was could be retaliated upon.

Taking the opportunity, Patchouli cast another spell.

"Fire Water Sign [Phlogistic Pillar]!"

Pillars of intensive heat rise seared into the sky, starting in front of Patchouli before aiming itself into Georg's open position. Cao Cao jumped in to cover for him and pointed his bladed ornate spear to the ground. From the tip, it blasted pure light at the ground, causing rocks to scatter everywhere, intercepting the flame pillars before it reached Georg.

No longer allowing Patchouli to cast freely, both the newly introduced members raised their hands.

"Variant Detonation!" The two meter tall man with gray hair shouted, causing a gold aura to glow around him. Outwardly, it didn't seem to do much else, though by the fact that he was raising his fists, Patchouli surmised that he likely had to hit her in the first place for it to activate.

"Allow me to show you the results of when you intrude on a magician's workshop, whom has reign over the magical power of Kyoto's leylines." Patchouli declared, spinning as her book's glow intensified.

"Five Elements [Philosopher's Stone]!"

Five different colored crystals floated around her, shining brilliantly with magical strength. They circled around her evenly, thrumming with enchanted magic that seemed far beyond what a human was normally capable of.

"What!? You were able to create the Philosopher's Stone within the elements!?" Georg cried out, amazement and awe at her feat despite being enemies. "How is this possible!? This is the height of elemental alchemy!"

"Aegis Mineralization!" The greek armored man, hiding a gakuran underneath, fired a white beam of light from the head on his shield towards her.

"Earth Metal Sign [Emerald Megalith]!"

A green hulking tower of spiked emerald, shaped in the form of an obelisk, blocked the beam. The beam dissipated against it with no effect. Following up, the tall man with gray hair gave a battle cry and punched the megalith, causing it to heat up and shattering into miniscule crystals.

The man leered at her, already preparing another attack to finish her with one blow.

Patchouli smirked back at him, raising another hand into the sky.

"Sun Sign [Royal Flare]!"

A small orange ball formed into her hands before rising into the air. The floating crystals around Patchouli began lighting up, shining as they were activated. In response, the small orb from earlier instantly expanded in size, shining a brilliant light that blinded everyone that was facing her. The blinding effect didn't stop her from seeing someone leap in from the sides, fox fire enveloping their hands.

Yasaka, Patchouli identified, gave an open palm strike to the body builder of a man, as blue fire began enveloping and burning him.

"Yargggghhhh!" He howled in pain as he writhed while standing.

"Marisa, now!" Patchouli shouted.

The roof of the shrine exploded into pieces, wood scattering from the impact. A blonde haired woman emerged from the hole she created, wearing an almost oversized black witch's hat. She flew up high into the air, getting a good overview of the current battlefield. Clutching her mini-hakkero, she tossed it up into the air dramatically and caught it before pointing it towards the inflamed enemy.

A yellow qian symbol flashed in front of her, spell already complete.

"Love Sign [Master Spark]!"

The force of the enormous, rainbow laser more than five times her size emerged from the magical furnace shooting like a bullet straight towards the Hero Faction. The large "hum" from the laser was like the warning of an apocalypse to those who found themselves against the attack. Eyes widening at the immediate danger, Georg maneuvered his mist in front of himself, Cao Cao, and Perseus, but not Heracles. The man was too far forward, out of position from Georg's defense.

Heracles couldn't even scream as Marisa's Master Spark engulfed him in its path. Flesh charred as overwhelming light and heat immersed his entire being. His clothes burned away to nothing and his Sacred Gear disappeared, no longer able to receive support from its master. The lethal spell card eventually faded away, leaving only the smoldering ruins of the once paved road to the shrine. The torii gate at the entrance was gone. Heracles laid on the ground, unconscious with burn wounds so terrible that he almost appeared unrecognizable.

However, the other members of the Hero Faction remained unharmed, the mist defending them from the powerful attack.

"Huh. Didn't expect there to be any part of 'em left." Marisa commented, descending to the floor next to Yasaka and Patchouli.

"He's still alive, miraculously." Patchouli noted, looking at the charred body. "He must have impressive magical resistance to take three attacks back to back."

The purple mist that had defended the Hero Faction from Marisa's signature laser engulfed Heracles before he disappeared.

"As I said prior Georg. Don't enter a magician's workshop with no countermeasures. To do that is the epitome of being a fool." Patchouli reiterated, smiling at the grand success of their ambush. "You seem to have a bad habit of underestimating your foes."

Marisa glanced at Patchouli's figure. She had sensed Patchouli's consecutive spell casting, which normally would have left her huffing for breath. Sometimes, her anemia wouldn't even allow her to finish some reciting some of the spells in her repertoire. She seemed to be in even better condition today, or maybe she was just doped up in some of the magical strength of the leylines that she took from Yasaka.

Marisa internally shrugged. She supposed it didn't matter much so long as there were no long term consequences and they won.

Patchouli could almost see Georg wanting to grind his teeth in frustration of having his words eaten.

"Georg, no more playing around. We're going to have to get serious if we want to win now. I'm not holding back anymore. Remember our objective." Cao Cao chided him, taking a ready position with his ornate spear.

"That spear…" Yasaka murmured, but loud enough that her two allies could hear.

"I'm gettin' a bad feelin' from it. What is that?" Marisa's asked, internal danger senses homed from years of fighting and spell card duels blaring within.

"The Spear of Longinus, the spear that pierced and killed Christ. It's one of the holiest weapons in existence. Among the current weapons, it's considered to be the strongest, capable of slaying gods." Yasaka explained slowly, warning the others of its power as a weapon. "Do not let it anywhere near any weapons or equipment you may have. I will handle the spearman Cao Cao. May I trust the both of you to handle the others?"

The two Gensokyo magicians nodded, preparing themselves for a battle.

Quickly transforming into a fox, Yasaka ran in towards Cao Cao. She leapt, poised to gnaw at his neck. Cao Cao defended himself by exposing the shaft of his spear. Her fangs bit into it futilely, allowing Cao Cao to kick her off his spear. Quickly morphing back to a more humanoid shape, Yasaka coated her hands and arms with Fox Fire and began assaulting the human.

Not letting the fight distract him any longer, Georg raised a hand towards the Gensokyo duo. Three purple magical circles appeared in front of him, firing bright purple at each of them. Marisa took to the air, avoiding the attack easily with immense experience evading bullet patterns much faster and more complex that Gerog's attack. Patchouli remain grounded in the meanwhile, another attack already in mind.

"Earth Water Sign [Noachian Deluge]!" Patchouli shouted as the blue and yellow crystals around her glow.

Her arm extended towards Georg and she unleashed a massive torrent of compressed water bullets. Infused with earth, they blasted out of her hands at high speed, much more powerful over her previous use against them. Whereas previously, they would've caused craters in solid stone walls or pierced it given the hyper condensed earth hidden in the water, it was now much stronger thanks to the still present crystals of her Philosopher's Stone.

Taking no chances, Georg waved across himself to summon the purple mist. The bullets completely disappeared into the fog, leaving no evidence that they were ever there.

Patchouli frowned. If they were going to beat Georg, who appeared to be a very impressive spellcaster on his own, Marisa and her needed to somehow get past that troublesome mist of this. She had equated it to being parallel to Suika's, yet different in so many other ways. It was almost an absolute defense, absorbing whatever attacks it wanted similarly to how Suika rendered herself impossible to attack when she decreased her density into mist herself. Not only that, Georg appeared to be able to keep creating more mist. In short, it had no offensive capabilities, but any ranged attack that wasn't fast enough had no chance of reaching Georg.

Physical attacks were risky as well, she thought. If Georg reacted on time, the mist would simply absorb and capture whoever was within five meters of him. However, the big difference was that Suika was impossible to attack in her mist form. In this case, the caster Georg was still vulnerable despite his "unbreakable" defense. A way to circumvent it already began to formulate

Meanwhile, across from them Cao Cao thrusted his trusted weapon towards Yasaka who evaded as best she could. She barely weaved out of the way. For a split second, he noticed a kind of shimmering effect on Yasaka, but dismissed it as a rush of adrenaline. He had to admit that she was holding him off well. Her foxfire and senjutsu based attacks were allowing her to mitigate the holy effects of his spear. While it appeared to be harming her still, observing from her wincing every once in a while when they clashed, it wasn't as fatal as he thought.

She was quick, certainly, but he was able to keep up. However, he was human and she a youkai. If she landed one solid blow on him, he could imagine that it would be the end for him.

Still, he thought. Fighting against aspects of the unknown that tormented humans since ancient times excited him. He grinned as he managed to get into her guard and grazed her arm with his blade.

This time, Yasaka clearly shimmered again, as if she were leaving a TV static effect from being struck.

No longer able to dismiss it, he disengaged from her to allow him precious seconds to process what he just saw.

Some kind of senjutsu power to mitigate her damage taken somehow? He didn't know what exactly it was, but Yasaka gave him no more time to ponder it further.

"Georg! Perseus! I have a plan!"

Georg turned towards him, as if wondering what exactly he had in mind. Georg caught his eyes pointedly looking towards Perseus' shield, then at Georg himself. The bespectacled man's eyes widened as if understanding and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Perseus!" Georg yelled at his teammate, failing to engage in his preferred melee as both Marisa and Patchouli deftly kept him back.

Georg's own frustrations were beginning to weigh on himself. It was practically a stalemate leaning towards him and Perseus losing. These magicians were too skilled in evading his numerous attacks, seemingly finding patterns and eluding them easily. It didn't matter what type of magic he cast. Eastern, western, norse, elemental. All failed to leave any lasting mark on them. If they didn't outright avoid it, they certainly grazed it. The first few times, he felt a rush of excitement of maybe finally hitting them with his spell seeing how close they were to his spell, only for them to still elude his attack. Perseus was no better in his attempts to hit them.

"Deep Explosion [Magical Napalm!]

Marisa dropped flasks of some blue liquid which exploded on contact with the ground, preventing Perseus from getting any closer. Patchouli would then ruthlessly counterattack with a single element spell, not quite damaging, but pushing Perseus back. Perseus' beam from his Sacred Gear was absolutely pathetic, not even providing a challenge to either of the opposing magicians to either block or evade. Marisa also used her air mobility on her broom to great effect, making it easy to target the both of them and he himself couldn't feasibly counter attack while defending himself as well.

He felt humiliated and his only compensation was that his Sacred Gear Dimension Lost, prevented them from landing attacks on him. If he slipped for even the slightest moment, he would also be torn apart similarly to Heracles. However, he wasn't naïve enough to believe they wouldn't figure out a way to bypass Dimension Lost. If Georg's previous encounter with Patchouli Knowledge was any indication, one of his two opponents would discover a weakness somewhere and somehow.

The new witch, Marisa fired another laser overhead towards him. He redirected his mist to absorb the attack, keeping himself distracted.

"Earth Metal Sign [Emerald Megalopolis!]"

Georg's eyes widened as he recognized the attack.

Emerald obelisks, pierced through underground, following a path directly to him.

"Oh no!" He panicked, trying to move the mist in front of and below him to hopefully cover the area in front of him.

However, Georg could not see the attack. All he could see was that they were coming underground. Almost as if on cue, and obelisk destroyed the ground underneath his feet, but the mist rendered it harmless as it disappeared.

"GURGH!" He instinctively cried as a sharp pain hit from behind him through his shoulder, just barely missing his neck.

The wounded mage looked down at whatever had stabbed him, only to see the same emerald pillar he thought had stopped.

"Idiot. Your mist is useless against attacks you can't see. Your back was a blind spot." Patchouli explained smugly. "Now to finish you off."

He would have preferred to capture both the magicians alive, but now he had no choice but to rely on Cao Cao's plan.

"Use your Sacred Gear again Perseus!" Georg commanded, hurriedly pulling himself off the pillar and rolling away to prevent Patchouli's fireballs and Marisa's stream lasers from incinerating him.

"It doesn't work though!" Perseus argued back, raising his shield to block superheated bubbles from Patchouli of all things that Georg could sense would scald him had it hit.

"Just do it!"

Perseus did as ordered, jumping back and raising his shield at Patchouli.

"Aegis Mineralization!"

The beam of light began charging within his shield.

"Dimension Lost!" Georg also shouted, more to let Cao Cao know what he was doing than anything else.

Both Marisa and Patchouli prepared themselves to dodge, only to become confused as Georg settled the purple mist in front of Perseus.

Cao Cao reached into his gakuran, pulling out a flask filled with purple mist. Georg glanced over again, immediately recognizing what Cao Cao wanted to do.

The Chinese descendent lobbed the flask at Yasaka whom slapped it out of the air with her hand, only for it to shatter on her.

Almost like a movie which played a sequence of events, it happened like clockwork.

Perseus fired his beam into Georg's mist, promptly disappearing. As Yasaka destroyed the flask, releasing the purple mist, Georg acted.

From the purple mist in front of the nine-tailed fox, shot Perseus' attack.

Unable to react in time, all Yasaka could do was cry out as Perseus' Sacred Gear struck her. It did no visible damage, but her feet and arms were beginning to petrify. It reduced her speed drastically, causing her to freeze as she tried to shake off the petrification.

"Now!" Georg shouted, raising both hands. A momentary distraction was all he needed from Perseus. The pain almost stopped his chants, but he pushed through it.

Seals and talismans were conjured around Yasaka and attached to her.

Patchouli immediately recognized what they were.

"Sealing magic against youkai! Marisa, stop them!" Patchouli barked, which the witch promptly did. Marisa rocketed towards Yasaka in order to assist her, jets of blue streaking from the hair side of her broom.

"No you don't!" Perseus interrupted, jumping in front of Marisa while Yasaka was struggling against the containment spell against her.

"Geh! Out of my way!" Marisa growled, her momentum crashing into Perseus, knocking him out of the way.

However, it was too late. Georg's spell was completed and a pink wall formed for an instant around Yasaka. Yasaka visibly strained against the eastern oriented sealing tags on her.

"You're mine!" Cao Cao roared, retracting his spear before thrusting towards Yasaka with all the might he could muster.

Almost as if in slow motion, the spear stabbed right through Yasaka's shoulder. The nine tailed fox yipped in pain, coughing out blood onto the floor. The Chinese man drove his spear into her further, intensifying the holy pain flowing through her body, lifting her into the air. He then flicked her off his spear as she tumbled onto the ground in front of him like a puppet with no strings. Coughing up blood onto the floor, the leader of the Youkai Faction struggled to get back up weakly, but the seals from Georg inhibited her.

"Yasaka!" Marisa cried in terror.

Cao Cao smirked at her as the Gensokyo residents looked on in horror.

"You're finished, Yasaka. Georg, capture her."

xXx