Imperfect Metamorphosis

by TakerFoxx

It's the first day of spring, and Cirno and her friends are once again up to no good! But after stealing a strange box from Marisa's house, they soon find themselves over their heads as they discover some things are meant to remain locked up.

57. Ten of Swords

Ten of Swords

"Reimu, Marisa," Kotohime said, not taking her eyes off of Yuuka. "Get out of here."

"Hell with that!" Marisa snapped as she leapt off the bed. "Bitch just blew up my house!"

"Marisa, please," Kotohime begged. Around her, her fellow GPF officers had risen and were warily taking position around her. Kotohime tilted her head to one side and appeared to be speaking into her shoulder. "Founder Yakumo? Yuuka Kazami has attacked Marisa Kirisame's house. Repeat: Yuuka Kazami-"

Yuuka didn't so much as look at her. She simply leisurely walked over the ruins of the doorframe and motioned with one hand. Kotohime and her officers were swept to one side by a wave of unseen force and collided with the wall. They didn't get up.

"My apologies for the property damage, but I am sure you of all people would appreciate a good entrance," Yuuka said as she approached. "You and I have-"

"MASTER SPARK!" Marisa screamed as she thrust her mini-hakkero forward. A massive beam of white light tinged with a multitude of colors shot out.

At the same, Reimu had already sidestepped out of the way and drawn one of her own spellcards. "Fantasy Seal!" she cried. It was far from the preferred response to this kind of threat, but it was the best she could do on such short notice.

Yuuka held her umbrella in front of her and popped it open.

Marisa's Master Spark hit while Reimu's seal sprang to existence around Yuuka. Blinding light filled the house, and Reimu had to shield her face and brace herself against the resulting explosion. Wind roared past her, tearing at her hair and clothes.

When it died down, Reimu lowered her arms and opened her eyes. There was now considerably less of the house still standing. Unfortunately, Yuuka remained on her feet, with a heavy burn mark scorched into the floor around her. Reimu's seal had been damaged, and now sparked and hissed as it struggled to remain in place. Yuuka lifted her umbrella and straightened up. She reached up to tap a finger against Reimu's seal, and it crumbled.

"Again I must remind you who it was that created that spell," Yuuka said. "And even now your technique remains flawed." She closed her umbrella and held it up like a maestro's baton. "Here, allow me to demonstrate."

Marisa and Reimu threw themselves to the floor as more light threatened to blind them and a deafening roar assault their ears. When it passed, Marisa's bed and the wall behind it were gone, as was a good chunk of the forest beyond.

"There," Yuuka said in satisfaction. "That's how it's done."

Marisa stared at her. Then she gingerly picked herself off the ground. "What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed.

Yuuka tsked. "I was just about to tell you when you interrupted me. You and I have unfinished business, young lady."

"The hell we do!" Marisa shouted. "We fought, you lost, end of story!"

"No, I'm afraid that's not what I mean. Or did Yukari not tell you?"

That made Marisa pause. "Tell me what?" she said warily.

"That I swore to break anyone that she tried to involve into our little dispute," Yuuka said cheerfully. The casualness of that statement sent shivers down Reimu's back. "I must admit, despite my best efforts, you did manage to evade the promised consequences of your involvement. Not that I blame you of course, but it really has been quite inconvenient, you naughty girl." Her tongue flicked out to slide over her lips and she showed her teeth. "But I'm afraid the time has come to pay the piper."

Reimu gritted her teeth. This was it. This was where these stupid people and their stupid schemes and stupid rules led to: people being hurt for the dumbest of reasons. "Yukari blackmailed her," she said. "Marisa was forced to be there."

"I have no doubt that is true," Yuuka said. "However, that was sort of the whole point of my vow, to discourage her from doing just that. A threat is hardly effective unless it's carried out, now is it?" She shot Marisa a pointed look. "And before you ask, I am aware of your self-inflicted illness. While I congratulate you on your recovery, I must clarify that it was, in fact, a result of your own actions and thus does not count."

"Wasn't gonna say it," Marisa said. "But I gotta say, you got a real shitty way of doing things. I mean, you coulda knocked. My house didn't do anything to you." She had started to surreptitiously move around Yuuka while maintaining eye-contact. As Reimu watched, Marisa briefly curled the fingers of her right hand into an "O" shape while twitching the muscles around her right eye.

It was fortunate that the two of them had worked together to absolve so many dire situations, because just about anyone else would have not noticed the gesture at all. Reimu missed it herself the first time, and Marisa had to do it two more times before she got it. So while Yuuka was focused on Marisa, Reimu tried to reach out for her connection to the Ying-Yang Orb. Even if she wasn't strong enough to fight Yuuka, it would allow her to call up someone who was. Yukari had gotten them into this mess, so Yukari could damned well deal with it.

It didn't come. Reimu's heart dropped.

"Forgive me," Yuuka said, her eye following Marisa while the rest of herself stayed still. "But I do love to make an impression. It's a fault of my kind. Besides, the two of you wreaked considerable havoc on my house the last time you were there. So just take it as another long-overdue debt being repaid." Then, without taking her eyes off Marisa, she snapped her umbrella up and pointed it toward Reimu. "Ah, ah, ah, none of that."

Reimu froze. "What?"

"Don't bother calling for help. It wouldn't work anyway, and I think you know why."

Marisa hissed. "You fucking cheater."

Finally a hint of irritation cracked through Yuuka's serene demeanor. "No," she growled as she started to advance, broken wood, glass, and brick crunching under the heels of her boots. "You do not get to call me that. Not after what you pulled. Mind your tongue, young la-"

Then the lines of the floorboard she had stepped on glowed white and the air before her seemed to wrinkle and distort like water, signaling the activation of one of Marisa's traps. It gathered into a ball that drove into Yuuka's gut. Her eye widened with surprise and she let out a pained oomph as she doubled over. Unfortunately, Marisa's ward wasn't enough to knock her down, but it did send her stumbling back a few steps.

That was all Marisa needed. She snapped her fingers, and every ward not destroyed by Yuuka's entrance flared to life. It didn't matter where she had placed them, they all seemed to know where they were needed. What was more, they took turns, hitting Yuuka with everything from blasts of lightning to ethereal spears in quick succession. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to be doing more than superficial damage, but they kept her off-balance.

While this was happening, Marisa thrust her other hand out to the side. From the rubble a leather bag rose up and flew towards her, its flap opening and its contents snapping into place around her body. "Reimu, go!" she shouted as a pair of elbow-length gauntlets of leather and steel slipped onto her arms and a bandolier of pouches wrapped over one shoulder and under the opposite arm and clicked into place. "I'll keep her-"

Suddenly Reimu found herself seized off the ground and lifted into the air. She cried out when she saw that both she and Marisa had been plucked up by a pair of thick, green stalks that had smashed up through the floor. Smaller tendrils slithered over their limbs and over their mouths, rendering them mute and immobile.

This is it, Reimu thought as the vines tightened around her neck. I'm about to die. She felt disturbingly calm about her impending doom, almost as if she were watching it happen to someone else. Well, technically she was, but the fact that Marisa was in the same predicament really didn't make things better. It was probably shock. In one of those strange moments of clarity that tend to happen moments before someone horrible is about to take place and nothing can be done to stop it, when time has slowed to a crawl and you became aware of every little detail around you, she found herself hoping that Yuuka was going to kill them before the shock wore off. It would at least make it less distressing.

She also found herself somewhat bothered by the realization that the Hakurei line was about to be snuffed out. She wasn't really clear on the ramifications that held for Gensokyo, but she did know that they probably weren't good. Oh well, she thought. Nothing I can really do about that now.

Marisa's wards finally exhausted themselves, and Yuuka rose up. They had left her skin flayed and her clothes torn, but she seemed more annoyed by the interruption than anything. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of your system, I'd say it's times for a change in location," she said to the powerless witch and shrine maiden. "Precautions or no, I don't expect this little ruckus to go completely unnoticed, and this really isn't a suitable setting to resolve things anyway. Fortunately, I know just the place." She clapped her hands together twice.

The stalks shot back into the earth, taking Reimu and Marisa with them, and Reimu found herself hauled backward through complete darkness, with the air rushing past her ears and dirt stinging her eyes.

…

The blades were of chiseled obsidian so black that light seemed to be repelled from their wickedly sharp facets, save where flecks of gold glittered through the spine and around the leather-wrapped grips. Mima turned them over in her hands, briskly yet thoroughly inspecting every centimeter while occasionally making small noises of approval. Finally she said, "Your skills of acquisition continue to impress, old friend. These could not have been easy to find."

The catlike creature known as the dealer eagerly rubbed his gnarled claws together. "Yes, yes," he purred in excitement. "Heavy prices were paid for these ones. Fortunes depleted, wounds incurred, much blood loosed from the skin." His whiskers twitched as he let out a wheezing chuckle. "Fortunately, none of it mine. All things have a price they say, but why should this one the one to pay it?"

"An excellent motto to live by, to be sure," Mima agreed. She held up one of the blades and ran her hands over the cold edges, feeling the channels of dark energy flowing through the glass veins. "To be honest, I had my doubts that a pair even still existed."

"Ah, many others did as well. Few believed, but all were interested, should one find its way into this one's hands." The Dealer waved a hand over the other blade, though he was careful not to make contact with it. "Quite a waiting list for these lovelies. Very large. But there was no doubt to this one's mind on who was to be first."

Mima nodded. "Your consideration is appreciated. And of course will be rewarded. After all-"

Ding-dong.

A bell went off in Mima's head and she froze. The bell was a warning. She had many set in place to inform her should her attention be required elsewhere. And this one was quite specific.

It took less than half a second to confirm the details, and though she had nothing resembling blood in her body, something within her went cold.

"No," she whispered. "No, don't you dare…"

The Dealer's scabby brow furrowed in confusion. "Ah, has this one offended his honored guest in some-"

The blade fell from her hands to clatter onto its twin. "I have to go," Mima said brusquely.

"What?" the Dealer squeaked in alarm. "But…we have business to-"

But Mima was already gone.

…

The first thing Reimu noticed was how much her head hurt. It was like a gorilla had somehow gotten into her skull and had been provided with a hammer and a lot of caffeine. Groaning, she lifted her hand to lightly touch where the throbbing was the worst and found a sizeable bump. Lovely.

The second thing she noticed was how dark it was. It wasn't pitch-black, as she could still make out some indistinct shapes, but everything was covered in shadow and prevented her from picking out any sort of detail. That was a relief. In her state light would be an agony.

One of the shadows moved, and she heard Marisa say, "Hey, take it easy Reddie. You took a nasty crack on the noggin there. Doesn't look like a concussion, but it's swelling pretty bad."

"No shit genius," Reimu muttered. "Are we dead?"

"Nah."

"Pity." She struggled to sit up and winced as her head logged a formal protest. "The hell are we then?"

Marisa sighed. "The Blasted Lands." She waved a hand, and a small sphere of light appeared. Fortunately it was dim enough to keep from worsening Reimu's headache, but it did allow her to see that the two of them were nestled among a bunch of rough stones.

Marisa making a pushing gesture, and the sphere flew up and away, gradually increasing in brightness as it went. Reimu swallowed. They were on a stone shelf jutting from a crooked pillar that rose up from a seemingly unfathomable abyss. She could see other pillars thrusting up like towers all around them. Or tombstones.

Reimu shivered.

"Why are we here?" she whispered.

"'Cause Yuuka's got a sick sense of humor," Marisa said. She pointed. One of the towers was noticeably shorter than the others, and its jagged top looked like a large chunk had been broken off of it recently. "Plus I'm pretty sure that where I blew her up during that fight."

"It is indeed," Yuuka agreed. Reimu jerked, and then regretted it when the throbbing flared up in response. The wannabe youkai didn't appear though. They only heard her voice, echoing from all around.

"In many ways, this place is ideal for confrontations such as this," Yuuka's voice continued. "It is practically uninhabited, meaning no one is likely to stumble across our business. There is no preexisting element that would give either of us an unfair advantage, while the various tunnels and caves provide for quite the dynamic arena. It is easy to see why Yukari chose it as our battleground. And as you have just pointed out, it is also where we left off the last time around. Gives it a sense of completion, I'd say. A way to bring things full circle."

She laughed, beginning with a low chuckle before escalating to a full throated cackle, the sound of it reverberating throughout the expanse of stone and darkness. Reimu waited for the last of the echoes to die down before remarking, "Well, that's somewhat unsettling."

"Tell me about it," Marisa muttered. "These people, I swear." Then she raised her voice and called out, "Okay, but why'd you bring Reimu along? Your fight's with me, ze!"

"So it is," Yuuka replied. "But she is a tricky one, and I'd much rather have her here where I can keep an eye on her. Besides, the two of you are a team, are you not? I am certain she would rather be here watching your back rather than back in the forest fretting over your fate."

Well, that much was true, though Reimu would have preferred to have been left in a position to go for help. Though given Yuuka's manner of introducing herself, it probably wasn't necessary, weird flowers or no. "You don't seriously think nobody's going to notice, do you?" she called out. "I mean, we aren't exactly unknowns, you know. And Marisa's house might have been stuck in a big, tangly forest, but there are plenty of eyes watching it."

"Oh, I know," Yuuka agreed. It was disquieting how unconcerned she sounded. "Many have already taken notice. I have no doubt that your ethereal friend has already been alerted and is rushing to your rescue. It is of no matter. She will not win through in time, and steps have already been taken to prevent Yukari from finding out. I assure you, we will remain uninterrupted until our business has been…concluded."

Reimu grimaced. She looked up. Above, she could just barely make out a canopy of dirty brown clouds. And beyond that…well, she couldn't see it, but she sure could feel it: a vague buzzing at the back of her skull that did not agree with her headache one bit. Her heart dropped. She had felt it once before, and this time Rin wasn't around to destroy it for them.

"Yeah, I really hate those things," Marisa muttered. "Freaking cheapass…" She sighed, and then called out, "So what, you drag us out here, cut us off from our friends, and now you expect us to fight you or something?"

"Or something," Yuuka purred. Reimu frowned. Was it her imagination, or was something moving in the abyss below? She could swear that she could see something very large slithering between the pillars. Or a lot of somethings. It was like there was a nest of giant snakes below them, though Reimu was fairly certain that there were no actual reptiles present.

Marisa noticed as well. "Wait, hold up!" she said, her voice rising to a squeak. "This ain't fair!"

"Fair?" Yuuka mocked. "You want to talk about what's fair?" Reimu's heart almost stopped. Several black tendrils were now rising up out of the black. They reared up around them, dagger-like thorns protruding from their sides and toothed buds gaping open at their tips. Reimu had never felt so like an insect as she did at that moment.

"Was it fair when Yukari showed up to our duel with all of you in tow?" Yuuka demanded. "Was it fair when she conspired to overwhelm me with numbers when even on her own she would have been more than a match for me? Was it fair when she called upon Gensokyo's greatest powers to stab me in the back without so much as giving me a chance to defend myself?"

"Take that up with her!" Marisa shouted as she and Reimu pressed back against the stone wall. "I got shanghaied!"

"Yes, and I'm sure you were simply rankling under that yoke," Yuuka said dryly. One of the vines had come close enough for Reimu to count the individual teeth. "The voice of dissent, protesting her dishonorable deeds."

"Yeah, b-b-but c'mon! Blackmail is blackmail! Besides, if you keep this up, you won't get what you want?"

"Oh? And what is that?"

"A fight," Marisa said promptly. "C'mon. If you just wanted to squish me and get it over with, you coulda done that back at my place. Instead, you drag us both out here to this big, open space; give us time to recover; and make a point of getting all theatrical, ze. It's obvious you want to get something worth talking about out of this. So why not give us a freaking chance here?"

"I'm giving you one," Yuuka said, though she now sounded a little hesitant. "You have your tools. Fight back."

Marisa rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Last time I was like five times more prepared than I am now and had three other people watching my back that're like way tougher than Reimu'll ever be…no offense Reddie…and we were fighting just a fourth of you. And we still barely won! Now it's Yuuka the freaking Outer God against a couple of little mortal girls? Where's the honor in that? I don't care what rules you're whining about, that's just being a freaking bully!"

This time Yuuka didn't respond, though her plants had stopped moving forward. Even so, they didn't retreat either. Reimu remained frozen in place, listening to the pounding of her heart.

Seeing that she had scored a hit, Marisa pressed the point, her tone now scornful. "You want to get a good story out of this, don't you? Then at least take the freaking plants out of the picture and give us a few minutes to get our heads on straight!"

Then Yuuka spoke. "You know what the funny thing is? I know you're trying to manipulate me, probably to buy your would-be rescuers some time or pull an Ace out of your sleeve."

Reimu sucked air through her teeth. She desperately prayed for a miracle to happen. It wasn't directed toward anyone in particular, just a general call for help.

"So?" Marisa demanded.

"But you are right." The massive vines retreated back into the dark, and Reimu released the breath she had been holding. "I would prefer to do this with some semblance of sportsmanship."

"Great," Marisa said, her eyes warily darting back and forth. "So, what does that mean?"

"It means that in the interest of fairness, I will comply with your request and restrain myself to my strength and power alone," Yuuka said. "My friends will remain uninvolved. Save, of course, for those preventing your escape and your allies' interference. Furthermore, you will have ten minutes of privacy in which to prepare. Do as you wish during that time; you need not fear my prying eyes or ears. After that, I will come for you."

Marisa slowly inhaled and let in out. "Swell," she muttered as she rubbed the back of her neck. "You're a real sport, you know that?"

"Someone has to be." Though they still couldn't see her, Yuuka's voice had started to move away. "Ten minutes, girls. Do not dawdle."

…

There wasn't much left of Marisa's house. The front half had been entirely blown away, and the roof and walls were now spread all over the surrounding forest. Of the witch herself there was no sign.

Mima stared unblinking at the devastation as icy fear gnawed its way through her stomach. It wasn't a sensation she experienced often, and as she surveyed the ruins of the home of the only person she cared about, she remembered why she had spent so long avoiding it. It was damned unpleasant.

Yuuka and Marisa were both gone, and there was no trace of them leaving through the sky or beneath the forest canopy. That left far too many options, and Mima didn't have time to follow them up, even if she could be anywhere at any time in an instant.

She did have a couple of obvious leads though. The first were two very large holes in the floor, ones that led to tunnels. The second was Kotohime Sonozika and a handful of her trained Neanderthals, who were lying in a crumpled heap. What they were doing there, Mima didn't know nor did she care. She just needed something to go off of.

A brief check confirmed that they were alive and would remain that way for the foreseeable future. However, they were hovering on the darker side of lucidity, and were in no condition to answer questions.

Just as well. Mima didn't feel like asking them.

She grabbed up Kotohime by the collar and lifted her up. The woman groggily blinked and tried to focus. "Wha-" she mumbled.

Mima pressed a hand to her forehead and muttered a word.

Kotohime's eyes snapped wide open. She opened her mouth to scream, but was unable to make so much as a peep. The ability to vocalize had been taken from her, as had a number of other bodily fuctions. Having someone stick their ethereal fingers into your brain and root through your recent memories tends to render certain systems inactive.

Finally Mima let her drop, where she lay trembling. Turning away, the spirit pondered what she had just learned. It wasn't much. Yuuka had taken Marisa and Reimu away to play out the expected grudge match, but had neglected to mention exactly where that might be.

Fortunately, there were only so many places where that could be. Mima turned to the holes and her eyes narrowed.

…

Yuuka had been right about one thing. The earth beneath the Blasted Lands was absolutely riddled with caves and tunnels, to the point where Reimu found herself wounding if some sort of long-lost civilization had once made their homes there. She had only been to this desolate place a couple of times, and this was the first she had the opportunity to explore its famed subterranean network. Quite frankly, she really could have done without the experience.

It hadn't taken long to confirm that escaping overland wasn't an option. As expected, Yuuka had again modified her Mykr's Sirens, or perhaps had added their unique properties to some other plant. This time, instead of an all-encompassing dome, she had filled the clouds with tiny glowing blue dots that swarmed the sky like fireflies. In addition to preventing any sort of magical messages from escaping, they also possessed a rather negative view on magic as a whole. Anything Marisa and Reimu sent their way was swarmed upon like a school of tiny, flying blue piranhas and broken apart before it could make any sort of dent. They also reacted negatively toward anything physical that was not among their kin.

Rather than waste precious time trying to figure out something that Yuuka might not have prepared for, Reimu and Marisa took to the caves. Maybe a way out would present itself beneath the earth, though Reimu doubted it. No doubt Yuuka had the ground surrounding her makeshift arena strewn with more nasty surprises.

It wasn't until they had descended a fair distance with Marisa's glowing orb thing leading the way that Reimu realized that if Yuuka really wanted to kill them, all she had to do was collapse the tunnel around them. She refrained from pointing this out though. It was too late to worry about that.

Soon they found a decent-sized cavern and sat down to rest.

"How much time do we have?" Reimu asked.

"Seven minutes, forty-three seconds," Marisa answered without hesitation. Despite her occasional dishonest denial, she was scarily good with numbers.

"Great," Reimu muttered. She started pacing back and forth, her fingers wringing together in agitation. "So, do we have a plan?"

Despite the fact that Yuuka had put all of this together to target her in specific, Marisa was displaying only mild concern. She sat on a rock with her legs crossed, elbow of her right arm propped up on her knee and chin resting on her fist, her brow furrowed in thought. "I'm thinking," she said.

"Well, think faster!" Reimu snapped.

Marisa shot her an irritated look. "I'm trying, okay? But given that I've got a freaking Outer God about to come after my ass, it's kinda making concentration a little difficult, you know?"

"Okay, okay," Reimu said. "Sorry."

"Yeah, whatever," Marisa muttered. "You get in contact with your ball yet?"

Reimu shook her head. She had tried and tried again to reestablish her connection to the Hakurei's Ying Yang Orb, but she might as well have been trying to knock down a brick wall with snowballs for all the good it had done her. In some ways, that was the most disturbing part of all this. Until now, her link to her family's precious heirloom had been absolute. She had been able to call upon it no matter where she was, and it had always answered. The fact that Yuuka could so easily interrupt that connection just for the sake of a grudge match was intensely disturbing.

But then, that was one of the many problems with living in Gensokyo. There was always a bigger dog.

"Damn," Marisa sighed. She pulled her hat off and raked her fingers through her hair. "Okay, so what can you do without it?"

Reimu shrugged. "Not a whole lot. Some basic danmaku, but my homing shots are straight out. And I've got nine premade spellcards on me. That's about it."

Marisa sniggered. "See, this is why you shouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket. Because you never know when a bitchy plant lady will want to make omelets."

Reimu glowered. "Shut up."

"Heh." Marisa opened her bag and started rummaging through its contents. "Anyways, don't worry. I got you covered."

She pulled out a smaller bag and tossed it to Reimu, who opened it up and looked inside. She found what essentially amounted to a youkai survival kit, complete with extra spellcards, shielding charms, and detection wards. "Where did…where'd all this come from?"

"Eh." Marisa shrugged. "Me and Mima figured Yuuka would pull something like this sooner or later, so we figured I'd best be ready."

Reimu pulled out a silver knife enchanted to cut through defensive barriers. "So that's what you've been working on all this time? Weapons to fight Yuuka?"

"Among other things, yeah."

"Like exercising?" Reimu suggested.

Marisa nodded. "Uh-huh," she said as she checked an old flintlock pistol.

"And restocking your ingredients."

"Yeah."

"And that rune thing with Alice."

"Off and on," Marisa said with a shrug. She holstered the pistol and inspected the straps of her gauntlets.

Reimu stared. She knew that Marisa was a workaholic, but this was ridiculous. "When do you sleep?"

"I manage." Marisa was starting to sound a little impatient. "And hey, don't wanna push, but we've only got four minutes, twenty-three seconds left."

Reimu nodded. "Right, okay." She held up a pair of charmed bracelets. "So, show me how to use these."

Marisa complied, helping her slip the brass circles on and activating the runes. After that, she applied a pain-killing charm for the bump on her head, which was quite the relief. Soon Reimu was as suited up as she was going to get. It wasn't anywhere near the level of preparedness she would have preferred, but it was far better than the next-to-nothing she had arrived with.

"So, what else you got in that bag?" Reimu said as she slipped a couple of Rings of Awareness on her fingers.

"Oh, you know," Marisa said. "The basics. Things that go boom and things that go hiss. Wards, traps, and shields in twenty different flavors. Flares, darts, and potions." One thumb rubbed the underside of her right gauntlet as she grinned in a manner that was surprisingly cruel, even for her. "Plus a couple other nasty surprises."

"Nasty surprises." Reimu eyed the bag as if a viper might be hidden inside. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably not." Marisa pulled something flat and dark out. "Alice sure as hell doesn't." She tossed it to Reimu. "Now, put these on."

Reimu dubiously glanced over the object she had been given. "A mask?"

It was surprisingly plain, just a featureless metal plate inlaid with leather hammered roughly into the shape of a face. The eyes were round, red lenses while tiny breathing holes had been cut around the nose and mouth.

"Yeah," Marisa said as she slipped on one of her own. It made her look disturbingly insectoid. "Protects your face, and keeps you breathing should that stop being an option. Besides, you don't wanna get blinded when the fireworks go off, do you?"

"Ho boy," Reimu muttered as she contemplated what sort of tricks Marisa had in store that would warrant ocular protection. She hastily put hers on as well.

"And oh yeah." Marisa tossed her something else. "Here."

Reimu snatched it out of the air and frowned down at it. It was a tiny vial of sickly green liquid, stopped with a cork. "What's this?"

"Speed potion." Marisa held up a small bottle of something blue between her thumb and pointer finger. "And this one's endurance."

"What the hell?" Reimu exclaimed. She hastily pressed the vial back into Marisa's hand. "You're pulling out the potions again? After what happened last time?"

Marisa shoved her mask back so she could give Reimu a disparaging look. "Last time I overdosed, and it ended up saving my life." She yanked out the cork and gulped it down. "I use these all the time anyway. And these ones are made better, ze."

Reimu shook her head. "Yeah, I don't think so."

Marisa shook her head and groaned. "Argh, don't have time to argue." Then she pulled out a small flask and unscrewed the cap. "Fine, take this one at least."

Taking the flask from her, Reimu brought it close and cautiously sniffed. It smelled very familiar. "What is it?"

"Liquid courage," Marisa said.

Well, that wasn't incorrect. "Is this sake?"

Marisa's grin widened. "Like I said."

Despite the severity of the situation, Reimu couldn't help but smile. "Oh, what the hell. Bottom's up."

She took a quick swig and handed the rest to Marisa.

"So, do you really think we can beat her?" Reimu said as she wiped her lips.

"Sure," Marisa said before draining the flask and putting it away. "I mean, she's just another immortal megalomaniac on an ego trip. We've dealt with plenty of those." Then darkness passed over her face, visible even in the pale light of her orb. " Besides, I'm not about to settle for just beating her."

Reimu didn't like the sound of that. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Marisa idly ran her thumb over the underside of her gauntlet. "Bitch blew up my house." Her voice lowered, becoming something not unlike a snarl. "Mima raised me in that house. Only real home I've ever had. She's gonna pay for that. I'm not just gonna beat her. I'm gonna kill her." She smacked her hand against the leather and squeezed. "Again."

Reimu didn't have an answer for that, though she wished she did. Though Marisa's anger was fully justifiable, there was something in her voice that she did not like at all.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any time to ponder on it, because right about then was when they heard Yuuka's voice echoing through the caverns. "Time's up! Ready or not, here I come!"

…

Eye bright, teeth bared, and umbrella pointed forward like a jouster's javelin, Yuuka prowled through the tunnels, senses extended for any sign of her quarry. Though there was no light to be found this deep down, she saw loose stone and turn of the path as if everything were bathed in sunlight. Her ears noted every stray echo, no matter how faint, and she was able to pick out the girls' scents from the smells of mud, water, rock, and decay.

Her skin was quivering as she anticipated the inevitable confrontation. Even though she knew full well that the witch had played her like a violin, she was glad for the manipulation. Because when you really got down to it, Marisa had been right. There was nothing to be gained by simply swatting her down like fly. If she had wanted to do that, she could have just blown the girl up with her house and have done with it. But as she had gone through all the trouble of setting the stage, it would be a waste not to make the most of it.

And really, who better to try her strength against than the reportedly unstoppable duo of Marisa Kirisame and Reimu Hakurei, Gensokyo's most beloved black sheep? The country's ever-vigilant protector, the shield against evil and stupidity, who had been placing her own body in harm's way to save Gensokyo ever since she was a child, and who was shunned by those she protected and lived in perpetual poverty in a shrine that nobody visited. Coupled with the brilliant prodigy, a master of mysteries and delver of secrets, who in her few short years had come to understand more of the universe's dark workings than most of the rest of her kind put together, and who rejected society and civility and was rejected in turn, who was feared and hated for her antics and upbringing and cheerfully reveled in her status as an outcast. Together they had fought monsters, averted disasters, brought villains to their knees, and saved countless lives. And they were rejected for it.

Yuuka was already grinning with delight, but the thought made her cheeks ache with the strain. Yes, this was how it should have been from the beginning. Yukari may be the top dog, but Reimu and Marisa were a far more fitting set of opponents. The slayers of monsters against the greatest monster the country has ever seen. Outcast against outcast. There was a rightness to it that filled her with glee.

Not that it was going to be much of a contest. Setting aside her friends had evened things up a little bit, but not enough to change the outcome. As skilled and lucky as those two might be, they were still only Human, whereas Yuuka Kazami was, well, Yuuka Kazami. There really was only one way this was going to end. But Yuuka was resolved to make it as spectacular as possible. Her opponents deserved no less, and her audience expected nothing else.

"You are watching now, of course," she said as she moved forward. Her tongue snaked out to run over her top set of teeth. "Well, watch then. Watch then and be entertained."

The tunnel opened up into a cavern. From the smell of things, the girls had taken refuge in her, but were now gone. Yuuka briefly scanned her surroundings, taking note of the minute scuffing Marisa's boots had made, of the oils left behind by Reimu's feet. She reflected that it was probably time for that girl to invest in a decent pair of shoes. The soles of her feet were probably hardened to leather by now.

The trail headed into another tunnel at the other end of the cavern. Yuuka was about to head toward it, but something brought her up short. There was a curious marking on one of the stalagmites, a sort of diagonal slash that couldn't have been five minutes old.

Frowning, Yuuka investigated further and noticed similar cuts elsewhere throughout the room. They were on the stalagmites, stalactites, rocks, floor, and far wall. But none of them meant anything. Confused, Yuuka walked around the cavern's perimeter, trying to pick out any sort of pattern.

Then suddenly, she found it, though it was only visible when standing in a specific spot. The lines came together to form a huge letter "M" from the Romanic alphabet. From the look of things, it had been carved by some sort of energy beam.

Yuuka sighed with a mixture of irritation and amusement. The girl was in mortal peril, and she was wasting time by leaving her initials. Well, as a distraction it certainly served, so maybe the point was to buy herself a few extra minutes. In that regard it had worked well enough, but-

Wait.

Right at the M's center, directly above where the two diagonal bars met, was something else. An arrow, pointing up. Yuuka's eye instinctively went up and she saw something she hadn't noticed before. Four pieces of paper had been stuck in a small enclave where several stalactites came together. Three of them had symbols scrawled on them. The fourth had a frowny face with its tongue sticking out and a hand with its middle finger raised right next to it.

To mortal culture, Yuuka was still a relative newcomer. She felt that she was adapting reasonably well, but there were several areas that still escaped her. But she understood magic very well. She understood what those symbols meant. And she found herself marveling at just how easily she had allowed herself to be snared.

Yuuka smiled. Well, this was going to be more fun than she had thought.

And then the runes activated.

…

"See?" Marisa said as the sound of discharged energy reached them, followed by a loud hiss. "Told you so."

Given where they were, setting off large explosions probably wasn't the best idea. So Marisa had set up a trap of a different entirely: acid. Lots and lots of acid. Not enough to kill the smug bitch unfortunately, but it should slow her down and give her something to think about for a while.

Reimu shook her head. "Come on, it was a hundred to one that she would even see the carvings."

"Yeah, but she did. That's the thing about overpowered freaks that think they're indestructible. They're like big, charging bears. They'll get trapped by anything."

"She is indestructible!"

Marisa shrugged. "Eh. Planning on testing that."

Reimu shot her a look. "And if she didn't see them?"

"Then the frost ones in the hallway would've-"

There was another release of power, and the temperature suddenly dropped by several degrees.

"Gotten her," Marisa finished. "You know, like that." She waggled a handful of rune paper at her. "Now, you gonna keep bitching at me, or you want to help me set these up, ze?"

…

Mima had calculated correctly. Even if the blue-filled sky wasn't a dead giveaway, her pounding head would have told her as much.

The Blasted Lands. Of course Yuuka would take them to the Blasted Lands. And surprise, surprise, she had set up yet another arena of Mykr's Sirens. Only this time it wasn't so much a dome as it was a blockade. Mima wasn't sure exactly how Yuuka performed her botanical crossbreeding program, she just knew that it was starting to get a little annoying.

Well, Mykr's Sirens might present quite the obstacle for a spirit being such as herself, but where there was a will there was a way. And she was going to find a way. Marisa needed her.

Mima rolled up her sleeves and set to work.

…

Truth be told, the fight wasn't going that badly. Or at least, Marisa and Reimu were still alive and had yet to take any sort of injury. So, that was good news.

The bad was that the fight was still going on at all. Every second it continued just increased the danger of Yuuka losing her patience and bowling them over.

Having tired of Marisa's traps, Yuuka had abandoned the hunt in favor of an all-out offensive. As a result, there were now a great many more tunnels beneath the ground, these ones far more straight and smooth than their predecessors. Face with the very real possibility of being blasted to smithereens or buried in a cave-in, Reimu and Marisa had been forced to return to the surface. But no sooner had they emerged into the open air than Yuuka herself appeared, smashing her way up with her bare hands. She had seen her opponents flying exposed above her and smiled.

And then she had begun to play.

The last time Marisa had been here, a monstrous storm had made the skies above as violent as the battle below. Boy, it had been a doozy, and couldn't have happened at a more appropriate time, to the point where she strongly suspected that Yuuka had summoned it up just for the dramatic atmosphere.

Well, even if she hadn't been to blame for the last one, she sure was responsible for this one.

The air over the Blasted Lands had started to move, slow at first but gradually gaining momentum, like a collapsing glacier. It turned in a huge circle over the world of stone and dirt, and though Marisa knew that it would soon erupt into a massive cyclone, she felt more like she was caught in a the grip of a whirlpool: slow, patient, but inevitable. She supposed that the two phenomena were closely enough related to be called cousins, but she had always associated cyclones with relentless destruction rather than this unhurried yet irresistible hunger.

It was only a matter of time though. The winds were becoming faster, and she and Reimu were caught in their grip. They flew through the sky, with the blue-studded clouds angrily churning above and hard stone below. It was growing harder to control where they were going. They needed to act fast.

Yuuka hovered in the storm's epicenter, arms spread wide and head thrown back as the world rotated around her. "How is this for magic, Marisa?" she called, her voice still audible over the winds' rising roar.

"So you kicked up a gale. Big deal!" Marisa called back. "Any twenty-yen sorcerer worth their salt can do the same with a bowl of calf hearts and a bottle of jasmine!" To demonstrated her point she shot of a bolt of lightning at Yuuka, who swatted it away with ease.

"Ah, ever the bravo, aren't you?" Yuuka cackled. "Very well. If that does not impress, what of this?"

She swung the hand holding her umbrella down. The tip flared white, and lightning of her own cracked down to strike at the earth. Glowing cracks shot out across the ground and spread as far as the eye could see.

The cracks opened, and fire belched out. The place now looked like the landscape of Hell, which the two girls had some personal experience with. Reimu inhaled sharply, her gasp still audible over the cacophony.

"What about that, my dear?" Yuuka said smugly.

Marisa just shook her head. It was an impressive display of power, of that there was no doubt. But like Yuuka herself it was just big and obvious. And while Marisa certainly enjoyed big and obvious, it wasn't going to be winning any spellcasting awards.

"Uh, Marisa?" Reimu said. She sounded worried. "This…is sort of a problem."

Unfortunately, the shrine maiden had a point. Yuuka slinging power around willy-nilly may be clumsy and unsophisticated by a magician's standards, it was admittedly effective. With the clouds of death above and the cracks of fire below, Marisa and Reimu were sort of caught out in the open, which Yuuka now controlled.

Yuuka thrust her umbrella out, and a green flash of light shot past right in front of them. Marisa and Reimu both yelped and tried to brake, but by now the winds strong enough to make even slowing down difficult.

Yuuka threw another bolt of power at them, followed by another, each one coming close enough that they could feel the heat of its passage. Grimacing, Marisa threw up a shielding charm, though she wasn't sure if it was necessary yet. Yuuka was just showing off, and so long as she continued to enjoy herself, Marisa doubted that they would be in any actual danger.

Of course, as soon as she grew bored and started aiming, it would be all over for them. Marisa's shield charms were tough, but they wouldn't last long against that kind of power.

As an experiment, Marisa shot off a spray of blazing sparks and watched as they were sucked into the vortex. These were followed by a line of glowing multicolored spheres left in her broom's wake. With great, dramatic flourishes, Yuuka deflected each one of her attacks, some of them swept aside by her umbrella while others were blocked by her palm. As she was occupied with that, Marisa sped up and fired off a series of Master Sparks, using the momentum that the wind gave her to strike at multiple points in quick succession. She didn't even break the flow of Yuuka's dance.

Marisa shook her head and smirked. Yeah, she was totally just showing off. Good.

She glanced over to Reimu. The shrine maiden was doing her best with the tools Marisa had lent her, but she was clearly out of her depth. Her bullets were uncoordinated and her spellcards seemed to be shot off at random. She hadn't even tried any of the non-danmaku weapons she had available.

Marisa shook her head. This was what sticking to one trick resulted in. The girl really needed to diversify.

However, so long as it kept Yuuka's attention, it would serve. Taking out a spare, unmarked piece of paper, Marisa crumpled it up and let it fly. Using the enhanced vision provided by her mask, she tracked its path as it traveled through the vortex until it reached the center, where it bounced off of Yuuka's shoulder without her noticing.

Okay, so she was tracking magical attacks while completely ignoring the mundane. If this were one of Mima's lessons, she would have failed Yuuka on the spot and forced her to defend herself against a storm of pebbles as punishment.

Marisa made sure to keep her attacks as flashy as possible while using a minimum of energy. As she did so, she reached in with one hand and pulled out a thick leather ball filled with dust. Letting it go, she shouted to Reimu, "Stay as high and close to the edge as you can!"

Reimu nodded and moved up.

The ball flew closer and closer to Yuuka until a stray bolt struck it and it burst. Her attention taken up with Marisa's shots, Yuuka didn't notice until she got a face full of dust. She flinched, shook her head, and coughed a few times, but was back in her stride within seconds.

Reimu shouted something, but Marisa couldn't make it out. "What?" she called back.

"I said," Reimu said, louder this time, "what did you throw-"

Then Yuuka screamed.

The winds cut out immediately, and Marisa had to brake hard to arrest her momentum. Reimu came to a stop a few meters beyond her and looked around in bewilderment.

"Heh," Marisa said as she turned toward Yuuka. "Hehehehahahahahahahaha!"

Yuuka was screaming and gasping as she clutched at her face and throat. She clawed at her eye as her shrieks of pain grew more labored and ragged. Below her, the fires had been snuffed out. Apparently without any sort of natural fuel source, they had also required her continued will in order to keep burning. Marisa shook her head. Another amateurish mistake.

Well, opportunity was knocking and it would be downright unseemly not to take advantage. Marisa popped out one of her spellcards and dove down. She was only going to get one shot, and she intended to make it count.

Though to be accurate, it really wasn't one of her spellcards, not in the same way Stardust Reverie or Spectacular Supernova were. She hadn't been its creator after all. But then again, she had made a career of appropriating and perfecting other people's spells. For all of her bitching, did people think of Yuuka when they thought of the Master Spark? And was Patchouli Knowledge the first name to pop into their minds while under assault from a Non-Directional Laser?

This specific spellcard had actually been given to her by its creator, though obviously Yukari Yakumo had not intended for Marisa to replicate it. In fact, she probably hadn't even thought that the Human girl to even be capable of understanding its composition. That was the wonderful thing about being her: people just kept underestimating her.

Marisa looped around and came to a stop. She eyed her writhing opponent, ran some quick calculations, and concluded that this was going to be sweet.

Then she looked up. There was no sun. The clouds had more-or-less blocked it out, and what light that did manage to trickle through was sad and tired. Marisa decided to change that. She was going to make the sun rise. And it was going to rise red.

The red runes on the black spellcard flared to life. Once again, the space around her filled with hexagrams. Once again, the air filled with power. And once again, it was going to be directed towards Yuuka.

But the last time she had activated this card with the intention of digging Yuuka out of the hole she was hiding in. This time she intended to bury her in one. To that end, she needed something a little more focused. To that end, she had made one or two adjustments to the original design.

Marisa snapped her fingers, and all of the six-pointed stars flew into position in front of her all in a line, forming what appeared to be the barrel of a very long gun.

"Hey, Yuuka!" she called, though she was fairly certain that the agonized woman couldn't hear her. "You wanna talk technique? Your magic's sloppy, and your Master Spark suuuuuuuuuuuu-"

And the Sun Rose Red.

The eyepieces of Marisa's mask suddenly went dark as roaring filled her ears. Pressure built in front of her as the beam's recoil struggled against the spellcard's safeties. That was another tweak she had made. Originally it had just been pure, destructive energy, which was fine. It hit something, and that something was disintegrated. But with Mima's help, she had added a bit of a kinetic kick as well. That was, when something was destroyed, it scattered the ashes as well.

The roar only lasted for about three seconds before the spellcard timed out and Marisa's sight was returned. When it did, Yuuka was gone, and there was now a very neat and very deep hole in the ground that had been dug out at an angle. Also, three pillars that had sat between Yuuka and the hole's current location were now missing.

"-ucks," Marisa concluded.

"Holy shit!" Reimu blurted out. "Since when were you able to do that?"

Despite the sheer bliss Marisa was experiencing, Reimu's comment annoyed her a bit. "Oh, like my normal stuff is all that different," she muttered. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a small, silver egg.

Running her thumb down the egg's side, Marisa muttered a word. The metal responded, its reflective surface glowing white. Reimu, who knew full well what usually happened once one of Marisa's toys started glowing, quickly put some more distance between them.

Marisa flicked the egg toward the hole and watched as it fell.

This time, the roar was much more muffled, though the lenses needed to darken again. When they cleared, there was now a massive crater roughly about the size of a city block.

"Wow," Reimu said as she slowly descended. "Did, uh, Mima give you that one?"

"Patchouli Knowledge, actually," Marisa said casually. "She had a whole box of the things. The stuff she leaves lying around, I swear."

Reimu shook her head. "What about the stuff you threw in her face? That didn't look like any spell I've ever seen."

Marisa was already moving toward the ground, searching for any sign of her prey. "That's because it wasn't."

"Then wha-"

"Glass dust."

Reimu make a choking sound. "Wait, huh?"

"Glass dust," Marisa said again. She found what she was looking for and grinned.

For once, Yuuka's vaunted invulnerability had failed her. She was lying curled up on one side of the crater, her flesh burned and her clothing torn. And apparently, she had yet to rid herself of Marisa's little surprise, as she was still clutching at her face and moaning. Excellent.

As she approached, Marisa continued to explain. "Tiny shards, hard to detect, and no magic at all." She pointed at Yuuka. "Each piece is like razor sharp, but so small that you don't notice it at first. Until it gets into your eyes and down your throat. So after you've taken a few breaths and blinked a few times, well…" Her grin matched one of Yuuka's for bloodthirstiness. "Then you notice. Then you really notice, ze. And you keep on noticing, because that shit ain't coming out."

Reimu stared. "Wow. And, uh, who's idea was that?"

"Mima's," Marisa said simply. "It's something she's used before."

"Not surprised."

Marisa shrugged. She didn't really feel like justifying her mentor's brutal history right now, especially since they still had a job to do. "Come on," she said. "Let's go kill her."

The two of them swooped down to where Yuuka was lying. As they neared, Marisa flexed the fingers of her right hand, triggering the springs within its sheathe.

As the hidden blade popped out, Reimu jerked back as if she had been burned. "Whoa!" she said. "What the hell is that?"

Marisa looked down at her arm. "It's a blade."

Reimu kept staring. "What is that?" she said again.

Great. Of course Reimu would be able to sense the weapon's…peculiar properties. "Not really the time, Reddie," Marisa muttered. She returned her focus to Yuuka.

"I'm serious, Marisa. What in the hell is that thing made of?"

"Steel," Marisa answered as she examined her target. "Plus the usual reinforcement spells." Yuuka was lying on her side with one hand covering her face and the other gripping her chest, so a frontal entry was probably not a good idea. But the back of her neck was exposed. Hell, she could probably stick it right through the back of her head. A cut through the brain ought to do the trick.

"Don't bullshit me, Marisa," Reimu warned. "I know dark magic when I smell it, and whatever you've put into that thing is way beyond what you usually work with."

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Marisa turned to her and snapped, "Hey, you wait until after we're done before you jump down my throat? Because right now-"

Yuuka lurched up and flung one arm out. A blast of wind swept the girls up and sent them tumbling back. Marisa was flipped upside-down and felt a rush of panic when she felt her legs start to slip. She tried to turn her broom around but lost her balance.

A second later she found herself hanging over the abyss, legs kicking at nothing while her hands gripped the handle of her still-hovering broom. It wasn't exactly an unfamiliar position for her, but generally it at least came with the promise of a shorter fall and a much softer landing.

"Marisa!" Reimu cried as she swooped toward her. "Hold on, I'm-"

Growling, Marisa swung her broom around hoisted one leg over its pole with one smooth motion. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said as she steadied herself. "Watch out for Yuuka!"

Fortunately, Yuuka hadn't followed up on the attack, as her attention was focused elsewhere. She had staggered to her face, hands still covering her eye. Though instead of mindless clawing at it, her movements were now determined and purposeful. Grimacing, she held her eyelid open while-

Oh gross.

Yuuka grimaced until the last of the root had come loose. Tossing the slimy lump aside, she then hunched over and started coughing until several mouthfuls of blood came up and splattered over the stones. Tiny glass fragments glittered in the mess.

"Oh gods," Reimu muttered. She pushed her mask back and covered her mouth. "I'm gonna be sick…"

Marisa was inclined to agree, but her window of opportunity was slipping. Thanks to Reimu distracting her, she couldn't just run in and stab her anymore.

Fortunately, she was not without options.

A flew of the fingers of her other hand, and a spellcard sprung into her grasp. She had about fifteen of them secreted in there, none of them legal. If confronted with this, she would merely point out that the glove and its contents had been designed for the sole purpose of fighting off someone who was probably out to kill her anyway and if a situation came up that required her to wear it, it was probably going to be one that justified their use. Case in point: the situation she was currently in.

The one she now held was called was inspired by her good friend Sakuya Izayoi, and was intended to hurt rather than kill. At that moment, pain was what she needed.

Holding it up between two fingers, she snarled out, "Blade Sign: Death of a Thousand Cuts!" and released the power imprisoned within. The runic elements on the card flared up with blue light.

The card's intended effect was self-explanatory.

Yuuka screamed as ethereal blades slashed into her skin. Each one would have been enough to eviscerate a mortal target, but unfortunately they were only able to leave a series of shallow cuts on her. However, they still hurt, which was what Marisa needed.

Holding her right arm out, Marisa activated the gauntlet's second set of springs, and the blade shot out of its housings, its tip aimed right for Yuuka's chest. That had been one of the many things Mima had impressed into her: always aim for the center of mass. Even when her aim was enhanced by magic, going for anything else was just plain stupid.

Marisa had worked with a number of dark and deadly materials in her relatively short career as a magician, but none of them had come close to that tiny speck of mordite Mima had given her. Even with her mentor's direct supervision, she had sweated heavily over the three days it had taken to vaporize it and mix it with the molten steel that had been used to make the blade. Forging it had been a nightmare, and when the metal had cooled, Marisa had to admit that when she had stared at its cutting edges and piercing tip, she her heart had pounded with fear. That thing's aura had just been wrong. It wasn't evil, per se. She knew what evil felt like. But it had definitely been something alien: hungry, cold, and cruel.

In a rare display of mercy, Mima had taken over from there and inscribed the usual enhancement runes into the blade's surface herself. From there, it had gone into its sheathe, which in turn had been turned into the magical equivalent of a lead vault. Even then, just having it in her house had made her skin crawl whenever she thought of it, and she had slept peacefully for years with an extraterrestrial warhead stored under her bed.

Despite its uneasy relationship with its creator, the blade must have heard the story of Mimi the Missile and determined to follow proudly in its predecessor's footsteps. It sailed fast and true, ready to claim its first and final kill.

Unfortunately, its intended target wasn't ready to die just yet.

Marisa had heard many stories about Yuuka and her strange disposition. She had even contributed a few. One speculation that had been bandied about was that the fallen ancient now masquerading as a youkai might actually be in possession of a death wish. That would explain her bouts of bizarre recklessness. However, Mima had a different theory.

"I think she's afraid of it," she had said during one of her and Marisa's late-night talks. "Death, I mean. Aside from…one or two odd exceptions, her kind had never needed to fear it. It's as alien to her as she is to us."

That had made Marisa's brow furrow. "Then why does she keep doing crazy stuff? Seems to me that if someone's afraid of dying, the last thing to do would not get a bunch of crazy powerful people trying to kill you, ze!"

"Ah, that is the question." Mima's smile had been the sort a bug collector wears while inspecting a particularly interesting specimen trapped beneath glass. "Perhaps she wishes to prove to herself that she cannot die? That despite her fall from grace, she is still above the imperfections of the mortals she surrounds herself with and tries to emulate?" A shrug. "Either way, hers is a fascinating delusion."

As the blade neared its mark, time seemed to grind to a slow crawl, and Marisa saw something that made her believe that her mentor had the right of it. Yuuka looked up from the grisly cocktail of blood and glass she was coughing up. A new eye had already regenerated in the socket she had cleared out, and as soon as she saw the monster that was coming to claim her life, it widened with pure terror.

"NO!" Yuuka screamed as she lurched away, hands held in front of her like a frightened child. At the same time a tangled mass of stone-grey branches and jagged leaves exploded from her outstretched palms to swallow up the incoming blade. Though the thicket she had called up had to be as tough as steel, the blade cut through as if it were nothing but paper, its path barely altered.

It was just enough though. Instead of thudding into Yuuka's chest, it slashed across Yuuka's shoulder before skipping across the stones, leaving blue sparks in her wake. Though the cut wasn't much deeper than the ones Marisa's spellcard had given her, she reacted as if a red-hot poker had been shoved down her throat. Shrieking, she clawed at it like a frenzied cat, tearing away the sleeve to reveal skin that was already black and rotting.

Even with its malice tempered by the steel, that tiny bit of mordite would have at least claimed the whole arm had it been used on a mortal. As it was, Yuuka was probably going to have a rather nasty scar, unless she decided to tear the whole arm off and grow a new one from scratch.

Marisa wasn't interested though. Cursing under her breath, she kept her arm held out and snapped her fingers. The blade spun around and came back the way it came, only backwards. It snapped back into its sheathe like a key into a well-worn lock, ready for a second try.

Yuuka wasn't going to give her one though. "Mordite!" she shouted as she turned her head to stare at Marisa in disbelief. "You dare wield mordite against me?"

"Aw, shut up you old hag," Marisa muttered as she hopped back onto her broom. "You're the one that broke your word." She looked to Reimu and shouted, "Fly!" No point in pressing the point. Yuuka's shock was above to give way to wrath, and she didn't want to be around when it did.

She was right. Less than five seconds after fleeing, an ungodly cry of rage filled the air and brought with it an explosion power, pure and unrestrained. Every pillar of stone crumbled in its wake and the ground swept clean.

…

Mima had to admit, Yuuka had put a considerable amount of effort to keep her out. These new and approved hybrids not only did a fantastic job at negating magic and keeping spiritual beings such as herself at bay, they were quite aggressive as well, and were now merrily pursuing her throughout the Blasted Lands.

It was her fault. She had rushed in and tried to take them head-on. It was an amateurish mistake that she had thought her above. But, to her chagrin, whenever Marisa was involved, she tended to be a little less rational than she would have liked, which was something she would be all too willing to declare a weakness if it were anyone else. The irony was not lost on her.

However, what was done was done, and she needed to deal with what was in front of her. Or rather, what was currently behind her.

Mima reviewed her options. Shooting magic at them simply was not going to work, and there were too many for any sort of decoy to have a chance of success. Well, okay. Maybe this was a situation that called for a more primitive solution, such as throwing rocks at them.

With that in mind, Mima's directed her attention skyward, into the cold void of space. There were plenty of heavy stones there. She just needed to find one large enough for her purposes.

…

As she and Reimu fled back below ground, Marisa found herself in the inconvenient position of being able to think clearly enough to plan their next move. That was bad. With an opponent like Yuuka, she needed to be at the top of her game, to keep thinking six moves ahead, and to be ready to change plans on a moment's notice.

Unfortunately, she wanted to punch Reimu so badly that it was making concentrating on anything other than not punching her something of a chore.

Reimu was angry too. Marisa could tell from the glowers she kept sending her as they two of them navigated the winding maze. Under normal circumstances, Marisa would be all too happy to give her the satisfaction, but right now internal division would be fatal. So she clamped her mouth shut and devoted a considerable amount of willpower to keeping her fists and tongue under control.

This lasted for about a minute before she couldn't take it anymore. "Godsdamn it, Reimu!" Marisa exploded. "Why'd you have to distract me like that? I had her!"

Reimu's turned toward her. "That knife," she said coldly. She pulled off her mask, presumably so she could glare at Marisa properly. "What did you put into it?"

Marisa gritted her teeth. Not now. This was stupid. "Hey, we are literally fighting for our lives right now," she reminded her. "You wanna get at me, fine. But wait until fucking after!"

Reimu's eyes narrowed. "Yuuka called it mordite. What is mordite?"

"Aw, shit," Marisa muttered. Reimu was using that voice. Wonderful.

By then they had reached another cavern. Slowing to a stop, Marisa leaned back against the wall and said, "It means deathstone, okay? It's from a different dimension. Does exactly as advertised."

"Where did you get it?" Reimu all but demanded.

"Mima," Marisa said dryly. "Duh."

"And where did she-"

"I don't know, she didn't tell me!" Marisa snapped. Gods, what was with these people getting on her case all the time?

Reimu stared at her, eyes wide and mouth set in a straight line. When she spoke, she did so very softly and with careful deliberation. "Marisa, I don't know what sort of stuff you do behind closed doors, and I've never really cared to ask. But that stuff is evil."

"Alien," Marisa hissed. Damned amateurs. "Not evil."

"Bullshit!" Reimu jabbed a thumb against her chest. "I'm a shrine maiden, remember? I know evil when I feel it."

Marisa almost screamed back about how woefully lacking Reimu's knowledge of magic's complexities was, but managed to reign herself in. Reimu was on the very short list of people who could out-stubborn her. She needed to look like the reasonable side. "Look, I admit that it's crazy dangerous," she said, though that admission alone took more effort than she cared to give. "But it's not-"

"It feels just like the Shadow Youkai!"

Marisa felt like someone had just kicked her in the gut. She sputtered, tried to regain her composure, but the wind had been taken out of her momentum and she just ended up looking like a lip-flapping fool.

Reimu saw it too, and was merciless in pressing her advantage. "That's where I felt that before," she hissed. "From her." She pointed down at her feet. "Remember when she killed my foot?"

Grimacing, Marisa turned away, mumbling, "It's not the same."

"How, Marisa?" Reimu demanded. "How is it not the same?"

"Because-"

"See, this is exactly why Alice is scared of you!"

Marisa's head snapped back toward her, her face white. "What?"

"That stuff…" Reimu swallowed. "Marisa, it scares me too, okay?" She gestured toward Marisa's gauntlet and the cold steel that waited within. "I know what dark magic does to a person. I know the stain it leaves on them. I've seen what it turns them into. And I don't want that to happen to you!"

Lifting her arm, Marisa ran her thumb over the weapon's sheathe as she muttered, "Didn't we already have this talk?"

"Yes! But apparently you had lead in your ears when we did, because here you are again messing with stuff that no one in their right mind would even touch!"

Right. Enough was enough. Closing her eyes, Marisa summoned up every scrap of anger, indignation, and frustration she could claw together. As it turned out, there was quite a lot. "Well, excuse me, Miss I've-Got-A-Magic-Superball-That-My-Ancestors-Left-Me-And-A-Shitton-Of-Natural-Mojo, but some of us aren't exactly advantaged enough to be choosy!"

"What?" Reimu's face screwed up in confusion. "What are you talking about? You're like one of the most talented magicians I know, and I know a lot!"

Great. In her haste to put Reimu in her place, Marisa had fired off the wrong cannon. "Forget it," she grumbled.

Unfortunately, Reimu wasn't letting it rest. "No, seriously," she said. "What do you mean?"

Marisa shot her a steely glare. "Let it drop, Reddie."

"No, I'm not letting this drop!" Reimu shouted. "What do you mean, you're disadvantaged?"

"Fuck." Marisa considered just telling Reimu to piss off and concentrate on the superfreak that was still trying to kill them, but damn it, she was sick of this game. She pulled off her own mask and sighed. "Okay, look. What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone. Not Genji, not Yukari, especially not Alice. You got it?"

The deadly warning in Marisa's voice took Reimu back. Blinking in surprise, she said, "Uh…sure."

"Fine." Marisa sighed and shrugged. Oh, what the hell. "I ain't got any natural magic."

Whatever it was that Reimu was expecting to hear, that obviously was nowhere near the list. "Huh?" she said.

"Exactly what I said."

Reimu kept staring. "That makes…exactly no sense at all."

"Well, it's true," Marisa said, this time a little defensively. "You know how magicians have like this natural connection to magic, like this, uh, instinctive command over it?" When Reimu nodded, she continued. "I don't. Never have. In fact, I've got the exact opposite. Can't cast spells, can't channel energy, can't even fire off bullets or use spellcards. I'm like some sort of magical cripple." She motioned toward the broom she had strapped to her back. "Hell, if it weren't for my broom here, flying would be straight out too."

Unfortunately, Reimu still wasn't getting it. "Marisa, what are you talking about? I've seen you do all those things on a daily basis!"

"Exactly. Because I figured out how! The one thing I do got is being really, really good at magical theory, so I studied the shit out of it and worked out how to use it instead've just being able to. I read, I stole, I experimented, I cheated, and I violated the laws of energy in ways that would make Yukari blush, but it worked. But it weren't easy, ze. I have to work twice as hard as your average magician just to be half as good, which is why I work eight times harder than your average magician! Which also is why I think your average magician is an ambitionless, lazy-ass wannabe."

Reimu's mouth fell open.

"Nobody knows how magic works better than me, which is why I'm so good at it," Marisa said. "But I got here by taking every route that I could, by using every tool I could get my hands on." Then her scowl reappeared. "Meanwhile, I'm surrounded by lucky jackasses that can turn the world inside out because those're the cards they were dealt." She held up her arm and popped out the blade. Even that small bit made Reimu shudder, but Marisa was undeterred. "So when one of them feels like picking a fight with me because she don't got nothing better to do, well, excuse me if I don't leave behind the only thing that can save our fucking lives just because of principles, Miss Natural-Talent-That-You-Never-Feel-Like-Developing!"

Reimu had nothing to say to that.

"And oh yeah, here's something else to chew on: Yuuka threw up a couple of roadblocks, and suddenly you can't do nothing without my toys, ze!" Marisa thumped herself in the chest. "While I'm the one that came less than a centimeter from doing what Yukari couldn't. Again. If Yuuka hadn't fucking cheated, this whole problem would be over and done with right now. So if you ever feel like coming down from your high horse and actually contributing something in this fight for our lives, you go ahead and do just that."

"I can't," Reimu said.

Marisa gave her a pointed look. "Well, I can. Fancy that." She turned away. "Welcome to my first decade of life."

"I didn't know."

Marisa rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't." She sat down on a rock and started scribbling out some new runes.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Ain't something I wanted spread around," Marisa grunted.

"Does Mima know?"

Marisa paused long enough to give Reimu another look. "Duh." She looked back down to what she was doing. "Funny that, she favors brains and hard work over raw strength. Maybe that's why she's so good at what she does."

A few moments passed in which the only sound was the scratching of Marisa's stylo.

Then Reimu said, "Marisa, look, I…Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Yeah. Whatever."

Frowning, Reimu walked over to sit across from her. "But even so, if you do know that much about magic, then you should know better than anyone what using dark magic to kill someone does to you, right?"

Marisa glanced up at her. She didn't say anything.

"Marisa, you're one of the strongest people I know, and one of the smartest," Reimu said. "And I know that there isn't anyone in all of Gensokyo that puts more work and passion into what she loves than you." Her hands had started shaking, so she ran them through her hair instead. "But that's why it scares me so much to see you using things like that. Because you have to. You've…just jumped right into a world that's-"

"What, bigger than me?" Marisa demanded. "Where I don't belong? Your world?"

Reimu pounded a fist against her lap in frustration. "Damn it, Marisa! Yes! You aren't supposed to be here, but you are anyway! And that's incredible! But if you got to keep cheating to stay here, to use keep using dark magic every time there's an emergency, what's going to happen to you? I saw your eyes when you shot that thing at Yuuka! You wanted to kill her!"

"No shit, I did!" Marisa snapped back. "She blew up my house, dragged me all the way back to this shithole just to kill me, and she got you involved too! Because she was bored! So yeah, I want to kill her! Who wouldn't?"

"It's more than that. You didn't just want to kill her. You wanted to kill."

Marisa's lips curled into a snarl. "Don't go guessing my thoughts."

"Am I wrong?"

"Shut up, Reddie."

"Am I wrong?" Reimu said, more urgently this time. "That thing's affecting you, Marisa. And you know it."

The paper Marisa was scribbling on crumpled between her fingers, and it took a considerable amount of willpower not to throw it at Reimu's stupid head. Gods, she was so sick of this. Sick of people looking down on her. Sick them questioning her. Sick of them judging her. Sick of them being afraid of her.

Sick of them being right.

She turned her wrist over. The blade rested in its sheathe, patiently waiting until she was forced to unleash it again. It knew it was only a matter of time before she called upon it again. Until then, it was content to remain silent and wait.

She remembered something Mima had said to her when she had first agreed to be the notorious villain's apprentice. That day, Mima had promised to allow her to choose her own path, to never force her to act against her conscience. At the time, Marisa had thought this to be an acceptable compromise. She would learn from the master, and not be molded into the monster. She could learn from the bad guy and still be a good guy. That had sounded fair.

And yet, here she was walking around with lethal spellcards and a mordite-infused blade. Sure, it was only for this specific emergencies, but so had the spellcards when she had first designed them. Now she carried them regularly.

Sighing, Marisa's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yeah. Maybe it is," she admitted. "I never wanted to use it anyway."

Reimu raised an eyebrow. "But Mima insisted."

Marisa shrugged. "Yuuka's got it in for me because of something Yukari got me mixed up in. Like I said, can't afford to be choosy."

"There are other ways, Marisa."

"Not now, there ain't." Then, seeing that Reimu was far from satisfied with that answer, Marisa sighed and said, "Look, as soon as we get out of this, I'll get rid of it. Never liked the damn thing anyway. Gives me the shivers, just having it around."

Reimu looked less than convinced.

Raising a hand, Marisa said, "I promise. And unlike Yuuka, my word actually counts for something. Well, when I mean it anyway."

Though she still looked pretty troubled, at least Reimu's face relaxed a little bit. "Okay," she said. "I-"

And right about then was when Yuuka despite to break in with a rather cranky, "All right, that cinches it."

Then her fist came bursting through the far wall.

As Reimu and Marisa watched in horror, Yuuka literally smashed her way into the cavern. How long she had been there listening there was no way to tell. However, if her obvious irritation was any indication, she had clearly overhead a good chunk of it.

After shaking some of the dust out of her hair, Yuuka sighed and said, "I'm sorry for butting in, but when one's honor has been called into question, I feel they should have the opportunity to object." She lifted her umbrella and smacked it against the opposite palm.

Marisa was on her feet in an instant. "What honor?" she spat. "You broke your word! You said you wouldn't use your plants, and you-" Suddenly she found any sort of movement to be out of the question as a very powerful binding spell enveloped her. "-mmmph!"

"Enough, child," Yuuka said wearily. She then turned her attention to Reimu, who was desperately trying to bring the spare spellcards Marisa had given her to bear. Yuuka made a few motions, and they all flew out of the shrine maiden's hands. As for Reimu herself, she was quickly entangled in the same trap that was holding Marisa.

As she struggled to free herself, Marisa's heart sank in her chest. Despite her lack of finesse, Yuuka had just rendered both of them helpless with a few quick motions. It was clear that she wasn't interested in playing anymore.

Yuuka crooked a finger, and Reimu was lifted off the ground. She twitched and jerked and let out muffled cries as she tried to resist, but it was pointless. Yuuka pulled her in with more ease than a fisherman with a hooked fish.

"Now, Reimu," Yuuka told the paralyzed girl. "While I fully support everything you just said, Marisa was right about one thing. Your contributions to this engagement have been thoroughly disappointing, and it would be irresponsible of me to allow someone so ill-prepared to continue to blunder her way through the battlefield. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to put you down for a while."

She tapped Reimu on the head. The shrine maiden collapsed onto the floor and lay still.

"Don't worry, she's only unconscious," Yuuka told the aghast Marisa. Leaving Reimu where she was, she approached the witch. "Now, what to do with you?" she said scornfully. "The magician with no magic. Quite the tale you just told." Her lip curled into a sneer. "Do you know what you are? Nothing more than an infant, playing with her mommy's toys. You meddle with secrets never intended for you and trespass on powers that ought to be kept on the top shelf. How very, very irresponsible." She shook her head. "Your mother ought to be ashamed of herself."

She snapped her fingers, and suddenly Marisa's mouth was freed up. Glowering, she said, "My mom's dead."

"That explains a lot," Yuuka said in disapproval. "You might have been brought up better otherwise."

No. Marisa was not about to take this. "Well, what about you?" Marisa spat. "You're the one the one that made all these big promises and broke them as soon as things got hairy, ze!"

Yuuka's face went cold. "I'm certain that I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The hell you don't! You promised to leave those stupid plants out of this, but brought up that big ol' thicket to save yourself! The only reason you're still alive is because you cheated, you unbelievable hypocrite!"

She instantly saw that she had scored a hit with that one. In fact, it was such an obvious point that she couldn't help but wonder why Yuuka had given her use of her tongue back at all. She had to have known that Marisa would bring it up. "That's not what happened," Yuuka said, her muscles tensing up and her speech speeding up. "That's not what happened at all."

Marisa rolled her eyes. Those, at least, still worked right. "Oh, bullshit," she said in contempt. "That's exactly what happened. You agreed to my terms because you thought I wasn't a threat. But as soon as things didn't go your way you panicked broke your word. Didn't even think twice about it neither. Having honor must be real nice. Let me know if you find any."

Now Yuuka was practically gritting her teeth together. "A minor slip. That's all it was."

Marisa grinned wolfishly. "Then kill yourself. It's what you oughtta do, seeing how that 'minor slip' is the only reason you're still alive. I had you dead to rights."

"Yes," Yuuka hissed. "Using an absolutely deplorable-"

"Oh, can it," Marisa interrupted. Honestly, she was sort of surprised that Yuuka hadn't sealed up her mouth again. Maybe the fact that she had resorted to cheating was driving her nuts and she felt the need to convince Marisa that she had actually been in the right. Yuuka was sort of nuts, after all. Well, Marisa didn't feel like being convinced. "You said I could use whatever I brought with me. I was totally following the rules. Not my fault that you didn't think to search the bag first."

"You go too far."

Marisa's smile only grew. "Do I? Rules is rules, Yuuka. And according to them, this whole duel just got negated."

"That isn't an option," Yuuka said, shaking her head.

Shrugging as best she could with her inert shoulders, Marisa said, "Shoulda thought of that before you gave me your word."

Yuuka's face contorted in fury, and for a second, Marisa was worried that she would throw honor to the wind and just blast the witch to bloody little gobbets.

But instead, Yuuka managed to reign in her temper and regain some measure of composure. "Very well," she muttered. "As recompense for my…" she seemed to almost choke on the admission, "…momentary lapse of character, you will have an additional fifteen minutes to regroup and ready yourself."

Marisa scowled. "That's not-"

Yuuka raised her voice and kept going, preventing Marisa from getting a word in. "But once those fifteen minutes are up, I will make an end of things." She glowered. "This has gone on far too long, and I have an appointment coming up. So you'll understand if I don't-"

Marisa didn't really care, as right about then she finished figuring out how the spell holding her in place was anchored and what energies she needed to manipulate to unravel it.

Before Yuuka could finish her sentence, her binding spell suddenly slid right off of Marisa and came flying back into her face. Marisa followed it up by dropping into a crouch, grabbing her pistol, and shooting her.

…

Okay, so calling down asteroids hadn't done the trick. In fact, Yuuka's little glowing monsters seemed to have anticipated Mima's use of interstellar ammunition, as entire swarms of them had shot up to envelop the ones she had called down and chewed them to pebbles. And unfortunately, that had left more than enough to continue the pursuit.

Grimacing, Mima sped up until she felt their influence fade away. Once she was able, she teleported to the edge of the Blasted Lands.

Once she was out, she took a moment to survey the situation from the outside.

What she saw filled her with dismay.

The entirety of the Blasted Lands now swarmed with the things. Thousands of tiny blue dots flitted this way and that, drawn out by her attempts to get in. Mima was aghast. What was she supposed to do now?

…

As the energies of her own paralysis spell enveloped her, Yuuka reflected, and would so again many times over the next week, that she probably should have taken Marisa Kirisame a little more seriously. After all, lowly mortal she may be, she still had made the best showing back during the previous fight, and had been doing quite well so far in this one. But the revelation that she was in possession of no natural magic had perhaps made Yuuka a little cocky. And the attack upon her honor needed to be addressed. A victory would be sour if not obtained in the right and proper manner.

But clearly Marisa didn't think much of her offer and made her refusal clear by throwing Yuuka's spell back in her face and following it up with what had to be a magic bullet, if the way it exploded upon entering her skin was any indication..

It stung; of course it stung. It felt like a thousand angry hornets were having a bad day and decided to take their frustrations out on her flesh. But Yuuka was still Yuuka, and she had suffered much worse. She bore the pain, banished the paralysis spell, and forced the bullet's shards from her flesh. Then she readied herself for whatever Marisa had in store.

It was a wasted effort. Marisa was gone, and so was Reimu.

Yuuka blinked. No, that couldn't be right. She had been taken off guard for less than five seconds. Even if the witch had fled, she still should hear her footsteps.

Then she remembered that, natural or not, she was still dealing with a magician, and changed tactics. She extended her senses, looking for any trace of stray power.

It took longer than she expected. Marisa's skill was impressive, ill-gained as it might be. Still, she found the witch and her unconscious friend huddled in a corner, under the protection of an invisibility spell. It was a good one too. Scent and sound were masked as well as sight, and it came with a subtle compulsion to ignore that entire area.

Still, it was not enough. Smiling, Yuuka pointed her umbrella at the pair. Blasting them to bits was a bit anticlimactic, but she was pressed for time.

But as the power built within the umbrella's core, the silhouette of Marisa's head snapped up. And as Yuuka fired off the blast of energy, the young witch pulled something out of her pocket and threw it.

The object exploded into glowing shards that flew to multiple points. A glowing hexagram appeared over each one, forming a sort of prism around Yuuka's shot. It bounced from star to star before being redirected back at Yuuka.

Scowling, Yuuka swept it aside, annihilating a stalagmite in the process. However, in the time it took to do that, Marisa was already moving.

The self-made spellcaster ran in a circle around Yuuka, dropping small, blue boxes as she went. Each box opened up and shot a beam of light blue energy up at the ceiling. Disinterested in allowing Marisa to complete her cage, Yuuka ran some quick calculations through her head, pointed her umbrella at where Marisa was going to be, and fired.

Unfortunately, Marisa must have seen that coming, for as soon as Yuuka's umbrella came up, she had dropped to her knees in a baseball slide. Yuuka's blast passed over her head as she slammed the final box into place, completing her cage.

Noting that the boxes didn't seem to have anything holding them in place, Yuuka rolled her eye and sent out a simple wave of force, intending to knock all the boxes out of position. However, as it turned out, the cage wasn't intended to hold her in place at all. It was for her power, and for the third time in less than five minutes Yuuka found her own spell redirected and sent back to her.

This time it was enough to stagger her. Yuuka fell to one knee. She shook away the cobwebs and stumbled back up just in time to see Marisa flying through the air, a bloodthirsty grin on her face and her mordite blade pointed at Yuuka's heart.

"No!" Yuuka screamed as she sent an unfocused surge of power at Marisa. It hit…and Marisa's illusion exploded into sparks. Yuuka was so confused by this that she didn't notice that her attack was still going until Marisa's cage had knocked it back at her again, knocking the wind out of her.

And the real Marisa dropped from above.

Somehow Yuuka managed to get her umbrella up. The tip of the mordite blade bit through into the folded-up canopy and sank into the shaft.

And then the only flower in Gensokyo that never withered finally knew decay. Yuuka felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the canopy start to turn black.

It was only for a moment though, because the conflicting energies blew it to pieces seconds later.

Recoiling from the explosion, the back of Yuuka's head smacked against the stone floor. It didn't really hurt, but the shock of her barely-averted death and losing her umbrella left her stunned.

That little whore had almost killed her. Twice! Yuuka had been within a hairsbreadth of losing her life. That wasn't supposed to happen. Yuuka Kazami didn't die, especially not to some arrogant, upstart mortal with no real power to speak of! It was simply inconceivable!

Then she saw the splintered remains of the umbrella's handle still clutched in her hand. Yuuka stared numbly at it for a second, and then her face contorted with rage.

Hurling the handle aside, Yuuka lurched to her feet. Marisa's energy cage had been knocked askew by the explosion, and even if it hadn't, Yuuka wasn't interested in remaining in it any longer. She stomped out of its grip, taking the time to crush one of the boxes beneath her heel as she passed.

To her satisfaction, Marisa seemed to have gotten the worse of that last exchange. She was on the ground, holding onto her wrist with a grimace of pain on her face. As it turned out, the explosion had been as fatal to the mordite blade as it had been to the umbrella. A tiny jagged splinter was all that remained in the now smoking sheathe, and Yuuka saw several other shards lying here and there throughout the cavern. Good.

Seeing Yuuka approach, Marisa tried to stand up, but Yuuka wasn't interested in another round. "No," she said, and motioned with her fingers. Marisa flinched, bracing herself for another attack. However, the witch was not the target.

The shrine maiden was.

Reimu's limp body was plucked off the ground and flew across the room to Yuuka's waiting hand. Seizing the unconscious girl by the neck, Yuuka held her high and said to the distraught witch, "Do not move, or your friend's life is forfeit."

Marisa's jaw dropped, but she then clamped her mouth shut and did as she was told, though her eyes still burned with angry defiance.

"Your bag of tools, please," Yuuka said, beckoning with her free hand. "Give them here."

Marisa hesitated, not wanting to give up her only chance of surviving this encounter. Shaking her head, Yuuka applied the slightest bit of pressure to Reimu's neck, turning the girl's shallow breathing into a strangled choke.

"All right, all right!" Marisa cried. "Here!" She unshouldered her bag and tossed it to Yuuka, who caught it one-handed. She tossed it to a spot behind her and held her palm open toward it.

While the umbrella had been useful for focusing her power, she didn't need it. There was a flash of green light, and Marisa's bag of tricks was destroyed. Predictably, this set off several larger explosions from its more volatile contents, but the barrier Yuuka threw up around it kept them contained until their fury was exhausted, leaving nothing but ragged scraps and ashes behind.

"Now the rest of it," Yuuka said.

Keeping her eyes fixed on Reimu, Marisa slowly unstrapped the leather-and-steel gauntlets from her arms and her bandolier of pouches. Then she tossed them to Yuuka, who simply blasted them out of midair before they reached her. This time, there was no explosion, though Marisa's remaining spellcards fluttered out in a small whirlwind. Yuuka swept them aside.

"And finally," she said, her smile returning, "your broom as well." She pointed to the wooden pole still strapped to Marisa's back.

Marisa looked like someone had just stabbed her teddy bear. "Oh, come on!" she protested. "It's not a weapon!"

"Nevertheless, I insist," Yuuka said. Thanks to the loss of her umbrella, she was feeling more than a little vindictive. She gave Reimu's limp body a small shake. "Unless, of course, you judge this girl's life to be of lesser value. In which case, I must-"

"All right, fine!" Marisa spat. She pulled it from her back and tossed it over. "I hope it gives you splinters, you pompous bitch!"

"Language, dear." Yuuka caught the broom. Then, holding it aloft, she pressed it down over her thumb. The wooden pole snapped like a pencil.

Marisa winced like someone had kicked her in the stomach. Tears had started to form in her eyes. "All right," she growled. "You disarmed me. Now let her go, ze!"

Yuuka shrugged. "As you wish." She tossed Reimu aside. The shrine maiden landed in an uncomfortable heap near the wall. "Though I've always wondered: what is with that little whistle you always make at the end of your sentences? Do you suffer from a speech impediment? A respiratory glitch? You'd think someone with as much creativity and drive as you would have found a way to correct that by now."

Glowering, Marisa pushed herself to her feet. Her legs were shaking and she still favored her injured wrist, but she still managed to stand up. "None of your fucking business, ze," she hissed.

Yuuka was amused. "Good heavens. Are you still trying to win? You have an overdeveloped sense of determination." She folded her arms over her breast. "It's going to get you in trouble one day."

"Was born into trouble," Marisa said, taking a shaky step forward. "And you know what? I feel like sharing, ze."

"Oh, do you?" Yuuka tilted her head to one side. "And with what, may I ask? What is a magician without tools? What's a warrior without weapons?"

Marisa paused. She straightened up and looked Yuuka straight in the eye. "What's a warrior without weapons?" she repeated. "Well, that's easy." Her fists started to glow. "A warrior still!"

With that, she hurled a bold of white-hot lightning straight at her foe.

…

Truth be told, Marisa never really expected her electric attack to work. This was proven correct when Yuuka held up a palm and simply caught the lightning bolt.

Fortunately, Marisa had trained with the master of magical warfare, who had taught her the importance of always having a quick follow-up. She kicked her boot at the ground at the angle, sending a focused shockwave at Yuuka's feet, leaving a trail of cracks in its wake.

Seeing it coming, Yuuka stepped to one side, neatly avoiding it. So Marisa made a pulling motion with her hand, and a stalactite fell from the ceiling directly over Yuuka's head.

Sighing, Yuuka caught it with one hand and held it up as if it were just a balloon. "This is getting tiresome," she said, and hurled the rock at Marisa.

Marisa dove forward, blasting the stalactite to pebbles. Her eyes fell upon a piece of paper fluttering nearby. It was one of the spellcards she had kept in her gauntlet. She lunged for it.

Then Yuuka hit her with a cone of force.

Marisa screamed with pain as her shoulders hit stone and the air forced from her lungs. Gasping, she shakily sat up to see Yuuka striding toward her, hands open and ready to tear her limb from limb.

Hurling raw power at her wouldn't work, so Marisa went with something else. It wasn't much: simply a sudden increase of air pressure around Yuuka's head, making her ears pop. It wasn't enough to hurt, but it did bewilder her long enough for Marisa to make one more desperate lunge for the piece of paper.

Marisa felt her fingers close around the spellcard, and as soon as skin touched paper she knew which one she had. It wasn't her strongest, but it wasn't her weakest either, and would most certainly serve.

A quick infusion of will, and the sigils blazed to life. "Tarot sign!" Marisa snarled as she thrust the card forward. "TEN OF SWORDS!"

The card disintegrated into sparks, and ten ghostly blades materialized around her. They shot forward, ready to impale her like a speared frog.

Unfortunately, by then Yuuka had been stabbed so many times that she must have developed a sense for when it was about to happen. "Oh, no you don't!" she shouted as she thrust her hand forward. There was a loud crack like thunder that nearly blew Marisa's ears out, and the spectral blades were knocked spinning back the way they came.

Marisa watched the swords coming and reviewed her options, her adrenaline-fueled mind turning seconds into entire strategy sessions. She was out of shielding charms and didn't have the juice to summon one up cold. Redirecting the swords in her drained state would probably cause a mental blowout. At the very least it would leave her vulnerable to whatever Yuuka had next. And vanquishing a spellcard of that caliber once it had been unleashed required a bit more time than she had left.

So she did the only thing left for her: she dove behind a rock.

And not a minute too soon. The blades whooshed right past her. One of them speared her hat and took it off her head before jamming into the ground.

Marisa remained where she was, her heart pounding, ten swords stuck into the ground in a circle around her. Then there was a flash, and they dissolved into sparks. Her skewered hat fell to the ground, a long gash gaping at both ends of the pointed bit.

The sight of her mangled hat reignited Marisa's rage. She looked around and, seeing one of the pieces of her murdered broom nearby, she reached for it. Her hand closed around the splintered handle as her eyes continued to scan the cavern.

They felt upon a jagged piece of metal protruding over a nearby stone. It was one of the fragments of her mordite-infused blade. It seemed to glow in the pale light, still as sharp and hungry as ever.

Then she heard footsteps. "Really, Marisa?" Yuuka said as she came up to tower over the girl. "A stick? Against me? I think not!"

Marisa slowly turned to look Yuuka in the eye. "Yeah. All I need."

"Is that right?" Yuuka's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Face it, Marisa. You're outclassed in every way. What can you do against me?"

In response, Marisa snarled, "Improvise!"

With that, she closed her eyes and activated her last trick: the flare spell.

It wasn't much, just a simple burst of light. But again, Yuuka wasn't expecting it. She jerked back, reflexively shielding herself from what she feared was a more powerful attack. In those scant moments, Marisa whirled the broom handle around and slammed it down against the side of the shard. There was a hiss as the metal burned into the wood, and Marisa threw every last bit of magic she could bring up to fuse the two together. She rose up, both hands gripping the broomstick tight, the shard jutting out like the blade of a scythe.

As Yuuka came to realize that the flash of light wasn't an attack, she opened her eye to once again see her death rushing toward her. And once again her scarlet eye filled with terror and she threw herself back with a scream of panic. The jagged tip sliced across the tip of her chin, spraying blood that quickly turned black.

Yuuka fell onto her back, clutching at her wound as if it were on fire that she needed to put out. Marisa was on her in an instant. With one hand holding the pole, she shoved the shard's tip against Yuuka's chest. Yuuka froze in place, her face ashen with fear.

With her other hand, Marisa picked up a rock. "Steel…tempered with mordite," she spat out as she lifted the rock high, ready to hammer it down on the back of the shard. "Right through your twisted heart. Take it! Take it straight to hell, you sickening piece of shit!"

…

Mima had finally figured it out. She might have done it quicker, but she was distracted and not as quick on the uptake as she normally would be.

The way she had figured, if these damned things were going to hone in on anything with magic, she was going to give them just that. She just had to keep the source moving.

To that end, she had sent a surge of power at the swarm, clipping close enough to get its attention. She got it, and once enough of the little monsters had given chase, she split her beacon into four parts that were now merrily leading their pursuers along. Then she had done it again.

It was working. The cloud was starting to thin out. All she needed was to make a hole, and she would make Yuuka regret ever even looking in Marisa's direction.

Hang on, Marisa, Mima thought as she prepared another beacon. I'm coming.

…

Time stopped.

Marisa and Yuuka's faces were less than a meter away, and they found themselves absorbed by each other's gaze. Marisa could make out every detail of Yuuka's face, from the dirt that smudged her aristocratic cheeks to the number of black veins that were becoming visible around the slash on her pointed chin. She could have counted her eyelashes if she wanted to. But what drew her attention the most was Yuuka's eye.

Yuuka was a woman who lived her life in confidence: confidence in her power, in her abilities, in being able to walk away from any disaster and go to bed safe and sound at the end of the day. She was used to being better than people, to being in control and making others play by her rules. She arrogant and smug and felt that she had every right to be.

But you wouldn't know it by looking at her. All of her self-assurance was gone, and the eye that so many saw in their nightmares now knew nothing but fear. The monster was gone, and in its place was a terrified child.

In contrast, Marisa's own eyes were now dark and filled with hate. Those that knew her were accustomed to her golden gaze being one of humor, mischief, amusement, and enthusiasm. She was a person who wore her heart on her sleeve and defined herself by her passions. An interesting person to be around, to be certain, if not a little dangerous.

But even Mima, who fit every definition of "monster" there was and knew Marisa better than anyone, would be disturbed by the bloodlust that burned in Marisa's eyes. Only her raw determination was recognizable, and the rest, all the joy, love, and fun, was gone. She was now a creature of hate.

And she knew it.

She sat in place, legs straddling Yuuka's stomach, arm poised to strike. That was all it would take. All she had to do was bring the rock down, and it would be over. As powerful as Yuuka was, she couldn't survive having mordite driven through her heart. All Marisa had to do was move, and it would be over.

She didn't move.

Voice rose up in the back of her mind, screaming at her to stop hesitating, to just do it already. She heard Mima coldly point out even a few seconds of hesitation could be fatal and if she didn't act now, both her life and Reimu's were forfeit. She heard herself scream about how Yuuka was a child-raping murderess who very much deserved to die, and oh yeah, did she remember the part where she had blown up her house? And she heard another voice, one that made no arguments. It just repeated one word over and over, cold yet insistent.

Kill.

She wanted to. Gods, she wanted more than anything to just kill the wretched thing and get it over with. There was no doubt in her mind that Yuuka needed to die. She hurt kids, for the gods' sakes! She destroyed for fun and wrecked lives, and would continue to do so until someone put her down. What was more, she had hurt Reimu.

She raised the rock higher to give it more force. Yuuka let out a small, frightened squeak.

But Marisa heard other voices as well.

I hear that your temper almost drove you to commit murder, something that you didn't seem the slightest bit ashamed about, Alice's voice said. How was I supposed to react, Marisa?

Marisa blinked and shook her head. Her arm wavered.

And that also means protecting you from becoming something that I might end up having to take out one day! Reimu shouted. So yeah, I'm gonna get all into your face when you do something like this. Because I don't want to explain to grieving families why their loved ones aren't coming home. And because I don't want to end up having to…

Grimacing, Marisa steadied her arm and got ready to try again.

That stuff…Marisa, it scares me too, okay? I know what dark magic does to a person. I know the stain it leaves on them. I've seen what it turns them into. And I don't want that to happen to you!

Marisa closed her eyes. Her body had started trembling.

Please, Mary! her father pleaded. This will destroy you! Even if it doesn't kill you, it will damn you!

Groaning, Marisa pressed the back of her hand to her forehead as the world swam around her.

…scares me…

…supposed to react…

…deserves, so do it already…

…viciously attacked several of my people…

…running out of time, so you'd better act soon…

…a most effective monster…

…letting go is part of the path to greatness…

Kill.

With a shriek, Marisa hurled the rock and her makeshift scythe aside and scrambled off of Yuuka's body. She fell back and against a stalagmite and curled up, arms over her head and knees brought up as sobs wracked her body.

She felt disgusted with herself. Weak. Yuuka would kill them both and continue to hurt others, and Marisa had thrown away her one chance to stop her. But she couldn't do it. Not like that. Not cold, not with something that dark. Not even to Yuuka.

Mima would, of course, be incredibly disappointed with her. She would then take great pains to point out that by any halfway decent standard of morality, Yuuka deserved to die, and by sparing her, she was allowing untold innocents to suffer. And Reimu would probably point out that Marisa had once tried to murder a bunch of Humans in a fit of rage and spent several weeks justifying it before being browbeaten into admitting that she was wrong. But now she was backing out, when she had every reason to just rid the world of that slimeball? It was sheer hypocrisy.

But even so, Marisa just couldn't do it. Maybe it was the method. Maybe it was the weapon. Maybe it was because, in her heart of hearts, she really didn't want to take the path of a killer. And for some reason, just knowing that gave her a feeling of relief. Because at least the voices stopped.

Yuuka remained on her back, eye blinking, and face twisted with confusion. She seemed to have completely lost track of what was happening and was currently struggling to catch up. She turned her head over toward Marisa, expression silently begging for an explanation.

Marisa sighed. She felt tired, so tired, and way too young for this shit. "Yeah," she said. "That's right. It's over."

Yuuka's mouth silently worked itself around several possible questions before settling with the all-time classic: "What?"

"You heard me. I won. I stuck to the rules, and I won." Marisa motioned over to the scythe. "I could've killed you right there. Probably should've but I chose not to. So it's over, ze. Get rid of your plants and let us go."

Yuuka's eye all but popped right out of its socket. "Excuse me?"

Groaning, Marisa let her head slump over her knees. "I said go away. I don't wanna fight anymore."

Yuuka looked like a lemon had pissed in her tea. According to the rules of the game, by defeating her, taking her life in her hands, and then showing her mercy, Marisa now had a legitimate claim on her life. Yuuka was now her bitch, and she knew it.

And oh, how that had to sting; to lay there helpless while the better woman refused to spill her blood. She had come to Marisa's place to make a point, to regain some of the face she had lost, to prove that being beaten by a mortal had just been a fluke. Instead, the mortal had not only beaten her again, she had decided to spare her life. For all her power, theatrics, and reputation, Yuuka the Outer God was lesser than Marisa the Human.

"Go away?" Yuuka repeated. Her speech was slurred, thanks to the swelling on her lower jaw. She slowly rose up, gingerly holding the places the mordite blade had cut her. "You want me to…go away?"

"Yes," Marisa said, raising her head ever so much. "You're a woman of honor, right? Manners and rules and whatnot? So prove it."

It was as if someone had lit a fire in a snowman. Yuuka's pale face at first seemed to be frozen with bewilderment and disbelief. Then her cheeks slowly flushed with color as the entirety of her humiliation became clear to her. Soon she was all but gritting her teeth with rage.

Marisa didn't care. She was too tired to care.

Yuuka looked down at her hand, which had started to shake. She squeezed it into a fist, closed her eye, and bared her teeth as if she were trying to hold back a scream. Probably was, if the way the loose stones around her were shaking was any indication. Marisa could literally feel the rage emanating out from her. She found some satisfaction in that there wasn't anything righteous about it. Rather, it was the fury of a spoiled child that hadn't gotten her way.

Then Yuuka let out a small huff. She spun on her heel, and stormed out of the cavern without another word.

Marisa watched her retreating back until the darkness had swallowed it up. Then she waited for a full minute for Yuuka to come back.

She didn't.

Marisa wondered if it was over. Age and experience had taught her to never trust anyone over a hundred to do the mature thing. It was like immortality sapped away the ability to behave like a grown-up. Maybe that was the point. If you were going to outlive everyone anyway, why bother growing up?

Still, Yuuka didn't come back.

She probably still should have killed her though. Even if Reimu and Alice were right, and murdering someone like that did have negative long-term effects (which admittedly it did; dark magic was kind of vicious like that), there were ways to clean away its fingerprints. And hey, what was the greater evil? Killing a single monster in a fit of bloodlust or letting her wander off to do more harm? Marisa wasn't really sure of the answer, and nor did she have the energy to sort it out.

Oh well. Too late to do anything about it now.

Wincing at her stiffness, Marisa got up. Everything hurt. "What a whiner," she mumbled to herself as she gingerly massaged the muscles of her neck. Then with a sigh, she turned to see to Reimu.

The vines smashed out of the floor and ceiling and seized her by the arms, legs, and waist before she even knew what was happening. They snatched her up, spun her around, and hurled her across the cavern, limbs flailing and mouth opening to cry out.

She hit the ground hard. Something popped out of joint in her leg. Her vision exploded into spots.

Then, as her eyes cleared, she saw that she was eye-level with a pair of dark pink boots.

Though it was pointless, Marisa reflexively yanked out her mini-hakkero with her free hand and brought it up. "MASTER SPA-" she started to shout as the wooden octagon surged to life.

"No." The sole of Yuuka's boot came down on her wrist. Marisa screamed as the slender bones snapped. The mini-hakkero fell from her spasming fingers, her spell still partially charged.

As Marisa writhed in pain, Yuuka knelt down to pick up the mini-hakkero. "I think we've had quite enough of that," she said, holding the device up, fingers wrapped around its casing. "You've plagiarized your last spell." She squeezed. The mini-hakkero let out a disturbingly human-sounding shriek. There was a bright flash of light.

When it cleared, Yuuka's fingers were covered with smoking burns. However, she didn't seem to notice. The mini-hakkero was now a crushed mess, the ghost of its last Master Spark still flickering pitifully within.

Tossing it aside, Yuuka reached down with her other hand and grabbed Marisa by the throat. She then lifted her fully off the ground, her feet kicking as she coughed and choked.

Yuuka held her like that for a few seconds, her mouth a horizontal slash across her face. Then she said, "Mercy. Is that what you believe you were showing me? Little girl, let me educate you on a few fine points. Mercy is something to be shown to your inferiors. It is the prerogative of those of station and breeding. To presume to show it to your betters is just goddamned insulting."

She sighed wearily. "But in light of the situation, I suppose you could be forgiven. However, given the rather…questionable tactics you've employed, there are some scales that need to be balanced first. For example…"

She shifted her fingers and covered Marisa's left eye with her thumb. Then she pressed.

When Marisa regained consciousness, Yuuka was still holding her aloft by the throat. Seeing that her captive was coming to, Yuuka nodded and said solemnly, "You should, of course, know that there is no shame in this defeat. Despite your natural shortcomings, you fought with bravery, cunning, and resourcefulness. A fitting end for such a passionate girl." Her lips lifted in a ghastly imitation of a smile, though the swelling marred it considerably. "They will sing songs and tell tales of your fall here today. And if you ask me, that is the best sort of immortality. So congratulations, Marisa. You are about to become a legend."

Marisa glowered at her through her remaining eye. She mumbled something.

"I'm sorry?" Yuuka cupped her ear with her mangled hand. "I didn't quite make that out."

Struggling to be heard, Marisa tried again, but it still came out garbled.

Sighing, Yuuka eased up on the pressure. "Well, I suppose you are entitled to some final words. It is tradition, after all." She smirked. "So tell me: with what line will this song end?"

Forcing as much air into her lungs, Marisa growled, "Fine. You want…last words? Remember this then. I. Beat. You. Fuck your…pretty words. This…this ain't no defeat. You cheated and I didn't. I…I beat you fair and square and you know it."

Despite the pain, Marisa still managed to twist her lips into one of her trademark grins. "So…get used to seeing this face. Because…every time you try…to sleep, I'll be there. Every time…you look into the sky…I'll be there. Every time you try to have…a moment of peace…you're gonna see me. Looking at you. Laughing. Me. The mortal that beat you. That showed you for the pathetic liar that you are."

With slow deliberation, she lifted her working arm up and curled the fingers into a fist, all save for the one in the middle. "So, see you in hell…you unbelievable cunt." Then, as an exclamation point, She sucked in a deep, ragged breath and spat out, "ZE!"

Yuuka's cheeks flushed with color, though whether it was due to Marisa's audacity or the profanity couldn't be told. She looked like she was about to start screaming back but then seemed to think better of it, and her face relaxed back into her crooked smile.

"Ah," she said. "A fighter to the end." She laughed. "Good for you! Go out with defiance." Her smile grew, causing the sores on her chin to open and weep. She purred, "Now then…"

And with that, she began to squeeze.

…

Fighting her way out of the dark was difficult and painful, but it wasn't the first time Reimu had been forced to crawl her way back to consciousness through sheer force of will. Even with spellcard rules, taking nasty knocks to the head was part of the job description. Though that didn't mean she had to like it. Getting knocked out freaking hurt.

As soon as her could trust her eyes to stay open, she woozily sat up. Her headache flared up, but she pushed the pain aside and tried to gain some sense of her surroundings.

"Ma-" she tried to say, but it got swallowed up in a coughing fit. Once it had passed, Reimu tried again. "Marisa?"

No answer.

Grumbling, she painfully hauled herself to her feet, praying that she didn't have a concussion. "Marisa?" she said as she took a tentative step forward, one hand clinging to a stalagmite for support. "Can you hear me?"

Marisa still wasn't answering, and Reimu started to get worried. "Marisa, come on," she said as she limped her way out of the alcove. "Where are-"

Then she saw. Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth and-

…

-screamed as the daggers drove through her head, telling her of her failure. She fell to the earth and landed in a heap, sobbing for the first time in centuries as the enormity of what had just happened consumed her.

And the bells! The bells, the bells, the BELLS kept ringing in her head, signaling that the worst had happened, that despite everything she had still lost.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

But this couldn't be. They had prepared for this. There were no losses for people like them, no defeats. There were only setbacks. They always came out ahead in the end. This couldn't be happening.

But it was. Despite everything, the worst had happened. And now, everything was different.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

"The witch is dead," Mima murmured. Then she threw her head back and shrieked with laughter. But there was no joy in it, no humor or triumph. It was the laughter of the damned, full of rage, grief, madness, and despair.

…

"Hmmm, the Eight of Pentacles. The apprentice who desires to learn more. You have studied under a master but still wish to learn more. Ambitious, aren't you? Ah. The Seven of Swords. It would seem that despite all the power you've accumulated, it isn't protecting you from the wiles of others. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that you are being betrayed, though not by someone you trust anyway. And now…Oh dear. The Ten of Swords? I'm sorry, but it looks like despite all that you do, it will all be for naught. Failure is your only option."

-Mima. Imperfect Metamorphosis, Chapter 17: Deep Within, Part 2

"If you send any more toys after me instead of facing me yourself, any more pawns, I will break them. Every. Single. One. Remember that, Yukari."

-Yuuka, Imperfect Metamorphosis, Chapter 22: The Things We Do For Love

"Picked a fight with a chick that was supposed to be way outta my league, ze. Ended up kicking her ass anyway. Only she didn't much like that, so she blew up my house and broke my neck."

-Marisa. Resonance Days, Chapter 8: Reasons to Stay…

Until next time, everyone.