The small yukkuri began to leap up and down, squealing with delight. "We can stay easy!" She piped out.
The remaining yukkuris began to leap and squeak in celebration, bumping and rubbing against one another, twirling in the air, and hopping merrily around Reimu. a small grin crept across Reimu's face as she witnessed the revelry. Marisa giggled upon seeing Reimu's cute little smile.
"See?" Marisa chuckled, "You are a nice girl down under!"
Reimu blushed as she looked away from Marisa, as Marisa tightly hugged her from behind, leaving a peck on the shrine maiden's face. Reimu's mood darkened when she looked out the door, however, as she saw that the sky was quickly darkening.
"Dammit! Yukkuris, hide! Marisa, with me!" Reimu commanded with an unusually deep and throaty voice, squinting her eyes with anticipation. The Yukkuris squeaked and squealed in fear as they scuttled about, searching for a good place to hide from the encroaching danger. Reimu Gritted her teeth as she dashed outside, and up to the roof to get a better view, with Marisa following suit.
The sky had become pitch black: not a single star in the sky, but the moon appeared to be exceptionally huge, taking up most of the sky, dyed an angry red, as if about to pour fire all over Gensokyo. Off in the distance, behind the dunes, a massive cloud of what looked like black and glowing red smoke was forming, and rapidly encroaching the shrine from all directions.
"Shit," Reimu grumbled while gritting her teeth, "There have got to be millions of them!"
"Reimu, do we really have to protect the shrine?" Marisa asked, her voice somewhat shaken, "We could just evacuate everybody and-"
"That is out of the question," Reimu stated bluntly, "If we don't stop them here, they will overrun the rest of Gensokyo, and likely turn the rest of it into this desert. I, being the protector of this world, will not allow such harem to come upon it."
A surreal scream erupted from the smoke, in fact, thousands and thousands of screams began to screech from the cloud as it encroached.
"And just what is your plan for stopping them?" Marisa inquired nervously.
"Vampires don't like sunlight, right?" Reimu asked, raising both of her hands, "So that means I just have to distract them until daylight."
"But there are too many of them!" Marisa cried, "They'll tear you to shreds!"
A vague smirk appeared on Reimu's face as her hands began to glow blue. She shot out a large energy ball that went straight up, and formed a dome, just big enough to surround the shrine.
"This won't keep all of them out," Reimu sighed, "But it should make the fight more fair."
Marisa seemed puzzled. "Don't you have to concentrate your magical energy to do that? How will you fight?" Marisa asked.
Reimu smiled as she threw her arms around Marisa. "With you, of course." She whispered softly. Marisa blushed as she returned the hug. a loud screech just above the barrier broke them apart quickly, so Reimu darted her eyes to the source of the noise. Just above the barrier was a large, winged dragon covered in dark red scales, muscular in its coiling serpentine body, its dark purple scales almost shimmering. The head of this beast resembled that of a T-rex of ancient times, but donning three drill-like horns; one on the nose and two curved forward from the back of the creature's head. The dragon began to glow, before it shrank, and took the form of a woman with long, red hair, and two pairs of bat wings, one on the back of her head, the other on her back. She descended through the barrier; it was not a strong barrier, but it was strong enough to prevent too many from entering at once.
"As you know, I come here on behalf of the Scarlet Clan," The woman spoke in a deep, mature, and respectful voice.
"It looks like you brought a whole friggin army with you." Reimu scowled, spreading her arms out into a fighting position.
The woman frowned. "It is true that I have come here on the orders of the Scarlet Clan's Mistress to remove any threat this shrine possesses to the Scarlet Clan's future plans." She stated bluntly.
"And by that you mean she wants to kill every living thing here so the Scarlet Clan can have an easier time conquering the world!" Reimu sneered, raising her miko stick threateningly.
The woman blinked and nodded, and a light frown crossed her lips. "Unfortunately, it must be so." She stated solemnly.
Both Reimu and Marisa began to charge their magical power, their hands glowing brightly with bullet energy ready to be fired. "Well you'd be delusional if you thought either of us would just sit back and allow you to stomp on Hakurei Shrine without having to fight first."
"Believe me, I have no personal quarrel with you, great hero of Gensokyo," The woman stated in her melancholy tone, "But I have my orders...and my honour. If you have yours, then it seems violent conflict is inevitable. Consider our parlay over, Mistress Hakurei." With those words, the woman bowed briefly, then ascended back above the barrier, and quickly snapped back into her winged reptile form. She emitted a massive, furious roar that shook the ground ever so slightly, which was answered by the deafening screech of horrid, vampiric beasts that were now charging straight for the shrine.
"I'll give her one thing," Marisa huffed, "She's at least polite about killing us."
The creatures crashed into the barrier with a loud, thunderous BANG! However, the barrier was strong enough to keep most of the creatures out, as a few vampire fairies were the only warriors that could seep through. Their skin was more pale than ivory, and their skin as melted and chunky-looking as old cheese. Their shining red eyes flickered menacingly as they jutted their yellow, pointy tusks menacingly.
