Chapter 3

A Maid and a Pocket Watch of Blood

"Before you leave, I want to make a proposition for you. As well as give you a warning." Natsuki stood there when Patchouli called out to him before he left.

"You have a void affinity, meaning that you are not weak to any elemental attacks such as fire, or earth, but you cannot use said elemental affinities either. In fact, I think you might have your own special kind of power. One that is waiting to be found by you." said Patchouli.

Natsuki was speechless. He still had some magic left, but not enough to do anything. After listening to Patchouli, he finally realized that it was probably remnants of the Azure that was left behind when he went through the Boundary. He still had his own niche, but he never realized it because the Azure 'Phase Shift' Grimoire was blocking it off.

"I will teach you danmaku, the basic format of battle in Gensokyo, and in turn, you will help me in anything that requires your knowledge regarding the Outside World, or in other words, anything that you are familiar with. Of course, I will be your friend if you need anything. Essentially, I am giving you a permanent free pass into my library."

"That is...very generous of you." Natsuki thought for a few seconds before reaching a decision. "Alright, I accept. Looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise, Natsuki." The two then shook hands in agreement to the pact they made between them.

"Now, for the warning, there is a maid who is able to mess around with time and space. I fully trust her to be able to handle her duties, but if you meet her, she will try drive you out first things first. If that doesn't work, then she will kill you."

Natsuki gulped. A maid who is able to mess with time? Not a very fun experience since he also nearly died while fighting what seemed to be a reincarnation of Hades Izanami.

"Since I am preoccupied at the moment, I cannot go with you. The intruders seem to have made their way into the mansion and I must deal with them at once."

'Crap, I forgot that Reimu and Marisa were trying to deal with the incident and this place is the source of it all.'

"I won't try to stop you from going forward and trying to stop the mistress, since you are a rather reasonable person and did not disturb my peace with loud noises. But if you do meet Sakuya, tell her that Patchouli invited you into the mansion. She probably will not listen, but I believe this encounter with her will help you as long as you don't die. And please don't die on me since you only just became my new partner."

"I... Alright, I guess I'll find out, I was planning on visiting the mistress anyways."

"I won't stop you. Just stay alive because I am looking forward to working with you. Now to deal with those loud idiots." Patchouli flew away towards the source of loud noises.

Looking around, Natsuki found the exit and left the library. He sighed as he walked through the hallways, admiring how clean the place was. Several vases and artwork were on display, and if one looked out the window, they would see the garden full of roses and lush green hedges. One greenhouse stood out, and it seemed to be growing tea leaves. If Natsuki knew anything, those were the same kind of tea leaves he saw at one of the new gardens back in Ikaruga.

Natsuki's blood froze upon realizing something was wrong. A knife flew past his head out of nowhere and he looked around. Nobody.

"Damn...I know you are somewhere here, it would be rude if you didn't show yourself," called out Natsuki while looking at the hallway intersection.

"So you are smarter than you look. I applaud making it this far, but this is as far as you go. I suggest you leave now or I will have to dispose of you." said the maid as she stepped out from behind the corner.

"I am the head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya Izayoi."

"Natsuki Shirogane. Recent newcomer to Gensokyo. And I don't intend to leave just yet. I did get an invite from Miss Patchouli after all."

"Really? I don't really believe you." said Sakuya as she threw a flurry of knives.

Instinct kicking in, Natsuki dodged the knives, seeing how they have spaces in between and safe spots to be in. A battle of danmaku had essentially begun. Except Natsuki cannot use any means attack other than physical attacks. Which meant closing in on someone who can stop time and just move away easily. Unless...

Sakuya was suprised, although she didn't show it, as Natsuki seemingly grabbed a knife and threw it towards her. Said knife was easily dodged, but a multitude of knives were also getting thrown. 'He can do that as much as wants, but he still won't get me.'

"Illusion Phantom: Jack the Ludo Bile!"

Natsuki was appalled by the random shots of red orbs shot out after Sakuya shouted out her technique name. He was about to weave through them to get close to his opponent when time suddenly stopped. Somewhere inside his mind, Natsuki realized that something is coming his way, and that there are far more things to dodge than he initially thought. Time continued to move again as he suddenly saw a wave of knives aimed towards him, with 2 other groups of knives accompanying it to make dodging both red orbs and the aimed knives difficult. Instinct was the only thing he could make use of due to the extremely tight spot he was in. This happened not only once, but many more times until Sakuya decided to use another one.

"Illusion Sign: Za Warudo!"

Writers Note : Yes, I made it so that she said it the same way DIO says his stand name as it is essentially a nod to JOJO's Bizarre Adventure considering Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil came out in 2002 and JOJO part 3 was in Shonen Jump between 1989 to 1992.

Natsuki couldn't dodge in time. One hit from a knife with it's direction changed was enough to make him lose his momentum and lose his balance. Time stopped as Sakuya took the chance to throw multiple knives at him.

"I told you to leave but you gave me no choice. It's useless to try anymore. Just accept the sweet embrace of death." said the maid in a monotone voice.

Time resumed, and Natsuki was too slow to dodge any of the incoming knives. Staring in disbelief, he fell onto his knees, knives stabbed all around his upper body.

"I will have to clean this hallway later. For now, I have to deal with the other two intruders. Seems they managed to get past Lady Patchouli as well."

Patchouli. Natsuki remembered something.

'If you truly wish to find this hidden power of yours, you need to find what drives you to live on. A reason to live, fight, and survive.'

He remembered that an important person who taught him how to fight said those words to him.

'There is no point in fighting without a reason to do so. You could be doing something else that is more productive. So let me ask you. Why do you fight? Why do you try your hardest to do the things you do?'

"...I..."

Sakuya looked back at where Natsuki was.

"I...can...still...fight."

'Because I want to protect those dear to me. My friends, my family. I want to live a life where we could all be laughing together, crying together, just being together with them. I lost my life because of that man, and I do not intend to lose it to him again! I have to defeat him, because as long he is out there, those who are close to me will suffer. I never asked for this cursed power to be a part of me, but if I have to use it to defeat him, I will. Otherwise, I will never be able to live in peace knowing he is out there ruining people's lives, especially those I care about.'

"If I die here... I won't be able to keep my promise to Patchouli."

"I told you it's useless to fight back. I'll give you one more chance to leave since you seem to be alive and well despite the damage I inflicted on you." declared the maid.

"I don't intend to leave just yet. If anything, I have an actual reason to fight you now. You nearly killed me, so this is revenge." said Natsuki in a bold tone.

"Fine then, you'll die right where you are standing."

"I don't think so."

Time stopped. Everything was frozen. Save for the maid who started throwing even more knives.

As time resumed, the knives were knocked back as Natsuki muttered something.

"...Darkness Sign..."

'! Is he about to declare a spellcard? I thought he had no experience in using danmaku!'

"Black Onslaught!"

A wave of dark red bullets shot out towards the maid. Accompanying the wave was another wave of dark energy that Natsuki shot out randomly. The pattern looked similar to Sakuya for some reason, until she realized it was the same as one of her mistress's spellcards. No, not the same, but very similar. It was one her more difficult spells indeed, but this seemed a bit more easier to dodge. Until Sakuya was met with another wave of red bullets aimed directly at her. While her mistress' was more random at best with some form of pattern, this one had an extra wave of bullets that were aimed directly at the enemy. Having to dodge a directly aimed shot while also dodging things that were moving around and approaches from her side as well as her front was proving to be difficult, even with time stop. As soon she thought she was safe, she was hit from behind. The aimed shots go back the way they came towards Natsuki after reaching the max effective distance of normal basic shots.

'Unbelievable. To think I would be pushed back by him..."

Sakuya retreated as Natsuki fell on the ground, exasperated after using a huge amount of magic.

"Damn, that thought up attack on the spot took a lot out of me. I should find I way to make it more efficient after I get back. I might as well go back to the library since that mistress is probably far stronger than the maid."

Natsuki looked out the window, seeing Reimu and Marisa chasing after the maid as they flew up the clocktower and were floating in the sky.

"I'll leave the rest to them I guess..." Natsuki then left for the library. "Patchouli is probably mad she lost to them..."

Another chapter done. Oh boy, am I glad to have gone over what Natsuki can possibly do. So yeah, that means new updated Bio for Natsuki!

Natsuki Shirogane

Drive: Unknown

No name has been given to Natsuki's drive, but it seems to allow for rapid regeneration as long as he has not used up any magical power. It also seems to allow Natsuki to manipulate darkness, though little is known at this point to make accurate analysis.

Distortion Drives : None

Astral Heat : None

Spellcards

Darkness Sign: Black Onslaught

Taking inspiration from Ragna the Bloodedge, this Spellcard uses multiple wave of bullets shaped like the blade of a scythe. Bullets can come from different directions and can overlap, making it difficult to dodge properly. If Natsuki decides to use a harder version, in this case 'Darkness Sign: Black Onslaught Overdrive', he starts shooting aimed waves of bullets that return after reaching a certain distance. The scythe bullets are also more spaced out, but the type of bullet is changed into knife danmaku instead. (Note: This will be improved and optimized version of the spellcard that Natsuki has used in the fight between him and Sakuya. Future battles will see him using this.)

Natsuki seems op at first glance, due to rapid regen and his first Spellcard catching Sakuya off guard, but I think the balance change here will be enough to make it less op than it should be, with the exception of the Overdrive version of course. His drive and main ability is still not confirmed, although I am considering making him basically a jack-of-all-trades type of character like Patchouli. Speaking of Patchouli, here is a small look through her spellcards.

Patchouli Knowledge

Spellcards

(Patchouli can use all five basic elemental affinities in Gensokyo. Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth as well as having yin and yang traits, meaning she can also use sun and moon attacks. This will be explained later. She has 2 different spellcards for each element as well different combinations. Therefore, I will only be listing her Extra Stage Spellcards/Touhou Lost Word Spellcards.)

Sun Sign: Royal Flare

Patchouli uses Sun Energy Bullets in a pattern that resembles solar flares of the sun. Difficult to dodge, but those with Moon affinities are resistant to it. Effective against Star affinities.

Moon Sign: Silent Selene

A rain of bullets along with converging Moon Lasers. Usually, in EoSD Extra, it's Moon bullets shot out in a line that eventually converge to start shooting straight down and alternates with two lines of bullets shot in an angle of about 5-10 degrees from shooting straight down while blue bullets rain down. In this case however, it is a Moon Laser instead of the line of bullets. Effective against those with Sun affinity, but weak against Star affinities.

Fire Water Wood Metal Earth Sign: Philosopher's Stone

Using all the five basic elemental types together, Patchouli shoots out different waves of bullets. Those who have any of the five elemental affinities other than Star, Sun, and Moon are weak to certain bullets in the barrage. Bullets overlap so it is possible deal both ineffective and effective damage at the same time.

(For ease of writing, this spellcard will be referred to as Elemental Sign: Philosopher's Stone instead.)

Right. Now the 8 different affinities. In terms of the 3 that are essentially a triangle, rock-paper-scissors, it is Sun, Moon, and Star. I will show which is effective against which soon. The 5 elemental affinities are Fire, Metal, Wood, Earth, and Water.

Generally, Sun Moon, Moon Star, Star Sun. These three are unaffected by the 5 elemental affinities and vice versa. Fire Water, Water Earth, Earth Wood, Wood Metal, Metal Fire.

I will explain more on the next chapter within the story so please do wait patiently. These affinities are mostly taken from Touhou Lostword, and yes, there are exception to this rule. This is the general rule that is followed. Leave a review if you feel like it, it would definitely be appreciated.