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.

67. Fires of the Sun, Part 4

Fires of the Sun, Part 4

Deep Within

Rumia wished she could just fall unconscious.

A fair chunk of their doomed little party had already. Those who had been in captivity to Yuuka the longest had fainted dead away and had to be carried by the others. Which was just as well. They hadn't the strength to stand anyway.

If Rumia could only join them, she wouldn't have to be awake for this nightmare. She could just slip into the welcoming embrace of oblivion, and when she woke up, they would either have escaped, died, or be recaptured. If they escaped, then fantastic! She could wake up into that after having skipped the horrible part. If they died, then at least she didn't have to be awake for it. And if they ended up recaptured by Yuuka, then at least she wouldn't be any worse off than she was a few minutes ago.

Unfortunately, it seemed that even that bit of relief was robbed from her. Upon tossing her into a slimy, suffocating tulip, Yuuka had also neglected to provide those sleep-inducing flowers that she had been using to treat Rumia's insomnia. As such, while Rumia had no idea how much time had passed between their capture and rescue, she had been awake for every single maddening, claustrophobic, despair filled, isolated, and agonizing second of it.

Though their experiences were nowhere near on the same level, Rumia was starting to have a bit more empathy for what Rin had been through.

Unfortunately, unlike Rin, she couldn't just steal someone else's energy and go galumphing on her merry way. It took all of her concentration just to remain on her feet. Running was out, fighting was really out, and flying was a laughable proposition. She was all but useless, a weak lump that was slowing everyone else down.

And also unfortunately, her body was still refusing to just pass out already. So she was stuck. She couldn't help, and had to be awake and aware for every bit of the torturous affair. No matter what happened, she was going to experience in live and living color.

So she limped on, supported by Wriggle and Cirno, both who were maddening mobile despite being imprisoned in those stupid flowers just as long as she had been. She limped on, her eyes focused on her feet, her mind repeating the same two words over and over again.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right.

Then she heard a low moan, and they stopped moving. Rumia looked up and squinted. Her vision was still pretty blurry. "What's going on?" she muttered.

"Someone else passed out," Wriggle told her.

"Lucky."

Ahead, one of the big blurs blessedly brought things to a stop. Another one of the big blurs came over to confront the first big blur, and apparently some sort of argument was now taking place. Rumia didn't care. She allowed her feet to collapse out from under her and made the most of the few moments of rest.

"This ain't good," Wriggle muttered as she sat down next to her.

"Huh?"

"Them," Wriggle said, gesturing to the two big blurs. "They're arguing about us."

Rumia blinked several times, trying to focus on what Wriggle was saying. "Us?"

"Yeah. Us. And the rest of the kids here. Sakuya Izayoi wants to get rid of us, and the big guy with one hand says they can't."

"Oh."

"Well, maybe they should," Cirno said as she angrily popped down next to the pair and folded her arms. "It ain't like they're being much good."

"Oh, that's a brilliant idea," Wriggle snapped back. "Go let the only ones capable of doing any fighting run off and leave us alone in the middle of Yuuka's mansion to get eaten alive."

"Guys," Rumia said before Cirno could do the usual thing and start yelling louder. Her head was throbbing enough as it was. "Please don't."

Cirno at least had the grace to look somewhat abashed. "Er, sorry," she mumbled. "But it's not like we'd be alone. I mean, we still got Rin, and she kicks butt!"

The sound of Rin's name was enough to at least partially jerk Rumia out of her hazed stupor. "Rin?" she said. "Where is she?"

"Gone," Wriggle said. "Fighting Yuuka, I guess. You don't remember?"

"Uh…" Come to think of it, Rumia did sort of recall something down those lines, but it was just bits and pieces emerging from the dark nightmare that was the last few minutes.

Wriggle leaned in close, her brow furrowed. "Rumia? Are you okay?"

"No."

Wriggle grimaced. She looked around at their sorry-looking crew and said, "Look, just hold on for a little longer, okay? We'll get out of this, then you can rest."

Rumia doubted that. Even if they did come upon some eleventh hour miracle and get away with their skins intact, being able to get any sort of rest was now a maddening memory of something she now regretted taking for granted. However, given that simply thinking was proving to be exhausting, she elected not to say anything.

Taking her silence as a bad sign, Wriggle's voice started to sound more than a little desperate. "Seriously, j-just hold on. It won't be long now. I've got some help coming, you'll see."

"You've got some what?" Cirno said.

"Help," Wriggle told her. "I managed to get a message out right before Yuuka dragged us under the dirt." Though Rumia couldn't see Cirno's face, she must have looked skeptical, as Wriggle quickly added, "I'm serious! They'll be here soon!"

…

"This is a problem," Jun growled. "More than half of them have collapsed, and the rest won't last much longer. They're gonna get us killed."

In return, Sakuya favored the burly youkai with a cold look. "I am aware. I don't need an assessment, I need solutions."

"Leave 'em," rasped Nico. The subterranean fish's condition was worsening. Sakuya didn't know if the ash or dryness of the air, but she looked like she was ready to start vomiting. "They're dead anyway."

"You're one to talk," Jun snapped. "You don't look much better. We should maybe ditch you too when you black out?"

To be honest, Sakuya was seriously contemplating doing just that. In fact, the remaining members of the Palace of Earth Spirits' menagerie were becoming more and more expendable as well. Jun was tough enough, but didn't have the firepower to really be useful. Nico could barely breathe. And Utsuho may be a walking international incident, but Rin Satsuki had her matched in the inferno department and had her beat when it came to willingness to use it. The fact that she was currently doing the job they had brought Utsuho along to do in the first place and was apparently making a good show of it meant that the Hell-Raven's stock was quickly dropping.

Sakuya wanted to leave them all. Patchouli was dead. Meiling was dead. Koakuma might as well be dead. She had no further attachments to this failure of a rescue party. She would do better on her own. All of her best work as a demon hunter had been done solo.

Except…

Sakuya glanced briefly over at the sad gathering of misfits that they had acquired. Rin had been quite specific about what would happen should Sakuya not do everything in her power to save them all. If she wanted even the smallest chance of bringing Flandre home, she was stuck with them.

"Again, I want solutions, not bickering," Sakuya said in a tone that brooked no argument. "We agreed to look after them."

"You agreed," Nico hissed. "To get your vampire back. What about ours, huh? What about Satori?"

Utsuho blinked. "Wait, Satori's a vampire? When did that happen?"

Nico glared at her.

"She remains as much a priority as ever," Sakuya said, ignoring the bird's inane comment. "But for now we need to deal with what's in front of us. Securing Rin Satsuki's continued help will only benefit us."

"Fine," Jun said. "Then how's about this: we get rid of the pups."

Sakuya opened her mouth to point out that that was exactly not what she wanted to hear, but Jun wasn't done. "I didn't mean like that," he said, shooting her a look. "I mean we do what you said we'd do. Get 'em out. Get 'em someplace safe so they ain't slowing us down no more. Then we come back."

"Brilliant," Sakuya said dryly as she folded her arms. "And how do you propose we do that? Because in case it has slipped your mind, we were brought here by magic, courtesy of someone we now have no reliable way of contacting and who seems to be rather unconcerned about our personal safety."

"We could go out the door," Utsuho suggested. "Or window. Make a break for it."

Almost as if on cue, a deep, guttural roar from outside the mansion rumbled through the halls, followed by the sound of a massive explosion.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Sakuya said once it had died down. "Friendly fire aside, there are considerably more plants out there than there are in here. Besides, one of the children is a vampire, and it's still midday."

"Cover her with a blanket then," Nico said hoarsely.

"It worries me that out of all the reasons I gave for us not to go outside, that is the one you chose to answer."

"What about the tunnel?" Jun said. "The one we came in through."

"The one that led nowhere?" Sakuya shook her head. "I fail to see how another dead end will be of any use."

"Yeah, but didn't it stretch outside of the Garden? Can't we get away from these damned flowers and get Yukari Yakumo to move these pups out? And maybe get her to stop lighting our asses up?"

That actually made Sakuya pause for a thoughtful moment. Certainly once they were out of the Garden of the Sun contacting Yukari would be considerably easier, assuming she wasn't in the Garden herself. And from there, Yukari could transport the children someplace safe and far away, such as the GPF headquarters, and allow Sakuya's team to reassume their mission, possibly with reinforcements. And, hopefully, a promise from Yukari to be a little less blasé about her firepower.

"That at least sounds like it has a chance," Sakuya said. "That is, assuming the way hasn't been blocked since then."

"Smashing," Jun said, his voice as dry as the air. "But that still don't tell us how we're gonna get them there in the first place."

He tilted his head to the children, most of whom hadn't really recovered much during their short break. Sakuya hadn't allowed them to go near the walls, so they were gathered in a tight and rather pathetic looking circle in the middle of the hallway. Only a couple were still standing, and very few were even managing to sit up straight. Most had their knees drawn up and their heads slumped against their chest, and a fair number were lying motionless.

"Oh, here," Utsuho sighed. Bending over, she spread her might wings and then folded them over one another, forming a sort of feathery platform on her back. Still hunched over, she walked over to the children and knelt down. A few soft words were spoken, and some of the stronger ones helped about five of the worst off onto her wings and shoulders. Including, she noted, the three weakest of Cirno's gang.

"You won't be able to do much fighting like that if we're attacked," Sakuya pointed out as Utsuho slowly and carefully made her way back to them.

"I'm not doing much fighting now," she said. "Better this than doing nothing."

Jun shot her a dubious look. Then he shrugged and went to pick up two more. "Right," he said as he draped them over his shoulders like a couple sacks of potatoes. "So, I want you all to promise me something."

"Yes?" Sakuya said.

"When we tell this story to our mates back home, how's about we leave this part out?"

"Agreed," Nico rasped. She plucked up another and hoisted her over her own shoulder.

"That's all you're taking? You've got two good hands. I've only got the one, and I'm still carrying the two."

"Go jump in a river and drown."

Well, that was most of those unable to walk taken care of. Only one remained. Unlike the others, she was wide awake, but so emaciated that her legs simply had no strength. In fact, all of her limbs resembled sticks, her face clung tightly to her skull, and her ribs pressed out against her chest. Furthermore, the way she was trembling had about as much to do with starvation as it did fear.

A blood-starved vampire, and a young one at that. Sakuya, who knew a thing or two about vampires, put this one as being of very low generation. Unlike the Scarlets, this one looked to be of the local, common variety. Probably just a wild bloodsucker made from some unlucky farm girl that Yuuka had plucked up for her own amusement. It was a wonder that she had survived as long as she had without blood.

Sakuya knelt down in front of her. The vampire cringed as she approached, but stopped when she saw what Sakuya was offering her. "Here, child," she said, holding out a small plastic bottle. It was filled with her own blood and was one of several she had brought along for Flandre. She didn't much care to give it up, but it wouldn't do to have the girl passing away within the next for minutes or forgetting herself and going for Sakuya's throat.

The vampire seized the bottle from her hands and gulped at it greedily. The whole thing was gone within seconds, and she was left licking the rim and sides. Then she looked pleadingly up at Sakuya.

"Not now," Sakuya said. "There'll be more later. In the meantime, you may ride on my shoulders, provided you promise to refrain from biting me."

Swallowing, the vampire whispered, "Okay. Th-thank you."

"Good." Sakuya scooped her up and help her onto her shoulders. The little thing was so weak that Sakuya had to move the girl's legs into finding support herself, as well as fold the girl's own wings around her body to keep them from hanging limply. She gripped onto Sakuya's hair, which would have been annoying had her fingers any strength worth speaking of.

"Now, hold on as best you can," Sakuya told her. "We are not out of danger yet."

The vampire whimpered a bit, but said, "Okay."

"By the by, do you have a name?"

There was a pause, and then the vampire whispered. "L-Little leech. My name is Little Leech."

Sakuya frowned. "I doubt that. Is that what she called you?"

"Little Leech," the vampire repeated. "My name is Little Leech. My name is Little-"

"I get the point," Sakuya interrupted. Clearly Yuuka's time with this girl had not been gentle. "Very well. Keep your head low, hang on, and try not to distract me."

"Okay. Okay."

"Well, all very good," Nico hissed. "But now that we all got our hands full, how the hell are we supposed to fight if those plants have grown back?"

"Danmaku?" Utsuho suggested.

"Don't be stupid," Jun snapped. "Danmaku? Against these…" Then his expression changed. "Wait."

Sakuya had the same line of thought. Actually, it wasn't a bad idea. While danmaku was the staple of normal Gensokyian combat, it was next to useless in actual battles to the death. The worst it did was sting and maybe did a little damage to an opponent's clothing. Just fine to settle matters of pride or make an uppity spirit sit down and behave, but not exactly the sort of weapon you wanted to rely on when your life was in actual danger.

But the last few minutes had been so chaotic and dangerous that they had sort of forgotten that they weren't going up against flesh and blood opponents. Plants had no souls or sentience, which didn't entitle them to the same protection as Gensokyo's various inhabitants. Which further meant that danmaku was going to react to them the same way it reacted to any other inanimate object: highly volatile and unnecessarily destructive. The number of messes Sakuya had to clean up after the various fairies in her staff got into tussles spoke to that. Furthermore, unlike the flames they had been throwing around earlier, they also posed no danger to Sakuya's party or those she was trying to protect.

"That is," Sakuya said slowly, "actually a very good idea." She nodded toward the Hell-Raven. "Very well, we'll do that then."

Utsuho beamed like a child complimented by a stern teacher.

"Good." That decided, Sakuya turned back to the path before them, the child on her shoulders holding on with all of her pathetic strength. "Now, let us be off."

…

Catharsis wasn't something Rin got to enjoy nearly enough. Sure, she had innumerable enemies, countless grudges, and had at various points possessed multiple variations of destructive capabilities with which to settle a few scores, but she was also cursed with bad luck, was hunted by those even stronger than she was, and often was responsible for the safety of those considerably more fragile than she was. As such, most opportunities for vengeance had to be discarded in favor of the old survive-and-run tactic, and in the rare occasion that she could cut loose, something unexpected would come along to ruin the whole thing.

In a way, that was probably for the best. Even without Rumia's murderous alter-ego whispering in her ear, Rin was all too aware that she was one loosening of control away from deserving to be hunted and put down. It was nothing short of a miracle that she hadn't killed anyone already. Maybe she had, and just didn't know about it. Her rampages had been destructive enough. As it was, she had to be due for some kind of karmic punishment beyond her usual suffering. So all things considered, maybe she should count herself fortunate that she had been kept in check so far before doing something really crazy.

But like someone whose name she didn't remember had once said in a book, there was a season for everything. A time to sow, and a time to harvest, and so on and so forth. And considering that Yuuka Kazami was objectively a total scumbag who deserved everything Rin wanted to do to her, and that those who Rin needed to protect would be better served by keeping Yuuka's attention off of them, and that she and Flandre both had a host of anger issues they needed to work through but thus far had yet to find something truly deserving to unleash them on until now, then, well, as Rumia would say, "Burn, baby, burn."

Well, actually, she probably would say something like, "Rin, you idiot! Run away!" But Rumia wasn't there. Flandre was. And Rin's new headmate was quite enthusiastic about the whole burning thing.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?" Flandre cheered as she jumped up and down and clapped her hands together in glee. On the screen, Yuuka was still lying in a pile of rubble, her right hand mangled while her eye was wide with shock. "Her face! Her hand's all broke, now she's scared!"

"I see, Flan," Rin said with a grin of her own. "I'm the one that did it, remember?"

"Yes! Hit her again!"

"Gladly!"

Flandre shrieked with delight as two of Rin's duplicates seized Yuuka by the shoulders, their flaming arms setting her blouse alight, and hauled her up. They were none too gentle, and the one grasping the broken arm may have squeezed the shattered bit a little more than was strictly necessary. What a shame.

Then, moving in tandem, they thrust her forward to meet Rin Prime's burning fist.

Flesh crisped. Cartilage broke. Bone caved. Blood flowed.

Rin couldn't help but whistle. She wasn't really sure how Flandre's physical strength measured up to the last powerhouse she had absorbed, but damn, that little vampire packed a punch!

"Hit her again, Rin!" Flandre said. "Hit her again!"

"All right! All right! I will, just stop crawling on me!"

Flandre complied, and Rin granted her request. Six times. In rapid succession.

Then, while Yuuka was still reeling, Rin 2 and Rin 3, still grasping her shoulders, drew her back and hurled her forward. Rin Prime fell back, grabbing her by the wrists as she came and drove her feet into Yuuka's stomach. Yuuka was sent tumbling through the air like a child's doll, all the way to where Rin 4 was clasping her hands together and holding them above her head.

Both hands came down to hammer against the back of Yuuka's head. Yuuka's body smashed through the floor, broke through the soil beneath, smashed through the stone foundation under that, and made a tidy little crater in the basement below, surrounded by some very surprised looking fungi.

As fast of a learner as she was when it came to using the abilities of those she absorbed, Rin's duplicates took some getting used to. They weren't her, per se. They had no thoughts and felt nothing. She could see through their eyes if she tried hard enough, but that just made her vision swim, and given that there were still a fair number of blue flowers in the area the effort to fight past their influence wasn't worth the trouble. However, they responded quite well to simple commands. And they were just as strong as she was.

Apparently, the other three Rins were some form of advanced danmaku, operating under similar principles as the magical shooters some people were able to conjure up around them. As such, by creating them, Rin lost no power whatsoever. The downside was that they were kind of fragile, at least compared to her. Unlike Rin, they couldn't adapt, couldn't absorb, and broke after taking too much direct damage. And after that happened, it took a few moments to build up enough psychic energy to make another batch. But that was fine. It didn't really matter at the moment if they couldn't take it, because they sure could dish it out!

All four Rins gathered around the hole in the ground. Below, Yuuka was just starting to stir. Rin and her three duplicates spread their hands. Flames collected around the palms, growing denser and hotter, until there were eight spheres of white between them. The air around them grew hazy, and cracks started to form in the walls.

Yuuka rose up on one hand, the other held protectively against her chest. She made a pained-sounded gurgle and spat out a wad of blood. Then she let out a pained moaned and eased over onto her side.

Still coughing, she looked up. And when she saw and understood exactly what was about to her, Rin experienced a wave of pure catharsis.

…

"Well, this presents something of a problem," Yukari said.

"Oh?" Shinki said as she irritably scratched her still-raw skin. "A new one to add to our ever-growing pile, or an old one having suddenly been upgraded?"

"A case can be made for either," Yukari said. She motioned toward the garden. "Regardless, Yuuka's strategy seems to have changed."

Shinki's expression turned dark. "I know. She's abandoned the offensive."

That was true enough. Though Yukari and her allies had not ceased their external assault, Yuuka had stopped firing back. Despite the flames, blasts of energy, and kinetic ordinances being flung into her territory, her giants had withdrawn back into the earth, and the enormous fungi-bearing beanstalks had all but vanished. Yuuka was taking everything they were dishing out and offering nothing in return.

However, the thing was it seemed to be working. The sky was filled with even more glowing dots than before. There were more Mykr's Sirens hybrids than ever before. And not just them, but glittering reds, yellows, greens, and oranges. Which made sense. As much as Yuuka might favor the annoying blue cheats, she had plenty of other varieties in her arsenal. Yukari wouldn't be surprised if she had specimens of every dangerous type of foliage secreted away somewhere.

In fact, when Yukari examined them closer, it seemed that her suspicion was correct. Every time one of the Dragons exhaled a glut of flame, it would bend upward as soon as it hit the cloud of glittering dots, with several of the red specimens clustering around it as it shot high to eventually fizzle out. The same was happening to her energy blasts. As for the solid explosives she was hurling over, those were greeted by the yellows, who slowed their momentum and broke them apart, turning their bangs into sorry looking poofs.

Blues break down magical energy, as we already know, Yukari thought. Reds redirect it. Yellows go for kinetic energy and solid mass. Clever, clever, clever. She didn't know what the others did, but it didn't take a genius to deduce that they did something nasty.

"She has given us quite the tough nut to crack," Yukari said, steepling her fingers in front of her face. "Impressive, considering that, technically speaking, you alone possess more supernatural mass than she. She must have spent considerable time and effort preparing these defenses."

Still scratching her raw skin, Shinki nodded and said, "It does make you wonder why it took so long for her to activate them then. I mean, we already had a good bit of the place blazing before she even started to fight back."

"It does, yes," Yukari agreed. "But no more perplexing than anything else she's done as of late." Indeed, Yuuka was starting to remind Yukari of an angry drunk who repeatedly shoved their face into those larger and stronger than they and dared them to retaliate. "One can't help but wonder if her frequent reckless behavior amounts to a Kevorkianesque cry for help."

"A what?"

"She's either insane or unconsciously suicidal," Yukari explained, opting not to explain the reference to Outside World events. "Probably both. At this point, it's almost as if she wants someone to put her down. After all, the garden does seem to be doing a better job defending itself with her gone."

"Hmmm, yes. And why is that, do you think? I mean, why did she leave? Regardless of her mindset, this is the place to be. If she wishes to defend her turf, we are the obvious threat. And if she is as self-destructive as you claim, surely here is the best place to make her gallant last stand."

"Oh, that's easy enough," Yukari said. She flicked her hand idly at a fly that had started buzzing around her head. "Those dupes Mima shanghaied into coming here said that Rin Satsuki was loose and annoyed. No doubt she and Yuuka are duking it out as we speak."

Thanks to the fungi she had contracted, Shinki no longer had an eyebrow to raise, but made an effort anyway. "That might actually be a good thing."

"If we could trust Rin to kill Yuuka and be satisfied with that, yes," Yukari said, giving the fly another flick. She leaned forward a bit and clasped her hands over her knees. "But what if she were to absorb Yuuka? The girl is not won over, and should she try to settle her score with me with both the power of Azrael and Yuuka at her beck and call, then well, we might as well pack it in and call it a day, because not even our combined might could stand up to that."

"To say nothing of whatever shenanigans Mima has gotten herself into," Shinki added. "No, I agree. Time is of the essence. To that end, perhaps a change in tactics is called for? Because this is clearly not working."

"I had noticed," Yukari said sourly. "If you have any ideas, I would love to-"

Then she felt a faint tickle near her ear. The fly had lit down on her cheek. She was about to smack it off when she heard a tiny, buzzing voice say, "Your pardons, great one. But may I have a moment of your time?"

Yukari paused, her hand still partially raised. Lowering it, she lowered her voice and said, "I'm a bit busy at the moment. What is it?"

"I have been sent to beseech your assistance in a matter of great importance," the fly respectfully informed her. "I know your time is valuable, and you are currently preoccupied with the battle before you, but I believe our purposes might be complementary."

"I see," Yukari said slowly. "Do go on."

"Yukari, who are you talking to?" Shinki said.

"A fly," Yukari said.

There was a short pause, and then Shinki sighed. "Of course you are. Of course."

Ignoring her, Yukari said to the insect, "Apologies. Pray continue."

"Two days ago our fathers' fathers received a message, a cry for help from a beloved friend of our people," the fly said. "The Ascended One, Wriggle Nightbug, who is currently being held against her will within that cursed land where no insect dare fly. In response, we and our allies have assembled our doughtiest warriors to come to her aid, but find the place as impenetrable as ever."

Wriggle Nightbug. Right. It took Yuuka a few moments to place the name, but then she remembered the young firefly youkai often seen in Cirno the ice-fairy's company. Given the news about how that gang of troublemakers had stupidly aligned themselves with that maniac, it made sense that she would be here. And given that this was Yuuka they were talking about, it also stood to reason that they would have since regretted that decision. "And who would 'we' be?"

"Why, the lords of the insects of Gensokyo, of course. Us, and our various invertebrate brethren."

Yukari's brow rose by a few centimeters. "Ah. And…?"

"And it is our objective to infiltrate the house of madness where she and her friends lie imprisoned. But though the way remains barred to us, here we find you and your mighty comrades in arms, laying siege to the fortress of our hated enemy!" He rubbed his forearms together in eagerness. "As I said, I see no contradiction between your goals and our own. Perhaps a mutually beneficial arrangement can be met?"

"Yukari, are you still talking to that fly?" Shinki said in exasperation. "Why? Did Little Buzzy the Bumblebee fall down the old well?"

"Hush," Yukari reprimanded her. To the fly, she said, "I see. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Go tell your comrades to stand by. I will be contacting them soon."

"Our thanks, great one. May our great country forever be blessed by your gentle mercies."

The fly flitted off to rejoin its brethren. Now that she had been made aware of its presence, Shinki watched it go with disbelieving eyes. Then her attention returned to Yukari, brow raised in askance. She said nothing, but it was clear that she wanted an explanation.

Too bad. Ignoring the demanding looks being sent her way, Yukari turned around and stared off into the horizon, the wheels in her head turning.

Yukari had been doing the extradimensional politics game for a long time, and while Gensokyo might be considered to be a tiny, corner-pocket of creation by some, her name did carry considerable weight in many supernatural circles. The idea to creation small, self-contained dimensions to serve as refuges for forgotten pantheons had been hers, after all, and there were a great many gods, goddesses, heroes, and demons that were thankful to her for it, most of which held dominion over worlds of their own. Even more specific to the point, worlds with a great many animals.

And more than a few of them owed her favors.

"Yukari?" Shinki said, her voice now utterly insistent. "Stop being a child and tell me what's going on."

Instead of answering her question directly, Yukari abruptly slipped off her gap and stood on open air. "I need to make a few calls," she said.

…

Deep Within

The screen burned white, and Flandre yelped with fear and scampered off.

"Flandre?" Rin said as she turned, her brow furrowing in puzzlement. Flandre was cowering off in the dark, though her enormous scarlet aura sort of ruined the effect. "What's wrong?"

Flandre's head jerked up, her pulsing eyes wide and staring. "Fire," she hissed. "Fire!"

"What?" Then Rin glanced over to the screen and sighed. "No, Flandre, it's okay. It's my fire. It can't hurt you when you're in here, remember?"

"But…fire burns! Fire kills!"

"Flandre, it's okay! The fire can't hurt you! That's why you asked me to bring you in here, remember?" Rin beckoned with one hand. "Come on, you're safe here. I promise."

Flandre looked dubiously at her. It didn't seem as if she were all that convinced.

Rin sighed. "Okay, how about this? You know that bad stuff that happens to you when fire touches you?" She pointed to the screen. "Wanna see it happen to Yuuka?"

Flandre blinked. Then she quickly bolted over to the screen on all fours, almost bowling over Rin in the process. "Where?" she said, pressing her nose and palms against the screen. "I can't see, there's too much light."

"The light is what's burning her," Rin said. She touched Flandre's shoulder and gently drew her back. "Give it a second."

She directed the burning holocaust to end, and the screen cleared, revealing the other three Rins hovering around the hole. Around them, the soil and mosaic tiles had fused into a solid lump of brown ceramic, the walls had all cracked, and the ceiling was peeling. And within the hole…

Flandre frowned. "Still don't see nuthin'."

"Huh," Rin said. "Me neither. That's weird."

Inside the hole was nothing but darkness. That was more than a little strange, especially considering that both Rin and Flandre had impeccable night-vision. Even if Yuuka had been burnt to a crisp they still should have been about to make out the pile of ashes. Instead, there was just black.

"Did she run away?" Flandre said in an unnecessary whisper.

"I don't know," Rin responded, reflexively whispering as well. "I don't think so. I can't even see the room down-"

Then the black filled with dozens of red eyes, all staring up at them.

"-oh."

Rin and her duplicates all dove back. Moments later the dark erupted out of the hole in a black geyser. As Rin gaped, it hit the ceiling and spread over the peeling surface, consuming every square centimeter with solid black. It crept over her head (or heads, as the case happened to be) and stretched down both directions of the hall.

"Uh, what?" Flandre said as she twisted her face up. "Is that ink or…?"

"No, it's her," Rin said. "She's…something super weird, and I guess this is-"

"Oh, Rin," Yuuka's voice said, making the two of them jump. Just like that awful time before, when she had caught all of them breaking into the room of tulips, it filled the air with no visible source and had an unearthly, poisonous feel to it. Again Rin could feel the oppressiveness of her presence bearing down on her like a thick and warm fog, filled with disease. "Why did you forget? You are one of the few mortals to see me as I am, but you still treat me like one of your own."

"Rin," Flandre muttered, her eyes fluttering. Even within the protection of Rin's mind, Flandre could feel Yuuka's essence bearing down on them. "I can't…"

The dark was coming down the walls in big, dripping tendrils. "You verbally abuse me for not understanding what it means to be a mortal, but believe that you can kill me like one." More of the black slime dropped from the ceiling to splatter over the floor. Rin blinked and shook her head, trying to fight off the sickening pressure that was taking the strength from her. "Just like everyone else. Despite all the power you've taken into yourself, you're just as stupid as the rest. Here, let me educate you."

Then she laughed.

One of the black torrents pouring down from the ceiling had suddenly moved. It lunged for Rin 3, taking a skeletal shape in doing so. It wrapped its scarecrow hands around the duplicate's neck and hoisted it off the ground.

"You want me to touch you?" Yuuka laughed. "All right. I'll touch you."

The thing squeezed, and Rin 3 let out a short scream, and suddenly she popped, her body exploding into a shower of red sparks. Rin winced. It didn't hurt, but she still felt it.

"Rin," Flandre whined, her tone pleading.

Then out of the blackness covering the wall emerged several grasping hands. They wrapped themselves around Rin 2, yanked her against the oozing substance, and held her there, letting the stuff drip down over her and cover her body completely. Rin 2's body dissolved, losing shape and collapsing to the ground to form a puddle.

Yuuka laughed again. "Just as I figured. Only copies. No real substance to them at all."

Hell with this, Rin thought. She rose up and sent a short command to her final duplicate. The message consisted of only one word.

Burn.

The light of their fires lit up the rapidly darkening hallway as they speared the central stalk of Yuuka's substance with flaming lances.

For a moment, Rin was worried that the inky ooze of Yuuka's being wouldn't burn. It would make sense for it not to. The stuff was obviously supernatural in nature, which meant that as much as it looked like oil, there was nothing saying that it had to burn like it.

And in a way, she was right. It wasn't oil, so the fire didn't immediately ignite it and spread. However, to her delight, it still consumed. And so what if the fire didn't spread? She and her remaining duplicate had plenty to spare.

Working together, they turned the pillar of black into a pillar of fire. Then they turned their attention to the ooze coating the ceiling, walls, and dripping to the floor. Jets of Phoenix Fire scoured the room and swept it clean. And as they did so, the sickly blanket of Yuuka's presence abruptly retreated.

"Ooooh," Flandre breathed with all the awe of a small child on the eve of the New Year. Then she grinned and let out a girlish squeal of delight. "Again! Do it again!"

Rin shot her a look. "Y'know, for someone as flammable as dry leaves, you're enjoying the fire way too much." She shook her head and laughed. "Okay, you got it! Again it is!"

She let the fire burn for a full five seconds before turning it off. When she did, it kept right on burning. From the look of things, that part of the mansion had been set alight.

"Is the place burning down?" Flandre wondered.

"Looks like."

"Is Yuuka dead?"

Rin thought for a moment. Part of her wanted to say yes, but in her heart she knew that it wasn't the case. Things like Yuuka just didn't die that easily. "No, just driven off. So we need to prepare for-"

The ground beneath her feet started to shake.

Rin and Flandre exchanged a look. Then Rin directed her physical body look down. The shaking was growing worse, and cracks were forming in the top layer of ceramic.

"That," Rin finished.

Then she leapt out just as another black geyser erupted under where she was standing. Two more followed, then three more, until the whole hall was being sprayed with ooze. Behind her, her remaining duplicated also tried to flee, but a geyser hit her right in the stomach, sending her flying against the ceiling. There was a crunch, and red sparks drifted to the ground.

"Get out, get out, get out," Flandre whimpered as Rin's fire was snuffed out and ooze filled up the space around them.

Get out, get out, get out, Rin mentally agreed. She focused on a faraway window at the far end of the hall. If she could get outside, she could cloak herself again and double back, maybe coax Yuuka into taking physical form again. Because there was no way she could fight her like this. Against this slime, Flandre's strength was useless, and Fujiwara no Mokou's fire was of limited use. She needed to break away, regroup, and strike at her from a different angle, maybe even get one of those Dragons to help her. Whatever, it didn't matter, so long as it wasn't here.

The hallway was starting to flood with slime. It rose up and dripped down as Rin flew faster and faster. More of it poured dripped across the entrance to the hallway. Rin's window of opportunity was closing. Focusing all of her attention on the sunlight, she gritted her teeth and threw every bit of concentration she had into her speed.

Then a geyser erupted directly under her. It hit her in the stomach and sent her flying into the slime-covered roof.

…

The tunnel was gone.

Sakuya stared at the space it had been. Sweat covered her forehead and dripped down to burn her eyes, but still she didn't blink. The tunnel was gone. Yukari had blasted it out to provide their entrance, it had still been open when they had left. Or at least she had thought it was. Maybe Yukari had closed it behind them, she hadn't noticed.

Stupid, she thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Always secure your exit, have someone watching it if you can. That was Demon Hunting 101, the basics of the basics. Why had she forgotten?

We did have someone watching it. Yukari. So why is it closed?

A large, hulking presence burdened with several small, diminutive presences came up behind her. Jun solemnly regarded the featureless patch of dirt where the tunnel at been. "Maybe the plants collapsed it," he suggested as he shifted his weight to better support two of the youkai he was carrying.

"What plants?" Sakuya responded. Which was true. When they had left the room, they had left it burning, and new plants had no grown in to replace the ones they killed. She gestured to the wall. "Besides, this is no cave-in. It's like it was never there."

Utsuho coughed nervously. "Maybe we can dig out another one?"

"Dig it out to where?" Jun said. "This was pointless to begin with. That tunnel led to nowhere. Yukari brought us there, remember?"

"Then why'd we come here in the first place?" Nico said, her voice harsh and rasping.

"In hopes of getting Yukari's attention," Sakuya responded. "But it's becoming increasingly clear that that's not going to happen."

There was a short pause, and then one of the children said in a small, frightened voice, "So, we're trapped?"

"No," Sakuya said, rising. Forget fear. Forget despair. They didn't matter. "It simply means that we cannot leave this way. We'll have to find some other way out."

Jun let out a small, chuffing laugh. "If you have one in mind, then I'd love to hear it."

"Not here, obviously," Sakuya said shortly. She moved past them, her poise betraying no doubt. "Let us find one."

There was another short pause as they headed, and then another one of the kids said, "We're going to die."

"No we're not," Utsuho said to her. "We're going to make. You'll see."

"No we won't. Yuuka's gonna find us. She'll kill us."

"If we're lucky, that's all she'll do," another said, sounding less panicked but considerably more bitter. "Where's Rin, by the way?"

"Yeah, where's Rin?" said a third. "Rin was cool! Why isn't she with us now?"

"Mmmmmphh!" added the blue-haired girl who, for some inexplicable reason, had yet to open her mouth or her right eye.

Sakuya sighed. Turning, she said, "Rin is currently fighting Yuuka Kazami so as to prevent her from noticing us. In all likelihood, that is the only reason neither she nor her plants have come after us. So count yourself lucky that Rin isn't with us right now, because Yuuka would surely not be far behind."

This pronouncement was met with looks of dismay. The one that had asked the question, a dark-haired youkai with a puffy white ball at the end of a black tail, merely said, "Oh."

Then there was a loud crash.

Cries of shock went up, and everyone whirled toward the source. A large hole had appeared where the ceiling met the wall, and staring down at the group was-

"Miss Satsuki?" Sakuya said in puzzlement.

Rin's head and shoulders had been thrust fully through the solid stone, and judging by how unnaturally flat her face now looked, it had been against her will. She shook her head, sending stone chips flying everywhere. "Oh man," she moaned to herself. "This is-"

Then she saw the gaggle gathered under her and stopped. Her jaw dropped, revealing some very sharp fangs. "Wait, are you still here? Why? Get out of here already!"

Sakuya might have responded, but something else grabbed her attention. In the small space between the broken wall and Rin's body, something was moving. Something…sinuous.

Then several long, slimy, black tentacles slithered out around Rin. They wrapped themselves around her and yanked her back into the hole.

Moments later the inside of the hole turned bright red, and Sakuya heard the unmistakable sound of jets of fire being spewed at something flammable. A puff of black smoke coughed out.

Sakuya stared, speechless. In those few seconds, everything had changed. And not because of the sight of Rin Satsuki being flung around or the horrific…thing Yuuka Kazami had apparently become. Those were to be expected. No, she was struck dumb by the sight of Rin herself. Specifically, the very familiar looking wings that now sprouted from her back, or the fact that two of her already sharp teeth had elongated into vampiric fangs.

Rin Satsuki had found Flandre. Rin Satsuki had absorbed Flandre. She had broken their agreement. She had betrayed Sakuya and taken Flandre for her own. After personally witnessing three prominent members of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's household be stolen away from Remilia, the little rodent had the gall to steal the most important one away.

Which meant…which meant that Patchouli and Meiling had died for nothing, that Koakuma had been banished for nothing.

Sakuya had failed. She had failed her mistress, had failed her allies, had failed Flandre.

She was done. She had no further reason to be here.

Which also meant…

Sakuya's eyes narrowed to slits. Turning, she coldly regarded the young youkai and fairies riding on the backs of her remaining allies, and the others limping behind them. She glanced up to the one sitting on her own shoulders. Rin apparently cared about these things, enough to aggressively barter for their protection. And seeing how she had already broken her end of the deal, Sakuya was no longer under any obligation to look after their safety.

Then she glanced down at the knife in her hand. Silver blade, ornate handle, sharp enough to cut through steel like butter. She turned it until she could see her reflection in the blade. Save for her narrowed eyes, it was devoid of emotion, a mask of ice. She tilted the blade ever so slightly.

Now, contrary to popular belief, most vampires did actually cast reflections. The stronger ones could deliberately cloak themselves from mirrors and cameras if they made an effort, but the ones sitting on her shoulders clearly did not qualify. She was a tiny, shriveled thing, with eyes all too large for her face and weak looking wings hugged tightly against her emaciated body.

Furthermore, the girl was obviously terrified. She was shaking like a kicked dog, her bulging, dull red eyes fixated on the hole while her breathing came out in desperate little pants. Her stick-like limbs wrapped tightly around Sakuya's neck, something that might be a problem under normal circumstances, given how strong vampires were, but this one was so weak that Sakuya barely felt it.

Weak and afraid and not paying attention, a poor prey response. Sakuya estimated that she could get the vampire off her shoulders and remove its head in less than a second. She needn't be obvious about it either. The next few minutes would likely provide numerous opportunities to make it look like an accident. Rin had taken a young vampire away from Sakuya, so it was only fitting that she return the favor. And if the others were to meet similar accidents, then all the better. They were already liabilities, and Sakuya could not afford to have them further endangering-

Then a heavy presence drew near, and a meaty hand came down on her shoulder. "No," Jun said.

Sakuya blinked. "Excuse me?" she said, shaking him off.

"I know what you're thinking. And no. Don't do it."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jun snorted. "Get real. I know what your master's sister looks like, I seen her picture in the papers. I saw those wings on Satsuki, I know what she did. And I see what you're thinking. Don't do it."

Sakuya tilted her head to one side.

"We don't know why she did it," Jun said. "For all we know, she was just keeping the kid safe from all the fire and sunlight. You know, like you said she should do with this lot. It ain't over until it's over. So until then, don't do something stupid that you're gonna regret."

Sakuya still said nothing.

Sighing, Jun held out his hand. "All right. Give her here."

"I'm certain you're overburdened enough as it is," Sakuya said.

"Then give her to someone else." Jun raised his voice. "Oi! Utsuho! Over here!"

While all that had been happening, Utsuho had been busy soothing her own passengers, as well a few of those still walking. Upon hearing her name called, her head jerked up in appropriate bird-like fashion. "Unyu?"

"Sakuya needs some free shoulders. You got room for one more?"

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Utsuho quickly made her way over to the pair, though she moved carefully so as not to upset those already clinging to her. "Here," she said, holding out her hand. "I'll take her."

Sakuya didn't resist as Jun carefully untangled the vampire from Sakuya's neck and shoulders. The child let out squeaks of protest, but the two youkai were able to coax her off onto Utsuho's wings, where those already perched there were more than happy to add her to their number.

"Okay, I think she's okay," Utsuho, cheerfully unaware of how close her leader had come to murdering her new ward. "We're good!"

"Good," Jun growled. "Now, give us a moment."

"Uh, okay? Is something wrong?"

A flash of irritation passed over Jun's face, and it looked like he was about to say something biting. But, no doubt hampered by the fresh memory of Utsuho saving all of their lives, he reined it back and said, "A moment. Please."

Utsuho blinked in surprise. Shooting confused looks to both Jun and Sakuya, she said, "Uh. Sure. Okay. I'll be with Nico if you need me."

The two waited until she had walked off. It took a while, given that Utsuho had to move slowly and carefully to avoid upsetting her passengers. When Sakuya and Jun were reasonably alone, Jun said in a low, dangerous voice, "We don't hurt the little ones. Especially not like that. Got it?"

Sakuya tilted her chin. "If I recall, you were dead set against taking them with us."

"Yeah. Still am. But we did it anyway. So now they're part of the pack. And the Alpha doesn't kill the pups."

"Technically speaking, that isn't true. Lions, for example, are known to-"

Jun's voice, already dangerous, took on a downright murderous tone. "I ain't no fucking cat. Neither are you. Taking the pups was stupid, but we did it anyway. They're under our protection. We don't kill pups we said we'd look after. End of."

"I see," Sakuya said mildly. "And if it was your master she had absorbed, after promising to help you rescue her, after making you promise to burden yourself with this riffraff in return, would you be so protective of them?"

That actually made the big canine look thoughtful for a moment. Then he said, "Well. If that happened, first I'd wonder what I would gain by killing one off my only bargaining chip. Then I'd wonder exactly what I would say should she return looking to take them back only to find one of them dead by my claws. And after she had been annoyed, exactly what could I do to stop her." He shrugged. "Seems to me your little gang is losing numbers as it is, and she already don't like you much. You wanna add your name to the list of people who ain't going home?"

Sakuya was silent.

"Just keep your blade aimed toward the plants and away from the pups," he said. "You ain't gonna get the kid back if you're dead."

Sakuya wondered if it would truly come to that, should she give into temptation. Rin Satsuki was…unstable, yes, and had ample reason to hate her. But thus far, she had yet to actually murder anyone, at as far as she knew.

But then she recalled the look of triumphant glee on Rin's face when she had Sakuya and Patchouli pinned against a wall, and how her mouth had expanded, ready to bathe them both with Phoenix Fire. That more than answered the question for her. Yes, Rin would most certainly kill her if given a reason.

"So," Jun said gruffly. "We on the same page here?"

"We are," Sakuya said. "The children have nothing to fear from me."

The quizzical look he gave her was appropriately doglike, but he didn't press the point. Instead, he turned and went back to collect his own gaggle of passengers. As he did so, Sakuya glanced over to Utsuho and the weak ones she was carrying. The vampire had sort of folded in on herself and was huddling against a blonde Demon of the Makai variety. However, Sakuya's interest was no longer with her.

Rumia of the Darkness was sitting hunched over, barely conscious. Things had been happening so quickly that Sakuya hadn't paid much attention to those Rin had liberated from those tulips. As such, finding the ice-fairy Cirno and her infamous gang hadn't been a surprise. An annoyance, yes, but not a surprise. However, now that Sakuya was paying attention, having Rumia physically among them told her a couple of things.

One: Rin hadn't been lying about somehow getting rid of Azrael's essence. Seeing that Rumia was again walking free in the flesh with none of the signs of the Fallen's corruption was evidence enough. Sakuya knew very well how it felt to stand in the presence of one of their ilk, and could feel nothing of the sort from either Rin or Rumia. Though granted, that annoying buzzing provided by those damned Mykr's Sirens could be to blame, though she didn't think so.

Two: Rin had voluntarily let Rumia go. Sakuya had been present during the original Satsuki Incident, and it had taken a lot of persuasion to get her to release her first batch of captives. Furthermore, now that Sakuya thought about it, there was an awful lot of tenderness in how Rin had handled Rumia's rescue. Coupled with various other clues, it was fair to say that Rin probably cared a great deal with her former hostage.

Jun had spoken earlier of bargaining chips. While he hadn't meant what Sakuya was now contemplating, it was something worth thinking about. At that moment, Rin Satsuki possessed something very valuable to Sakuya.

And Sakuya possessed something very valuable to Rin Satsuki.

It was admittedly a very foolhardy thought. Rin was faster than Sakuya, stronger than Sakuya, and as their previous scuffle had proved, simply better than Sakuya. And there was every likelihood that she would kill the maid for even making the attempt.

But still. It was worth thinking about.

…

Deep Within

For a time, there was darkness.

And then Rin said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Though if one were to be accurate, what she actually said was, "Holy crap, what is this stuff? Get it off me!" and there was light. And heat. And wanton destruction. But the general gist of it was the same.

"Yuck," Rin said as she shivered, her shoulder shaking violently. Outside in the physical world, her body was busy dispensing an endless stream of liquid fire, sweeping the black slime away. "Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck!"

Flandre stared at the screen, a queer expression on her face. "Rin," she said. "What was that?"

"I don't know! Some sort of gross goo of evil. Freaking disgusting." And it was. It felt like dog drool mixed with diarrhea, and smelled about the same as well.

"No, I meant those people we just saw," Flandre said. "The ones you were yelling at."

"Oh, them," Rin said with a roll of her eyes. "Well, you saw the rest of the gang there, and the other kids were the ones kept in those tulips. I got them out a few minutes before I found you. And those other other guys are apparently a bunch-"

"That was Sakuya," Flandre said flatly. "Sakuya's here. Why is Sakuya here?"

Rin paused. Then she sighed and turned to Flandre. "Right. That. Okay, so she's apparently here to rescue you."

Flandre stared. "What? Why?"

"Well, because your sister is really upset that you're gone, and Sakuya does whatever she wants." Rin shrugged. "I was supposed to talk to you about that and ask what you wanted to do, but got kinda distracted-"

"Remilia?" Flandre said, her tone surprisingly harsh. "Remilia sent her? Why?"

At this, Rin hesitated. She was no fan of Remilia Scarlet, and knew that Flandre had some weird feelings toward her, but she didn't expect this much ire over her sister's name. "Er, because you're her sister? Isn't that…what sisters do? I don't know, I never had one, you know?"

Flandre shot her an odd look, and then looked back to the screen. Her lip curled a bit, revealing most of her right fang. "If she wants me back so bad, why'd she take so long to come get me?" she said. "Why'd she always keep me stuffed away underground? Why'd she never come play with me? Why's she always yell at me every time I got out?"

"Uh…"

"Why'd she keep me broken? Why's she always get mad at me for stuff I didn't mean to do?" Flandre's voice was getting more hoarse, and her enormous aura was starting to darken. "Why didn't she come get me herself? Or, you know, why'd she tell me she didn't want me back right before she staked me!"

Rin was dumbfounded. "Wait, when the hell did this happen?"

Flandre angrily turned her face away, though not before Rin could see the tears.

There was stunned moment, and Rin said, "Did…did she really do that?"

Flandre made a choking sound. "Dunno. Think she did. Sort of. I don't know. It's all fuzzy."

Rin pursed her lips. She glanced back at the screen. Outside, a new batch of tentacles were just starting to form, though it would take some time form them to reach her.

"If you got staked, how come you're still alive?" Rin said.

Flandre sniffed. "Dunno. Yuuka did something to bring me back. I think."

Ah, okay. That explained a thing or two. "And was Yuuka the one who told you all this?"

"Sorta. I mean, I kinda remember it happening, but…" Flandre groaned. She pulled her knees up and pressed her head down between them, her hands gripping at her temples. "I don't know! It's still all weird and muddled and getting weirder and more muddly!"

Rin hesitated, and then pensively touched the vampire's shoulder. "Do you not want to go back home?"

"Home?" Flandre let out a rather disturbing giggle. "Home? Back to the basement? They never wanted me there, so why should I go back?" She turned around to face Rin, her face twisted into an unhappy smile. "Rin, the only stuff that isn't all smoky and weird in my head is the stuff that happened after I met you. After you helped me. You're the only person that ever really helped me. I wanna stay with you!"

Well, that settled that. Technically, Rin had only promised to talk to Rin for Sakuya, and she had done just that. "Well, at least someone does," she said with a bitter chuckle.

Suddenly Flandre lunged forward and threw her arms around Rin and embraced her tightly.

Wow.

Okay.

Ow.

"Flandre," Rin gasped. Her back was starting to crack. Her back wasn't even physical, and it was still starting to crack. "You're…holding me too-"

Then she realized something. This was the first time for as long as she could remember that someone had hugged her without fear or hesitation and genuinely meant it. Rin shut up, returned the embrace the best she could, and bore the pain. She was good at it, after all. And it was worth it.

Unfortunately, right about then was when the first of Yuuka's nasty tentacles touched her arm.

"Oh, gross!" Rin yelped, causing Flandre to jerk away in surprise. She shook her arm off, even though only her physical one had been touched.

"I'm sorry!" Flandre said, looking horrified. "I didn't mean-"

"No, not you!" Rin pointed at the screen. "Yuuka's nasty…ugh!"

She launched another wave of heat and flame, burning the revolting stuff away. Flandre watched in fascination. "How much of that stuff does she have?"

"I think she is that stuff," Rin said. "Which is why it's so unbelievably gross." Shaking her head, she shouted in such a way that her physical body would speak as well. "Okay Yuuka, that's enough! You can't kill me, that pain stuff doesn't work, and this slime burns just like the rest of you! Keep this up, and I'm just gonna keep burning you until you run out of freaky stuff to turn into!"

Yuuka declined to answer, which was an oddity. The creep liked the sound of her own voice so much that for a moment Rin wondered if she had actually gotten all of her. But no, that couldn't be the case. Things like Yuuka just didn't die that easily, as much as she would love for it to be so. At the very least, she could take some comfort in how many people had thought the exact same thing about her.

The thick, black smoke finally started to lift, and Rin saw that, yup, the far wall and part of the ceiling still had a mass of slime smeared over it, despite her having cleared it out of most of the room, along with just about everything else. Well, at the very least, even if Yuuka did survive the day, the sheer amount of expensive furniture Rin was destroying had to be making a serious dent in her wallet.

Rin lifted a glowing hand toward the slime. "Round goes to me, slimeball. And I can do this all day."

There was a pause, and then dozens of crimson eyes opened all over the black goo's mass to glower at her. It was an unsettling effect, sure, but Rin had seen it before, and judging by how frustrated those eyes were starting to look, well, it was clear that Yuuka didn't care for how the battle was going.

Rin smirked. "You're running out of time. If I don't get you, Yukari Yakumo and those Dragons will. So why don't you just cut your losses and ooze back to whatever crack you came from?"

Finally Yuuka did speak. And unsurprisingly, her omnipresent voice was filled with venom. "I made a mistake bringing you here. I should have left you in Remilia Scarlet's clutches to rot."

"Hey, you think you did me a favor?" Flandre snapped, her aura suddenly surging with hot fury. "You didn't do me any favors! You lied to me all along and-"

"Flandre, I think she's talking to me."

"I…what? Wait, when did Remi have you?"

"It's a long story," Rin sighed. "I'll tell it to you later."

"Have you ever stopped to consider exactly what you will do even if you do defeat me? You think that Yukari Yakumo will give you even a moment's rest? As soon as she's done with me, she will not rest until she's scoured Gensokyo of you as well. It's what she does. And by killing me, you have run out of friends to go to for help!"

"That's not true either!" Flandre snarled. "She has me!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rin found it hard not to smile. "Thanks, Flan. Never had any doubt."

Flandre just shook her head and let out a low growl. "I'm getting sick of her. Can't you just kyuu her or something? I never could."

"I…" Rin waved a hand, and Yuuka's movements again slowed. Turning her full attention to Flandre, she said, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right. Why would I be giving Yuuka cues?"

"No, kyuu!" Flandre squeezed her hand into a fist. "You know, kyuu her!" When Rin still stared at her blankly, Flandre said, "Er, blow her up?"

"Blow her…" Suddenly Rin had a sudden flash of memory, back to when she and Flandre had met for the very first time, when she had first lost her mind out of desperation and the denizens of Eientei and the Scarlet Devil Mansion had unleashed the unstable powerhouse on her. Right before Flandre had blown her up the first time, she had squeezed her fingers together much the same way as she was now and said the word, "Kyuu." Despite how long ago it had been, it wasn't exactly one of Rin's fuzziest memories. "Oh. Oh!" She shivered a bit, a little of her old fear of Flandre making a very brief return. "Is that what it's called?"

"Yeah, but I never could get it to work on her," Flandre said sulkily. "I just can't find her Eye."

"Find her…find her eye?"

"Yeah, it's how it works. You hold the thing's Eye in your hand, crush it with your fingers, and say, 'Kyuu.' And then…" Flandre puffed her hands out, fingers spread to indicate an explosion. "Boom."

"Uh, I see…" Rin glanced back to the disturbing mess that was Yuuka. "Well, you need her eye, right?" She waved a hand toward the screen. "There you go. She's got plenty to choose from."

"No, not that kind of eye! Her…her Eye!"

Rin just stared. "'Fraid you lost me there, Flan."

Growling in frustration, Flandre just plopped back down and folded her arms and legs. "Well, whatever! You'd know it if you saw it."

"I'll…I'll take your word for it."

Filing that rather indecipherable information away for later, Rin turned her attention back to the screen and let her sense of time fall back in pace with what was happening outside. Predictably, Yuuka was still yammering. "You will wander friendless and alone, a hated fugitive until they finally run you down. And when they do, all the suffering you've endured will just be a prelude to the agony of your end."

Rin slowly breathed in and out. "Okay, I'm gonna take that as a 'no' then. Fine." Both her mental and physical self raised their right hand. In unison, she snapped both sets of fingers.

There was a scarlet flash, and light collected into three forms. Just like that, her Four of a Kind band was back together again. "So, hey, if you're done babbling, wanna get back to business," Rin said. "Because the way it stands, your stupid goo trick didn't work. I'm still all here, while you're, well…" Her arms caught fire, and she gestured toward the eye-covered smear on the wall. "You're all there, you know?"

"Oh, I do," Yuuka said. "I do congratulate you. You can dish it out as much as you can take it. So in light of that, I propose a little wager."

A wager? That didn't sound good. "Why should I?" Rin demanded. "I'm winning!"

"It's nothing severe. Just a little evening of the odds." Suddenly the eye-covered mess surged out from the wall. Rin braced herself for an attack, but instead of striking out at her, the slime instead slithered onto the floor and rose up, squishing itself together and taking form.

Rin stared. It was Yuuka all right, only…not. Her skin was corpse grey, her tattered clothes now shades of black and grey, and her hair a sickly shade of green. Her right arm was missing most of its flesh, revealing black bones, and the skin of her face looked shriveled and dead. Black slime still dripped from her arms, her chin, out of her empty eye-socket, and ran down her legs. The only thing that looked remotely healthy was her single red eye, which glowed with malice.

Her grin, however, remained much the same. "You want a fight, yes?" said the animated corpse as it spread her arms. "Then here is what I propose. All of you…"

A hairsbreadth of warning was all Rin had. She and her duplicates scattered just as the floor beneath them was rent asunder and skeletal limbs covered with grey, shriveled flesh burst out to grasp at them.

Rin leapt straight up. She twisted around and hit the ceiling with all for limbs and clung there like a startled, inverted cat.

Then the ceiling right in front of her fell in, and from above descended another desiccated Yuuka. She came down like a snake, headfirst with her decomposing, slime-covered arms held stiffly at her side. She twisted her upper body and neck up around at an impossible angle and favored Rin with a dead grin.

Rin kicked her in the face and sprung away.

She rebounded off the wall and came back down to the floor in a crouch. Her three duplicates rushed in to join her. Once they had regrouped, the four of them watched as the first Yuuka was joined by ones that had come up through the floor and the ceiling. A fourth one appeared as well, as emaciated as the others.

Though the four Yuukas had all decomposed in different ways, they all had one living eye and one missing one, and their eager smiles were a perfect match of one another. The one in the lead spread her arms out in a welcoming gesture as she said, "Versus all of me."

…

"Right," Nico panted. Her voice sounded like her throat had been filed with a rasp and her skin was the color of, well, dead fish. "Stop. We need to…we need to stop."

"I think not," Sakuya said. "We stop and we die."

"I'm dying already!" Nico snapped. "I didn't sign up for this nightmare!"

"You did," Jun growled. "We all did. So shut up and keep moving."

"Fuck you, Jun! This is bullshit! In and out, that's what we signed up for! Not dragging around a bunch of brats who-"

She stopped, though not by choice. The knifepoint digging into the underside of her jaw had made the decision for her.

Once she was certain that Nico was not about to interrupt, Sakuya said in a low, dangerous voice she reserved for fairy maids that were one mishap away from being dismembered and fired, "You are starting to make yourself a liability. Continue, and I will have you wait out the rest of the battle with the cats and the goat." She added the smallest bit of pressure to the knife, just enough for the tip to penetrate the out layer of skin. "Do I make myself clear?"

Nico said nothing. She couldn't, not without risking tearing her jaw wide open. However, the look in her eyes told Sakuya that the fish knew very well that Sakuya meant every word she said. The half-conscious girl on Nico's shoulder, however, let out a frightened whimper.

"Good," Sakuya said, withdrawing the blade. "Now let's-"

Then they heard the sound of something cracking.

Before anyone could say anything, the ceiling overhead split, and a massive tangle of vines plunged down into their midst. It struck the ground, cracking the hardened ashen crust, and scattering the group.

So, the house's defenders had finally taken notice of them again, and they wanted to take back what had been stolen from their master. Sakuya's knives flashed into her hands. The other adults were preparing to fight as well. Their hands glowed, what weapons they had left were bared, and the metal rod Utsuho wore over her arm was speaking in a calm, mechanical voice, informing everyone that about the violent energies it was prepared to release.

However, they were not the targets.

The vines immediately began snapping this way and that, snatching the children up off the ground and yanking them away. Those that couldn't move were hauled up like limp corpses, while those who could feebly tried to fight back. To her credit, Cirno actually managed to freeze an entire vine stiff before another crept up behind her and knocked her silly with a blow to the skull.

For a very brief moment, Sakuya could only stand and stare in horror as her only chance to get Flandre back from Rin Satsuki was taken away. Then her face hardened. No. She had come too far and lost too much to just give up now.

She spared a second to check the current state of local magical activity. She may not be a magician, but anyone could become sensitive to magical energy with enough practice, and her centuries of hunting or serving supernatural beings meant that her sense of such things was actually sharper than most magicians. Sure enough, as soon as she began focusing, the faint buzzing that she had been filtering out since arriving returned in force. There was still far too much Mykr influence in the air to risk using her pocketwatch.

Fine.

Sakuya sprang into action, hurling blades with quick, precise motions. Vines severed from their mountings to fall to the floor in pieces. Meanwhile, the remaining youkai pets hammered away at the main stalk, whittling it down.

Every weed has its root, Sakuya told herself as she vaulted around the leafy cluster, cutting it down to size as she went. If we can get up to the source, we can kill the whole.

"Utsuho, target the smaller vines and keep them away from the children!" she shouted. "Jun, Nico! With me! We're going-"

"Urgk," Jun said.

Sakuya glanced at him to discern the meaning behind his curious response. Then her heart nearly stopped.

Jun was standing tiled forward at a nearly impossible angle, past his center of balance. And yet he was remaining on his feet, for reasons that had nothing to do with flight. Behind him, a naked stalk of wood had broken up through the crust of ash, twisted around, and pierced him in the back to come out the other side. Judging by the amount of blood that was dripping from the wound, it speared right through his heart.

The stalk sharply withdrew, and Jun collapsed, his body already dissolving into pale blue mist before he even hit the ground.

Sakuya heard a sharp, feminine scream, though she was unable to tell whose voice produced it. Maybe it was her own. However, the sharp inhalation that followed it most definitely was not.

Nico was standing stiffly, her yellow eyes bulging even more. Digging into the sickly blue skin of her neck were a number of sharp, needlelike thorns. The flesh around them was starting to swell and change color, indicating some kind of poison.

"Nico, no!" Utsuho cried. She reached for the aquatic woman, but Nico had already fallen, foam pouring from her mouth and nose. In moments she was gone as well, her essence joining those of her fallen comrades in the air.

"No," Utsuho said as she smacked her palm against the place Nico had disappeared, as if that alone would bring her back. "No, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! We weren't supposed to die!"

Maybe not, but that was exactly what was happening. Furthermore, judging by the lion-sized purple flower that was lowering itself directly behind the aghast raven, she was mere seconds away from perishing herself. The flower spread its petals, revealing rows and rows of predatory teeth. Sap dripped from its "jaws" like saliva.

There was no time to get Utsuho out of the way, so Sakuya went for the flower instead. Two knives plunged into the flower's maw, causing it to rear back. Utsuho jerked up in surprise, having felt the whoosh of air as the blades had passed over her head.

"Move!" Sakuya said as she charged toward her. Technically speaking, Utsuho obeyed, but only in regards to the letter. She moved by turning around and staring up at the injured but still dangerous monster that was still hovering over her.

And, as it so happened, caused her to stand up in a way that placed herself directly between Sakuya and the flower.

No time to be nice then. Sakuya flew the remaining distance between her and Utsuho and knocked the stunned raven to the side with a spinning kick to the shoulder. This served to knock Utsuho a fair distance away from the flower, but also resulted in Sakuya taking her place. And judging by how the flower didn't so much as turn when Utsuho was pushed away, it wasn't at all particular about who it had for lunch.

It lunged, and Sakuya twisted out of the way, her upper body moving to one side and flowing into a crouch. She came up, knife in her right hand with her left pressed against the pommel, allowing her to drive the blade all the way through the stalk.

The flower writhed in response, trying to free itself. Sakuya was only happy to oblige. She yanked the knife out and immediately began hacking at the wounded bit. One slash, two slashes, three, and the flower's amputated head fell to the floor while the stalk hastily withdrew, dripping green fluid as it retreated.

Sighing, Sakuya stood up straight.

"Look out!"

A strong hand seized her by the cloak and yanked. There was a faint whistling sound, and grey dust flew up as several thin thorns embedded them in the floor and nearby wall around where Sakuya had been standing. The same kind of thorns that had done Nico in, she found herself observing.

Still gripping onto Sakuya's cloak, Utsuho carried her as easily as one would carry a baby as she retreated, firing yellow flaming orbs at the deadly thicket that was steadily growing larger behind them. Her fire severed several vines from the whole and it smoldering, but didn't seem to be doing any permanent damage. Sakuya found herself entranced by the sight. A strange dance between life and death, in which the latter was unable to overcome the former. Perhaps that was why the Garden of the Sun was so corrupted. Without death to temper it and keep it in check, life will spread like a disease until it became a sick and twisted cancer, consuming everything around it and-

Then her mind lifted from the pseudo-philosophical haze it had fallen into to remind her that A, such thoughts were probably better left unexpressed in this land of immortals, and B, time to stop wasting pondering over useless mind puzzles and get back to work.

Utsuho had carried her out of range of the thicket, and it seemed that the plants weren't bothering to follow. Which meant that they had just wanted the children back and didn't really care about them. Sakuya wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or insulted. Either way, she now had a break and intended to make good use of it.

She braced a hand against Utsuho's shoulder and flipped her body around. This yanked her cloak out of Utsuho's grasp and allowed her to return to the ground.

"Enough," Sakuya said. "We've gained enough ground."

The bird stared at her. "D-Did you see that?" she stammered, thrusting her cylinder-encased arm back in the direction they had come. "They killed them! Jun and Nico! Just like that, and they're-"

"Probably no worse than anyone else who has died today," Sakuya said. Except, of course, for Patchouli, but she didn't mention that bit out loud. "In all likelihood, once Yukari Yakumo has finished up here and cleaned up the air, they will be able to resurrect with little difficulty."

"B-But they're gone! They just…they just died! I mean, I never really liked them, they picked on me a lot, but I didn't want them to die!" Then Utsuho's face went pale. "Oh gods, the kids! We gotta go save them!"

"Yes," Sakuya said, her brow furrowing. "The kids."

"We said we'd look after them! They're alone and helpless now, we have to go help them!"

Sakuya said nothing. She was deep in thought.

Utsuho blinked at her in confusion. "What's wrong? Are you coming up with a battle plan? A strategy or something?"

"You could say that," Sakuya said slowly.

"Then what is it?" Utsuho said earnestly. "Name it, and I'll do it!"

"You will? To save the children?"

"Of course! They're just kids, and Yuuka did all that terrible stuff to them. Besides, we told Rin we'd get them out."

"To where?" Sakuya said.

"Huh?"

"Where will we take them? There are only two of us left, and odds are even if by some miracle we manage to rescue them, even more will have lost their strength. How are we to carry them all, and where are we to take them?"

Utsuho was silent.

"Furthermore, even if we do get them out, what then? Come back here and…do what?"

"Uh, find Satori?" Utsuho said, her brow knitting together. "You know, like we're supposed to."

"Yes," Sakuya said icily. "Find Satori. Despite having no idea where she is, what condition she is in, what defenses might be around her, and all the while Rin Satsuki dances around with Flandre."

Utsuho inhaled sharply. "Wait, Rin found Flandre?" Then she grinned. "But that's great news! She'll be able to save her, and we can go save Satori, so everybody wins!"

"I think not," Sakuya said in a dead, wooden voice.

"Huh? What do you mean? Look, all we have to do is-"

Sakuya leapt up at the taller woman's head and wrapped her legs around Utsuho's neck. The Hell-Raven's eyes bulged in shock and she tried to pull herself away, but Sakuya merely bent her upper body toward the ground and yanked down, flipping Utsuho onto her back. Then, with one leg pressing in tightly over Utsuho's throat, the other locked in around that, and Utsuho's startled head in Sakuya's lap, the maid began to squeeze.

Utsuho thrashed for a bit, but the leverage was against her and Sakuya knew exactly what she was doing. The blood-flow was cut off neatly from her brain and her eyes went vacant within seconds, causing her body to fall limp.

Sakuya released the hold before too much time passed. "I'm sorry for this," she said to the unconscious youkai as she stood. "I appreciate the kindness you have shown my mistresses. You gave friendship to Flandre and sympathy to Remilia when no one else would. And you have repeatedly shown yourself the most worthy member of this team. However, the situation has changed." She turned her back to Utsuho and started to walk away.

The situation had changed indeed. Her promise to Rin could not be kept, and Rin had broken her half already. The children were liabilities to be written off, and they could no longer waste time searching for Satori Komejii. Now, only Flandre mattered. One way or another, Sakuya was going to bring her home, even if she had to lay down her own life to do it.

She took off into a run, leaving the last member of her team behind.

…

Deep Within

"Rin."

Her vision reeling, Rin tried to shake off the effects from that blow to her physical head and reorient herself. Her efforts were dashed by a second blow to the head, along with most of her head.

"Rin?"

She tried to compensate, to retreat back while her head hastily rebuilt itself. But then something long and whiplike cracked against her back, sending her tumbling forward. But that was okay. Yuuka's fist (at least she was reasonably certain that it was her fist) was there to break her fall, as well as most of her chest.

"Rin! Hey, Rin!"

That was one of the major drawbacks to how her consciousness was divided whenever she had a passenger. It also divided her attention, making it difficult to concentrate on what was happening. Both of her bodies, her physical one and mental one alike, had full range of senses, and what happened to one generally had an effect on the other. So if one was currently experiencing excruciating pain as a psychotic plant-zombie-nightmare-whatever the flipping hell Yuuka was beat the biped out of her, the other tended to be adversely affected as well. Which further meant that while Rin really, really didn't want to get snappy with her, Flandre's insistent calls for attention were not helping at all.

Lowering her hands from her temples, Rin raised her aching head just enough to mumble out, "Flan. Really. Not a good time."

"But the red window thing's all messed up! I can't see what's happening!"

"That's because my head is gone, so I have no eyes!"

"But your head's right there, I can see-"

"Ah!" Rin cried as something sharp and hot plunged into her belly.

The fight had taken a sudden turn for the unfortunate. As it turned out, Rin Satsuki empowered by the pure overwhelming strength of Flandre Scarlet was more than a match for Yuuka Kazami in the form she usually wore. And Rin Satsuki wielding the flames of the Phoenix that she had stolen from Fujiwara no Mokou was more than capable of holding off Yuuka Kazami transformed into…whatever in the hell that slimy stuff had been. And the inner reserve of strength of the Hourai Immortals combined with her own experiences had given her the ability to withstand that trick that allowed Yuuka to cut through her ability to adapt to any and all energy attacks.

But as it turned out, she was having a hard time dealing with all of Yuuka's nasty tricks at once.

She felt something moving nearby and instinctively threw a punch. Her knuckles brushed against what felt like wet, rotting cloth covered withered flesh, but as soon as it started to cave the whole thing suddenly melted away into slime. Rin felt snaky tendrils seize her arm as it kept going and jerk her down to the ground. In response, she set her whole body on fire, and the slime immediately retreated.

Still flaming, she rolled up to her feet, started to stand, but then a hot flash of pain ripped through her shoulders, driving her to her knees and killing her fire. She tried to fight through the pain, but before she could summon up the will to do so, a pair of clenched fists hammered into her back, driving her down to smack against a sharp knee that had been waiting for her.

Rin had to give Yuuka credit, she was a fast learner. When one thing didn't work, she switched to another. And when Rin proved herself able to overcome each of her tricks, she used all at once, keeping her off her guard and preventing her from gaining any sort of momentum. Slime beat strength, pain beat fire, and smacking Rin around from all sides did a number on her concentration.

And so did Flandre, for that matter.

"Rin," Flandre said, grabbing Rin by the shoulders and shaking her hard. Which, given the white-hot lances of pain splitting through the only head Rin had left, did nothing to improve matter. "Rin, stop sitting and moaning! Fight back! Bring the window back! I can't see anything! Rin?"

"Flandre," Rin said through clenched teeth. "You…really to give me some space here."

"But why aren't you fighting back? Fight back!"

Even though her previous headmate had been a lot more hostile and a lot less willing to dispense out affectionate hugs, Rin was starting to miss traveling around with Rumia. Sure, the cranky youkai had also had a bad habit of yelling unhelpful tips during stressful combat conditions, but at least she had understood the basics of how Rin's mind-space-thingy worked and hadn't tried to shake Rin's head off. Or maybe she had. Rin was admittedly a little fuzzy on the details of anything that happened more than a few hours ago.

However, there was no time to give Flandre a crash course. And despite the punishment she was taking on the outside, inside her mind she was still the goddess. Rin sped up their perception of time again and vanished from Flandre's grip. The vampire let out a squeak of surprise and all but tripped over her own limbs in her haste to scurry away.

Rin reappeared a short ways away, close enough to hold a conversation but with enough distance to be out of reach. This only frightened Flandre more, but in a way that made her go stiff and stare instead of running away.

"Flandre, I know things are really scary right now, and there's a lot you don't understand," Rin said as gently as she could, though the effect was sort of ruined by how much she was gritting her teeth. "But Yuuka's beating me to a freaking pulp right now, so I really, really need you to stop grabbing at me and yelling at me. Okay?"

Swallowing, Flandre gave a short, abashed nod. Which, considering her massive aura, lethal looking wings, and near-demonic way her eyes glowed, looked just plain strange coming from her.

Rin sighed. She wondered how long Flandre was going to be able to even remember her promise, but now was not the time to press the matter. "Thank you, Flan."

Releasing her hold on time, Rin turned her attention back to the screen. Okay, her head wasn't growing back anytime soon, but maybe using a different ability would restore her sight.

Well, regeneration took some time, but shapeshifting was instantaneous. Rin touched up the Tanuki's powers and took on the form of a chimpanzee, complete with a working head. Instantly the static clouding the screen disappeared. That was something of a relief, but given that she was now looking at room gutted by fire (her fault, admittedly) filled with patches of slime; whipping tentacles; and grinning, moving corpses, the static was somewhat missed.

Okay, first order of business was separation. Rin scurried between two tentacles that had reached over to wring her neck and leapt up to swing on a third. She went flying and rebounded off of the shoulder of one of the Yuuka cadavers.

As she went tumbling through the air, Rin turned the heat back on.

"There!" Flandre shouted, pointing. "See, there! Why didn't you do that earlier?"

Rin sighed.

Either way, it had done little good beyond giving her some breathing room. The flames died to reveal nothing but smoke and ash in the room. Even the telltale flaky dust that the slime left behind after being burned was in scarce supply. The Yuukas had vacated and had probably done so as soon as Rin had begun to glow.

"You got them!" Flandre said as she excitedly bounced up and down, blissfully oblivious that their apparent victory was only a brief lull. "You got them!"

As Rin quickly glanced around, she saw to her surprise that she actually wasn't alone. Two of her duplicates were still intact, albeit a bit banged up. Either they had put up a better fight than she had or Yuuka had decided to ignore them and zero in on the real Rin exclusively. Which wasn't really all that fair, if one were to ask her.

Well, since history dictated that Yuuka was going to come crashing through something in one form another within seconds, Rin wasn't about to squander what regrouping time she had. She signaled for her duplicates to follow and immediately fled the room, throwing on a Nue shroud as they went.

And not a moment too soon. The trio had barely entered the adjoining hallway before an inhuman cackle filled the air. The space behind them was consumed with darkness, darkness filled with unblinking red eyes and long, boneless limbs ending with grasping, skeletal fingers.

…

"This," Shinki said flatly, "is absolutely ridiculous."

"Hush, sibling," Sariel chided her.

"Two Archangels," Shinki snapped back. "Five Dragons. Yukari Yakumo. And we're trading all that in for a bunch of bugs."

"No one's trading anything," Yukari told her. "We had our turn and things didn't pan out the way we wanted. So now we try something else."

Retorang turned his head toward the elder youkai. "But we are going to retake the field, yes?" he growled. "Because I for one do not like having my time wasted."

"Calm yourself," Yukari said. "Of course we are. As soon as that mess in the air had been taken care of you may continue deforesting to your heart's content. Besides, it's not like you won't be contributing at all."

Sariel quirked an eyebrow, an amused look on its beautiful face. "I have to admit though, though I knew we were going to have to exercise our power in some unorthodox manners after we had been expelled from the Silver City, I never believed that we would be using our Grace to empower a horde of insects to do battle against an army of plants."

"Welcome to Gensokyo, where ridiculousness is the order of the day and the world's insane becomes our mundane," Yukari responded. "Now, if the seven of you would please step back and ready yourself. I'm about to bring in the experts."

It really was a solution she ought to have thought of earlier. After all, why would the Garden of the Sun, a place notorious for its abundance of plant life, be strangely devoid of the insects necessary for such an environment to exist?

The answer was simple: Yuuka was so obsessed over her stupid plants and unable to accept that death was a necessary part of their natural lifecycle (or anyone's for that matter) that she banned anything that might so much as nibble on a leaf even if that was what was supposed to happen in order for things such as pollination to take place. And to top it off, she froze the seasons in place over her domain so that it was perpetually late-spring/early-summer, because that is when the flowers were at their prettiest, thereby trapping the plants that she claimed to hold so dear in a torturous state of limbo. Really, what Yukari was about to do was an act of mercy.

Of course, there was still the problem of Yuuka's will actively keeping everything with more than four or under two legs out of her garden, but when one had five Dragons and a couple of Archangels around willing to lend their metaphysical mass to their chitinous allies, then, well, there really was nothing keeping the Garden of the Sun from paying its long overdue ecosystem bill.

Yukari waved a hand, and dozens of gaps opened up all around her. Over the last few minutes, she had made several long-distance calls and called in quite a few favors. After all, there were deities and mythological figures aplenty who had numerous swarming insects inhabiting their realm who were only too happy to pay off a few debts by lending them to her.

And out they swarmed. Locusts, ants, beetles, crickets, moths, and a veritable horde of others. They blackened the sky and carpeted the ground, the sound of their wings filling the air with an unearthly, savage percussion. They came in all shapes and sizes, from tiny, creeping things dangerous only for their sheer numbers to hideous beasts the size of cats. They were an army of buzzing wings, clinking mandibles, and waving antennae.

It was easily one of the most repulsive sights Yukari had ever seen, and she loved it. There was nothing like taking the most vile, stomach-churning things you can imagine and dumping it on the head of the person you hated the most.

"Now," she said.

Though no visible communication passed between them, the Archangels and Dragons all managed to turn to look at her at the exact same time with the exact same expression of exasperation. Then they sighed and, using Yukari as a conduit, bestowed a healthy dose of their power to the swarm.

The effect was immediate. The insects surged forward as one, throwing themselves against the invisible wall of Yuuka's will. Even with the power of two Heavens behind them, the first ranks still splattered spectacularly and burst into flames. Though Yuuka was not actually present and her power was deteriorating, she remained a force to be reckoned with.

But that was okay. Such things were common for insect swarms. After all, went confronted with such paltry things like rushing rivers, the lead fire ants will literally throw themselves into the water to build bridges for their comrades out of their own corpses.

Yuuka's will killed thousands of insects within seconds. Unfortunately for her, millions more pushed right through.

What happened next was nothing short of gruesome.

As they floated side-by-side, watching the carnage, Shinki turned to Yukari and murmured, "I take it back. Ridiculous is good."

Yuuka nodded and smiled. Shifting her weight on the sling-like gap she rode, she tapped her steepled fingers against her lower lip and said, "It's the simple things in life you treasure."

…

"Oh, that's good," Mima breathed. She held a hand to her chest as she inhaled, eyelids fluttering as if in ecstasy. "That's very good indeed. Yukari, you clever, clever girl. That's very good."

Never the one to appreciate moments of pure artistry, Seiga contemptuously exhaled smoke through her nostrils. "You mean very, very stupid. How is going to keep that horde under control? What's to keep them from deforesting the entirety of Gensokyo and stripping it bare once they're done with the garden? And isn't there some people she'd like to rescue still holed up in that mansion? What's to keep the bugs from stripping them bare of flesh?"

"I fail to see how rampant use of Dragonfire is any less dangerous to the hostages," Mima retorted, her eyes still fixed on the very lovely display before her. "Besides, your criticisms are unwarranted. Yukari made some deals with the masters of those swarms, and having them go renegade would reflect badly on them, so obviously they'll be keeping an eye on things to prevent their servitors from completely losing control. Furthermore, since Yukari's little group of demigods have lent their essence to the bugs, they have a convenient way of keeping track of them, as well as destroy them should things get out of hand. And it's not like she can't open a few gaps to suck them up if she needed to." Mima's grin, already wide from her enjoyment of the violence she was witnessing, now became rictus in its length. "And as for the mansion, well, there's something else to consider."

Seiga quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Within those walls, another drama is playing out, smaller in scale but far more interesting, and far more violent," Mima said, her voice lowering to a whisper. Her other self was currently observing the whole thing in person and sending her the action. Which, given the Mykrs still present, was no mean feat. But no part of Mima was about to miss this. "And all hope abandon they who enter there, be they bug, Angel, or Dragon."

…

Deep Within

Rin burst up through the ceiling of Mugenkan and found herself staring at the weirdest looking warzone she had ever seen. And, okay, granted: she hadn't seen all that many, but the ones she had been in had been real doozies.

The sky above her was filled with what could only be described as multi-colored fireflies, bobbing through the air. Of course they weren't actually fireflies. Yuuka's stance on such things had been made…abundantly clear. So they were either some kind of magic construct or more weird plants. Probably both. Anyway, they were pretty enough, but given what they represented, Rin felt more than a little uneasy with having so many around.

But that was nothing compared to what she saw further away.

The best she could tell, most of the colorful dots had clustered thickly together to do battle with a great dark cloud. A great dark cloud that was buzzing very, very loudly. And from the look of things, the cloud was winning.

"Huh," Rin said, staring. "What happened to the Dragons?"

Flandre scratched her head. "Maybe that big black thingy ate them?"

"Er…maybe?" Honestly, it made about as much sense as anything else that was currently happening. "What the heck is it anyway?"

"Dunno. Is it on our side?"

Rin thought for a moment, but then shook her head. "Nah. Not really. It's just going after the same jerk we are. I think."

"Oh. So…it'll try to eat us too?"

"Probably." At that point, it was best to assume that everything was trying to eat them. Hey, people kept making that same assumption about her. "Let's…just stay out of its way."

Two of the Yuukas had emerged from the hole Rin had made. They were moving strangely, entirely too stiff for living beings and much too fast for animated corpses. Rin wondered if Yuuka was doing that on purpose. She certainly enjoyed amping up that creepy vibe of hers whenever she got mad. Of course, it was just as likely that the longer the fight went on, the more of her humanity was flaked away. Rin could believe either explanation.

Regardless, as unsettling as they might be, they were still Rin's prey. She and her duplicates crouched behind a whitewashed brick chimney and watched as the nasty things shambled about in search of her, leaving dark trails behind them.

"Are you gonna kill 'em?" Flandre said.

"That's the plan," Rin said, not taking her eyes away from the screen. "Okay, come on, cone on, come on…"

"Seriously thought, what are those sparkly things?"

"Shhh!"

The two Yuukas separated, each going off in a different direction in search of her. Rin tensed up.

One reached the edge of the roof and started scanning the patio below, while the other was sort of wandering near the hole Rin had left. Good enough.

Swift as a striking snake, Rin darted out on all fours and threw herself at the Yuuka that was examining the ground. She twisted her body around and struck Yuuka with both feet.

Apparently she had taken Yuuka by surprise, because her flesh didn't melt away into disgusting slime this time. Instead, Yuuka let out a surprised and distinctly unscary squeak as her body was rocketed into the stone deck below.

Unfortunately Rin didn't have time to enjoy her success. Before she even felt the impact through her heels, she had dropped her shroud and was already rebounding off of Yuuka's back and rushing toward the other Yuuka, who was just now looking up to see what was happening to her…partner? Duel persona? Alter-ego? Either way, all the fuss had attracted her attention.

Good.

When the other Yuuka raised her head in the direction of the charging Rin, Rin was treated to the sight of her face twisting in disgust and contempt. Ha, like she was in any position to judge.

The expression didn't last long, less than a second at most. If Rin hadn't been looking directly at her face she never would have caught it. But she was, which is why she also managed to see it briefly flash into look of shock when Rin's still-cloaked duplicates tackled Yuuka's waist and chest.

Yuuka went down hard, the force of the three bodies cracking the roof.

Then the real Rin hit, and they all went right through.

Their momentum carried them through two stories of stone, wood, and dirt before they hit a surface hard enough to bring them to a stop. The back of Yuuka's head bounced off the pillar they had just smashed into and her eye rolled around in dazed fashion. Rin swung at her face, but Yuuka merely melted away around her fist. She oozed around Rin's body, reformed on the other side, and hurled Rin away by the collar.

Rin rolled over her shoulders and landed in a crouch with her duplicates settling down on either side of her, her mind racing. Okay, she managed to corner a single Yuuka. If she stayed on top of her game, she should be able to take it out without too much trouble. She was going to have to do it quickly though, before the other three showed up. At least this time she had Yuuka fully outnumbered and-

Then there was a soft pop, and Rin stood alone.

For a second Rin feared that the other Yuukas had already shown up and killed off her duplicates. But no, there was no sign of them. Rin glanced away from the screen to shoot Flandre a quizzical look.

"Sorry," Flandre said. "Spellcard timed out."

Oh. Oh right, they did that. "How long until I can activate it again?" Rin asked.

"Dunno. Few minutes I think."

Too long. Well, okay. She was going to have to do this alone. Fine.

Rin's physical arms glowed with heat and she launched two flaming spears at Yuuka. Predictably Yuuka melted away before they hit, her black goo smearing all over the floor. Rin directed the twin jets of flame at her, chasing the slime across the floor and over the walls.

"That's right, keep slithering around!" Rin shouted. "I'm gonna roast you like-"

Alas, whatever simile Rin had in mind was swiftly forgotten, as Yuuka suddenly sprung up through the soil directly beneath her. It wasn't dissimilar to how Rin had managed to absorb her the first time they had met, though the poetic irony was lost on them both, mainly because Yuuka was more interested in thrusting her gnarled hand straight through Rin's back to pop out the other side, and Rin was sort of preoccupied with the limb now sticking through her.

"Ah, no heart," Yuuka said in a voice like dead leaves being gargled by a grave worm as she quickly withdrew the hand before Rin could think to burn or absorb it. "But then, we already knew that."

Then she tore Rin's head off.

Flandre screamed as the interior of Rin's mind lit up with vibrant, panicked colors and the screen exploded into static. The darkness around them filled with pustules in angry reds, sickly purples, searing yellows, and poison greens, all exploding with the intensity of an emergency alarm. As for Rin, she had collapsed onto her side and started shaking.

Yuuka was…Yuuka was doing something to her. She couldn't see what it was, but it was terrible, like being penetrated with a hundred plague-ridden worms. They dug through her body, spreading foul warmth and sickness as they went.

Get it together, Rin, her mind said. Adapt to this. Absorb it. Make it powerless. You've felt worse. Rise above it.

It was very good advice, and Rin wished very much that she could follow it. Unfortunately, it was as if her body's capability to respond to mental commands had been disconnected, and all she could do was lie still in agony.

Oh, fine! her mind snapped. Then burn her! Fire everywhere! That usually works!

"Rin?" Flandre said, momentarily forgetting her promise and shaking Rin hard enough to rattle her teeth. "Rin!"

Fire? Fire, yeah. Fire sounds good. How do I do the fire again?

Oh. Right.

Then everything went white.

…

Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire

Sipping from a surprisingly passable glass of strawberry lemonade, Kaguya dropped her sunglasses down a few centimeters to shoot a dubious look at the woman reclining on the lawn chair next to her. "What's with you?" she said.

Mokou had been getting on her nerves all day, and not in the traditional, murderous way. The two had decided to spend the afternoon at the beach (or rather, Kaguya had decided to spend the afternoon at the beach and dragged Mokou along in hopes that the Sun would mellow her out) and conjured a very nice tropical seaside resort in order to do just that. Granted, there were still a few bits of dream weirdness here and there, mainly the fifty meter Christmas tree growing straight out of the ocean several kilometers offshore that Kaguya was pointedly trying to ignore, but on the whole they had done a fairly good job putting the place together. The sunlight felt like sunlight, the sand felt like sand, the water felt like water but tasted like Cherry Coke (which was fine), and Kaguya was enjoying lying around, basking lazily while bikini-clad nymphets massaged her with oil and fed her grapes. She was especially proud of those. Getting dream food to taste right had taken weeks of assembling memories, and the prototype stage had been both memorable and unpleasant.

However, Mokou unfortunately seemed to disagree. She wasn't even bitching about stupid stuff like she usually did. Instead, she seemed to have acquired an invisible rash all over her body, which caused her to constantly shift in discomfort and scratch herself raw. It was damned distracting, and Kaguya was getting fed up with it.

"I don't know," Mokou said. "There's this itch all over my body that won't go away. I think your beach has sand-mites or something.

"No, it doesn't," Kaguya said.

"Well, it has something," Mokou complained. "Plus, my stomach feels all weird, and keep getting these dizzy waves. You sure you didn't slip me something just to mess with me?"

"Mokou," Kaguya chided her, her voice dripping with scorn. "Sweetiebums. You know if it was me, you'd be puking your guts out. And I'd be laughing." She took another sip of her drink. "Oh, by the way, did you know you're smoking?"

"Huh?" Mokou blinked. "No, I'm not. All the cigarettes here suck!"

"No, I meant literally."

Mokou looked down at her arm, and her eyes widened when she saw the steam rising from it. "Well, huh," she said, completely mystified. "Where'd that come from?"

"Figures," Kaguya muttered as she settled back and motioned for her harem to continue. Girl could be dropped into a volcano and come out refreshed from her nice, warm bath. But take her to the beach one time, and she baked like an albino Eskimo. Some people were just natural lightweights.

…

Deep Within

When the light cleared, Rin found herself sitting up, blinking in confusion. Things seemed to have returned to normal. The color had vanished from the space inside her mind, returning to its customary black emptiness. The screen was working again, which meant that whatever state her physical body was in, it at least had eyes. What was more…

Rin looked down at her hands. She felt fine. The pain was gone, as was the sick feeling. Whatever it was that she had done, it had apparently worked.

"Uh," she said as she looked up. "Er, okay."

Flandre was crouching nearby, her back arched like a startled cat and her eyes wide. She looked at Rin with a fair amount of apprehension. "Rin?" she said.

"Uh, yeah? What the heck just happened?"

In answer, Flandre slowly shook her head. "Um, Rin? C-can you promise me something?"

Rin stared at her in bemusement. "Sure. What?"

"When you let me out, can you promise to never ever do what you just did around me?"

Rin raised her brow. Then she looked back to the screen.

The hallway was…well, bits of it were still there. Sort of. The ceiling…not so much. The walls, well, they were sort of glowing red and were glopping all over the ground. And the floor now looked like what you got when an active volcano finally got over its temper tantrum.

"Whoa," Rin whispered. "Phoenix Fire." She let out a low whistle. "Handle with care." Clearly, Sakuya Izayoi had a point about how blasé she had been with it.

Then Flandre let out a hiss. "Rin."

Rin looked. Then she groaned out loud. "Oh, come on!"

From where she was standing, the hallway branched off into four directions, with her standing in the scorched remains of the intersection. At down each and every passage was a blob of writhing darkness, one that was steadily drawing closer.

"One, two, three, four…What the hell!" Rin shouted. "That didn't kill you? What do I gotta do, huh?"

Apparently she had said that out loud, or maybe Yuuka simply read the disbelief on her face. Because the one nearest to her said, "Are you so surprised? I know your tricks, child. Why remain within firing distance after infecting you with that parasite?"

Rin stared stone-faced at her. "Okay, you know what? I've had about enough of this." She burst into flames. "Gonna burn you until you don't come back!"

She threw herself at the darkness, not caring about Yuuka's tricks, not caring that charging her head-on had proven ineffective more than once. She was completely fed up with the disgusting creep, and if she had to throw herself into dark heart of her being and unleash another stone-melting inferno to finally kill her, so be it. She had plenty of fire still. By the time she entered the darkness, her body was glowing white and the air was shimmering with barely restrained heat and power.

Thus, it was not without a certain irony that all Rin managed was a brief flash and puff of smoke. It wasn't her fault though. As she had approached, Yuuka had held up something long and sharp-looking and thrust it forward, and Rin's momentum had caused her to impale herself right on it.

Whatever the thing was, it was made of the same stuff Yuuka had used to cut past Rin's adaptation, and burned as hotly too. Rin gurgled as Yuuka lifted her skewered body up triumphantly and laughed. From the look of things, it was some sort of spear.

Flandre was screaming again, though Rin didn't recognize the word she was using. Grunker? Grunge hair? It didn't make any sense.

Then Yuuka gave her a flick, and Rin went tumbling down the hallway to come to a lifeless stop.

…

"This," rumbled Veaxle, the great green Dragon of the Opal Mountain, "is degrading."

"Hush," murmured Yukari. Before her, the Garden of the Sun had become the Buffet of Yukari's Tiny, Hungry Friends, and she wanted to savor every second of it.

Apparently taking offense to the lesser lifeform's flippant tone, Veaxle swung her long neck around to glower at the reclining youkai. "Since Gensokyo's creation, on only three other occurrences had there been a threat so dire that my kind was asked to personally involve ourselves," she said. "The first was during the rebellion of Olesho, the mad god of the Underworld."

"Oh, Lord, don't remind me," Shinki groused. To be fair, having her entire territory nearly usurped by what had once been her librarian was not her proudest moment.

Ignoring her, Veaxle said, "Were it not for our intervention, Olesho would have taken all of Makai for his own before moving onto Hell itself. And even then, the Underworld bears the scars of what we did."

"I haven't forgotten," Yukari said.

"The second was during the Night Plague, when more than half of Gensokyo had perished to a disease that you could neither stop nor find the source of. When you yourself had become infected, you came to us, withered and dying, begging for our help. We rent reality asunder to stop the plague, and nothing has grown in the Blasted Lands since."

"And the third time was to help storm the Fortress of Silence at the end of the Magician's War, I know," Yukari said irritably. She knew that most people would have considered her insane to be mouthing off a Dragon, but at that point, she had been doing so her entire life and saw no reason to stop. "What's your point?"

"My point?" Veaxle all but hissed. "My point is that we are Dragons! We built this country from rock and root. Our eyes see the seams of reality, and when we speak, it is with the Voice of Heaven! We do not interfere with mortal affairs unless absolutely necessary, and yet, after coming to us on bended knee to please assist you with your grudge match against a cast-off fragment of one of the Ancient Ones, you yank us out of the battle and have us sit and watch as you use a bunch of insects instead."

Yukari quirked an eyebrow. She glanced over to what remained of the Garden of the Sun, which now resembled a great, black, humming cloud, and then back at Veaxle, who was still staring at her, green eyes aflame.

"Veaxle?" Yukari said. "A few points of contention. One: you did not build Gensokyo from the ground up. I did. The only Dragon actively involved in all that was your god, whom with, I might add, I am on more constant speaking terms than you are. Two: I did not come on bended knee to the Dragons for help with the Night Plague. That was a mutually agreed upon alliance that was brokered after your kind had become infected as well. And three…"

She nodded toward the insect swarm, which was continuing to do a stand-up job of laying waste to everything Yuuka held dear. "The funny thing about battles is that they tend to be fluid situations. When one plan stops working, you abandon it and make the necessary adjustments. Spewing fire at her wasn't working, so we tried something else, something that is working out quite well. If the situation changes yet again, we will try something else until our objective is achieved." She shrugged. "Besides, it's not like you've been permanently benched. The insects are just bringing down the defenses. There will be plenty left for you to rip apart, I assure you."

Veaxle looked like she wanted to debate the matter further, but a few growls from her fellows made her fall silent. She returned to watching the devastation, eyes still smoldering.

That was fine. Yukari was used to heavenly creatures being pissed at her. She reflexively glanced over to the Archangels to see if they had anything to add.

Shinki was making a show of ignoring the confrontation. That, or she was enjoying the sight too much to really care. She certainly seemed happy enough with what the insects were doing. Sariel, on the other hand, was a different story.

The technically not-Fallen-but-still-sort-of-exiled Archangel of Death stared at what remained of the Garden of the Sun, a pensive look on its face. However, unlike the others, it seemed to be ignoring the swarm entirely and was focused on a point a bit beyond where the insects were feasting.

"Something wrong, Sariel?" Yukari said.

Sariel's frown deepened. "There is…something wrong."

Yukari continued to look at it, her eyebrow quirked in askance.

"Yuuka's will. It is weakening. Her influence over this area is starting to wither."

"And that is wrong…how?"

"With it gone, I am able to more clearly feel the other energies in this place," Sariel said. A look of disgust passed over its face. "Yuuka…she is doing something…blasphemous. Profane. It's…vile."

Yukari stared some more. "Somehow, I am utterly unsurprised by anything other than the fact that you seem surprised by this. It's Yuuka. Her very existence is profane."

Sariel shook its head. "No, I mean, I feel the presence of…of…"

"Of…" Yukari prompted.

"Faith," Sariel finally got out. "Devotion. Articles of spiritual significance and belief. Yuuka has been collecting them, it seems."

Now that was a bit odd. Or maybe not. It was possible that Yuuka simply liked antiques. "You mean symbols of your Creator?" Yukari asked.

"He is not just my Creator," Sariel said, sounding a little exasperated. "But yes. And of Gensokyo's gods as well. As well as the deities of…of the people of the Nile, of the lords of Asgard, of the western tribes, of the deep jungle, and so many more. She has been collecting items of religious belief from faiths from all over the world." It grimaced. "And she's perverting them, using their power for…I do not know, but it's something very, very wrong."

Well, that didn't sound good at all. "Then we'd better do something about it," Yukari said.

To this, Sariel nodded, its face dark with a fury so rarely seen on its serene features. "Yes," it said. "We shall." It took in a slow, deep breath and let it out. "I'll…I'll have to make a few calls of my own."

…

The girl was dead, yes. She had to be dead. Yuuka had speared her right through, speared her with her own sister's god-weapon. That had to do to it.

Yuuka stared at the small, unmoving form. She looked dead. The hole was gone, yes, but she looked dead. Which meant that Yuuka ought to bury her soon, before she started attracting flies. Yuuka couldn't abide flies. All bugs were pests. Which is why she never allowed them in her garden. They infested the buds and nibbled the roots, the disgusting things.

Slowly she approached, god-weapon in hand, the spear of Odin himself, taken from the girl's sister. She ought to have kept the other, the wand of the Frost Giant, but she had traded it away and gotten nothing in return. A poor choice, in hindsight. Killing the girl with her sister's god-weapon had been sweet. Killing her with her own would have been-

-no.

No, wait. Not her own. The girl wasn't the vampire. The girl contained the vampire, but wasn't the vampire. So did that mean that the vampire was dead too, or did she live on within the girl's corpse? To be consigned to the Hell that awaited all of the living dead, or to be trapped within the mind of a dead girl? Yuuka wasn't sure which would be worse, but either possibility made her smile. A fitting punishment for her ingratitude.

She waved off her sister-selves and approached the dead girl, god-weapon clutched in hand. A spear was a poor tool for dismemberment, but needs must when the devil drives. She worked with what she had. At least the girl wouldn't bleed. The place was messy enough as it was.

Then the dead girl let out a small groan.

Yuuka paused, her flaky brow furrowing. No. No, no, no. Why was the dead girl groaning? Why was she making noise? Why was she…was she moving? Yes, she was! She was moving very slowly and painfully, but she was moving, struggling to push herself up onto her palms. She was trying to get up!

Yuuka gritted her teeth. A few came loose and fell out of her mouth, but who cared? The girl still wasn't dead!

"Die," she hissed, and stabbed her through the back. The girl jerked and gasped, but as soon as the spear was withdrawn she started moving again!

"Die!" Yuuka stabbed her again. And again. And again. "Die! Die! Die!"

On that that "Die!" she pressed the god-weapon down as far as she could, twisting it around. The girl shook with the pain as small, pathetic whimpers slipped from her mouth.

Both hands still gripping the god-weapon, Yuuka slowly lowered herself down until her lips were close to the girl's ears. "Stay down," she whispered. "Stay dead. Wouldn't it be better? No more pain, no more loneliness? Don't you want it to all to just stop? Stay down. Stay down and die."

In response, Rin sucked in a pain-filled gasp of air, again shoved her palms against the floor, and pushed up. Her body made a sizzling sound as it came up around the god-weapon, but she continued to push.

Yuuka sighed. Oh well, she had tried.

She swept up the girl like a wriggling fish on a fisherman's spear. "Fine," Yuuka said. She moved down the hall, trailing bits of essence behind her. "Fine, fine, fine. I tried to warn you, tried to help you, but you must insist on being stubborn. Well, you know what happens to naughty little girls?"

The hallway she proceeded down was already gutted by flames. Such a shame. It had once been so beautiful, with its gleaming white walls, elegant columns, and so many lovely flowers. Now it was a burnt-out husk, all thanks to the girl's reckless disregard for life.

There were now many such hallways and rooms in Yuuka's house, but as luck would have it, this particular one had been the first to suffer at the girl's hand. Partway down the wrecked passage was a gaping doorway, its door reduced to kindling.

And inside was a lump of broken crystal and several scattered objects of religious devotion.

"That's right," Yuuka said as she hauled the girl back into the room. "Back where you started. Thought you could get away, yes? Escape you punishment?" She shook the girl off the god-weapon and pressed her foot against her back. "Well, you're going right back. Only this time I'm putting you on time-out for a very, very long time." She waved her hand, and a part of the floor collapsed, falling into a deep, dark hole. Then she picked up a fallen Shinto braid. "I'm going to stuff these down your throat and drop you down this hole with them. Then I'm going to seal it right back up. We'll see how much good your impudence does when-"

The girl suddenly seized the broken husk of crystal that she had been trapped in and whipped it around to smack Yuuka in the face.

Yuuka blinked. She touched a hand to her face. Part of the cheek and most of her empty eye socket had been caved in. She sighed, and her face restored itself. "Now just for that," she said as she lifted the god-weapon over her head. It started to glow. "I'm going to stick this right up your-"

She paused, and frowned. Wait, why was the Spear of Odin All-Father glowing? She certainly hadn't told it to do anything of the sort.

Further to the point, wasn't it growing rather warm?

"What?" she said as she lowered the weapon to examine it. Yes, it was indeed glowing. Further to the point, it was suddenly scorching hot!

"Ah!" Yuuka said as she dropped the thing. The palms of her withered hands now sported a matching set of red burns.

Then something came whistling through the air and struck her cheek. It stuck. And it burned.

Screeching, Yuuka clawed at it and yanked it off. It was a small, silver six-pointed star. And like the spear, it was shining white with searing heat.

The star fell from Yuuka's smoking fingers. "What the-"

Then a stone cross came flying to dig into her forehead. This was followed by a crescent moon, a golden pyramid, an ivory man, another cross of a different design, and dragon twisted into a loop. Then more came, all shooting from the floor and the walls to adhere themselves to Yuuka's body and burn her flesh.

Yuuka screamed, calling for her sister-selves, calling for her plants, calling for anyone to come and save her. The pain was overwhelming, more than even the girl's fire! It didn't just punish her flesh, but dug deeper, scorching her on multiple spiritual planes.

Why was this happening? She had handled these symbols, these instruments of faith dozens of times before, and nothing like this had ever happened. She had used their stored energy to torture the girl and punish her, and they had always obeyed. So why-

Then in a strange moment of clarity, Yuuka found herself understanding. And the truth terrified her. Her control was slipping. Her dominance over this small bit of land was starting to crumble away, her will was eroding. And in that moment of weakness, the beings which those symbols represented had taken notice of what she was doing. And they were pissed.

"NO!" Yuuka screeched as she tried to tear the holy symbols off of her body, but they kept coming, burning her all over. The pain drove her to her knees and bowed her back. "No, no, no, no-"

Then the girl stood up.

She did so slowly, still in pain from what Yuuka had done to her. But she rose up nevertheless, a hulking gargoyle with glowing eyes and flames hanging from her wings.

The demon turned to her, fangs bared. It lurched forward and seized Yuuka by the cheeks. And Yuuka was powerless to do anything to stop her.

The demon's mouth opened wide, and kept right on opening, its jaw extending far past beyond what should be possible. A red light appeared in the demon's throat, growing brighter and hotter with every passing second.

Yuuka opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

But something most definitely went in.

…

Deep Within

By the time Rin finished vomiting Phoenix Fire down Yuuka's throat, she didn't really look like a zombie anymore. In fact, she barely resembled anything that had ever been alive. It was a pile of ash packed into a vaguely bipedal form held together with spit and a prayer. However, something inside still had to be whole enough to burn, as flames continued to rise out of her mouth, ears, eye-socket, and the cracks in what had once been her skin.

The glowing symbols of faith fell from Yuuka's body with a clatter, leaving white marks that stood out against the black. Her eye, still glowing persistently despite what had happened to her, glowered at her with hatred as hot as the flame she had just been force-fed.

Rin held the woman-shaped piece of charcoal aloft by its neck and glowered right back. If Yuuka still had any tricks left, she was more than welcome to spring them. Rin had beaten them all so far, and was ready, willing, and able to take any that might remain.

But instead, Yuuka's eye slowly lost focus. The red glow faded away, and it went blank.

Rin snorted. She gave Yuuka's neck a sharp squeeze, crunching the crispy flesh together, and dropped her down the hole that she had dug for Rin. Yuuka's body fell limply, trailing ash and embers the whole way down.

"Wow," Flandre breathed. A pleased grin slashed across the vampire's face, displaying her fangs in full. "Did that do it? Did'ja get her?"

Rin slowly breathed out. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I did." She turned to return Flandre's grin. "Okay. One down, eh?"

Then a shriek of outrage rose up from elsewhere in the mansion, and the very foundations shook. For a moment Rin thought that the Dragons had broken through, but no. No, as distorted and twisted as the voice might be, it was mostly definitely Yuuka's voice. The other three had apparently sensed what Rin had just done to one of their number, and were very unhappy about it.

Well, fine. Let them be.

"Well, all right then," Rin said, twisting her neck to one side and cracking her knuckles. Outside, her physical body mirrored the motion. "Three to go. Let's do this."

…

Okay, if anyone's wondering, Yuuka's sudden fascination with slime and tentacles came about because I recently played the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim, and thought that the Apocrypha bits were wicked awesome. And that part involves a Lovecraftian horror and has a lot of slime and tentacles.

Until next time, everyone!