Scarlet Mansion
"This must be it..."
Said Reimu as she pointed at a double doors located at the end of the corridor. It is also metallic and painted in a reddish-black palette as opposed to the other doors which were simply made of wood and painted in a normal shade of red.
"There is a massive amount of magic energy coming from behind it." Reimu added. "This must be where the main culprit of the Scarlet Mist is."
"That purple beansprout's master, huh?" Marisa said. "Wonder what kind of selfish jerkass they are to think of doing all this...?"
"That doesn't matter." Reimu said. "This Incident needs to be stopped, and its culprit apprehended."
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."
A voice with a cold, striking tone said from behind Reimu and Marisa.
The two girls quickly turned around, and saw a pair of red eyes belonging to a person they've only fought just now, currently standing in a spot that was moments ago completely empty as they passed by it.
A minute ago, a pair of red eyes is all that Reimu could see of Sakuya. But now with more distance between the two, the enemy's features became apparent. The most notable thing about Sakuya is her silver hair that seemed to gleam like actual silver, which is worn in braids at both sides of her face tied with small black bows at the end. Her outfit appears to be a simple blue blouse and knee-length skirt combo, which is basically a western maid outfit not unlike Yumeko's, only blue. Her hands, which are both holding the same ornate silver knives, hung by her sides.
"I suppose you are the lieutenant of your master?" Reimu directed at Sakuya, as she readied a handful of Ofuda.
"And this mansion's head of security too?" Marisa added. "Though if that was the case, then ya ain't doin' a very good job, since we got this far in the first place..."
"I prefer the term 'loyal servant'. And no, I don't lead this mansion's security detail, though I do assist in defending it from intruders." Sakuya corrected both girls.
"And I suppose you still intend on doing your job?" Reimu said as she readied her gohei and the Ying-Yang Orb.
"We're gonna have to go through ya, anyway." Marisa said as she pulled out her magic wand. "So how 'bout a second round, 'cept this time, we go mano-a-mano?"
Sakuya then raised both her hands, knives at the ready.
"Very well. I accept your challenge..."
Then at a speed faster than the blink of an eye, Sakuya threw all of her knives at the two girls.
There is actually over ten times more knives than what the silver-haired servant was seen holding just a second ago...
Reimu is surprised by the sheer number of knives in the barrage, and how there's so many of them tightly packed together that dodging the barrage is literally impossible.
Marisa quickly pointed her wand forward. "DEFLECT!" Chanting a spell, she fired a short-ranged shock wave that disrupted the trajectory of the knives, causing all of them to fall onto the floor.
Once again, the knives faded out of existence before they can touch the floor. And in the moment they served to distract Reimu and Marisa, so did Sakuya.
"Sheesh! She's gonna be like that demon maid from Makai!" Marisa pointed out as she looked around the hallway for the silver-haired servant. "At least she ain't sadistic."
"Good to know that..." Reimu said. She shuddered at being reminded of Yumeko, whose sadistic torture of her and Marisa still haunts her. Thankfully for the shrine maiden, Sakuya is more of an elegant servant than a sadistic one. "But I most definitely don't want to face the same amount of difficulty we have back then. Maybe we should bring out the Spell Cards..."
"Yeah. I ain't gonna get my ass kicked again." Marisa acknowledged as she reached into her hat.
Or tried to...
Something had knocked the witch's hat off of her head.
"Huh? Where did-" Marisa looked around for her hat, and found it stuck to a section of the wall by a knife. "Damn, she's a sneaky one."
Just as Marisa went to grab her hat, Reimu's intuition went off again, as she unconsciously went and dragged Marisa back, right as Sakuya suddenly popped into existence and slashed across where Marisa's face was a split second ago.
With her ambush attack evaded, Sakuya faded out of existence again.
"Whoa! That was close!" Marisa exclaimed. "Thanks for the save, Rei! A second too late and I'm gonna hate lookin' into a mirror for the rest of my life!"
"Keep your eyes wide open..." Reimu said as she let go of Marisa, and scanned the hallway. "You said it yourself: she can teleport like Yumeko does..."
"Correction: my ability is not teleportation." Sakuya said as she suddenly appeared behind the girls and threw a dozen knives at them.
Reimu and Marisa deflected the knives, then fired as many danmaku at Sakuya as they can. The silver-haired servant faded from existence before the danmaku can hit her.
"It is actually the manipulation of time." Sakuya continued as she reappeared at a different part of the hallway, throwing even more knives at the girls.
Once again, Reimu and Marisa deflected the knives (and dodged some of them) before firing at Sakuya. Again, it did nothing as Sakuya disappeared before the danmaku can reach her.
"It allows me to do an hour's worth of work in the span of a split second." Sakuya added upon reappearing at yet another part of the hallway, throwing an even bigger barrage of knives at the girls.
Reimu and Marisa did the same thing, and got the same result, as Sakuya disappeared for the third time.
But this time, rather than reappearing at another part of the hallway and throwing knives, the silver-haired servant reappeared right behind Marisa and had the witch held in an arm lock before anyone realized it. A knife was held over Marisa's throat.
Reimu gasped upon seeing her friend being held hostage. "Let her go!" She demanded to Sakuya.
"I will." Sakuya answered. "If the two of you promise to leave this mansion and never come back."
"As if we're gonna do that!" Marisa answered defiantly, and gets reminded of her position when Sakuya touched the edge of the knife against her throat.
"Now, do we have a deal?" Sakuya said.
Reimu contemplated the options. Of course she isn't going to give in to Sakuya's demand. The problem being how to save Marisa and/or knock out Sakuya without getting the former's throat sliced.
"I guess there are no negotiations here?" Reimu asked for the obvious.
"Not after you two caused collateral damages to the mansion, especially in your fight against Lady Patchouli." Sakuya pointed out.
Well, Sakuya did have a point. But...
What she just said reminded Reimu of something.
Collateral damages...Patchouli...Hm... The shrine maiden thought.
Then it all came to her...
"I think I'm going to have to take it back, Marisa..." Reimu said.
Marisa have no idea what Reimu was talking about. "Take back what?"
Reimu didn't answer. She just summoned the Ying-Yang Orb and launched it out...toward Marisa.
In the moment the Orb is launched, Marisa instantly figured out what Reimu is planning. "Wait a sec! Ya gonna literally go right through-"
Sakuya also figured out what is going on, but it was too late for her as the Ying-Yang Orb slammed into Marisa, sending both hostage and hostage taker flying backwards into a wall with enough force to smash a crater in it.
Marisa collapsed into a heap on the floor soon after.
With Marisa out of the way, Reimu quickly fired more danmaku at the currently dazed Sakuya, then slammed the Ying-Yang Orb into her face for good measure.
Amazingly, that still didn't knock out Sakuya, as she simply dropped onto the floor on her feet. Though while taking a divine power-infused cannonball to the face didn't knock her out, the silver-haired servant is noticeably even more dazed than earlier, as she barely stood on her feet for a second before collapsing on her knees.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt..." Marisa, still on the floor, quipped. "Speaking of which...godsdamn, did that hurt for me!"
Reimu rolled her eyes. Marisa's gaijin mentality never ceases to amaze.
Reimu then turned her attention back to Sakuya.
All she could see Sakuya doing is the silver-haired servant snapping her fingers before she disappeared into thin air.
"Time manipulation...?" Reimu thought. "How are we going to be able to defeat that ability?"
Marisa got up and cast a healing spell on herself, then called her still-hovering broom over. "I dunno. Ya tell me..." She responded as she climbed onto her broom.
At that moment, Reimu's intuition went off again, as she turned around and raised her gohei up, just in time to block an attempted backstab by Sakuya.
Marisa raised her wand and cast a spell at Sakuya, only for the silver-haired servant to disappear with a snap of her fingers before the spell can reach her.
"Jeez! How are we gonna stop her from stoppin' time and zippin' around?!" Marisa complained. "If only there was a weakness we can exploit!"
Reimu, however, did notice something.
Every instances of Sakuya disappearing into thin air is preceded by the sound of a finger snap. And Reimu did notice Sakuya snapping the fingers of her left hand just now before she disappeared again.
"If only..." She muttered.
"'If only' what?" Marisa asked for clarification.
Before Marisa could receive an answer, Reimu's intuition went off once again as she went and shove Marisa aside, then delivered a high-kick at that direction, hitting Sakuya in her face at the precise moment she reappeared.
Reimu then closed in on Sakuya, who noticed her in time to swing her knife-wielding right hand at the shrine maiden. Reimu caught the knife-wielding right hand with both her hands, and put as much strength as she can muster in her arms to stop the knife from getting any closer to her. It was a struggle, but luckily for Reimu, Sakuya didn't have enhanced strength levels, so she too struggled to break through her defense despite using both arms to push on the knife.
As soon as she noticed Sakuya releasing the grip of her left hand on the knife, Reimu released her right hand and shot it toward Sakuya's left, holding her fingers in place and preventing her from snapping her fingers.
"Now, Marisa!" Reimu shouted at Marisa. "Hurry up!" She added as she felt the grip of her left hand starting to slip.
Marisa quickly figured out what Reimu has planned. "This better work, ya sweet-toothed fat girl!" As she said that, the witch pulled a Spell Card out of the pocket of her coat. "Alright, then. Brace yourself, Rei!"
Sakuya watched as Marisa prepared her Spell Card. She knew full well what the Spell Card is going to do, and tried to break free.
Unfortunately for Sakuya, the Spell Card is created already ready for casting the instant its owner poured magic energy into it. And that's exactly what Marisa did, too late for Sakuya to do anything about.
"Comet: [Blazing Star]"
A bright white ball of light surrounded Marisa as she charged toward Sakuya at a high speed, giving the impression of a comet, the namesake of the Spell Card.
"Dodge this, bitch!" Marisa taunted as she collided with Sakuya, plowing across the hallway with Sakuya caught right in the middle of the attack.
The Spell Card ended the moment Marisa and Sakuya crashed into the metallic double doors with enough force to blow them right off their hinges and even severely deform them as they along with Sakuya are sent flying across the room they separated from the hallway.
"Marisa?" Reimu called out as she entered the room, and find Marisa splayed on the floor.
"Woohoo! Now that is what I'd call a dynamic entry!" Marisa quipped as she quickly got back up, unscathed aside from the damages done to her outfit. "Though remind me to fix my clothes after this is all over..."
Reimu is glad that Marisa is alright. But there is something more pressing she wanted to address first... Reimu approached Marisa and knelt down next to her.
Marisa turned to see Reimu staring her in the face. "What? Something's on my fa-"
She is quickly interrupted when Reimu grabbed her by her neck.
"What was it that you just said about me? A 'sweet-toothed fat girl'?" The shrine maiden interrogated viciously.
"I'm so sorry..." Marisa plead for mercy. In her gleefulness to take down Sakuya with a Spell Card, she has completely forgotten about her red-white friend's berserk button.
The minor scuffle came to a halt when both girls noticed Sakuya standing back up...only to immediately collapse again as she went out cold for real.
"Jeez, that is one tough bitch..." Marisa hung a lamp in regards to Sakuya's resilience. "Can't imagine how tough her boss's gonna-"
"What fool dares awaken me, the great Remilia?!"
And there goes Sakuya...
To be honest, I actually nerfed Sakuya a bit by giving her an exploitable weakness in that she needs to snap her fingers in order to stop time. Also, Sakuya didn't do her "surround enemy with knives from all directions" thing here because in this universe, Spell Cards are such a recent invention that only their inventors are using them, and that attack is just impossible to defeat if it isn't a Spell Card.
Yes, Remilia's "What fool dares awaken me" speech is a reference. See if you can find out where I got it from.
"And that, as they say, is that..."
Afterwords end here.
