Sakura was now dressed on a long and regal pink dress, together with large white frills at the end of her sleeves, skirt and neck, and a fluffy light red cape over her shoulders and back. Her chest and shoulder areas had several dark red hearts made of cloth and stitched in and in the head she had golden beret with tiny red ribbons. The girl's face was one of decision, ready for anything.
At her side was Syaoran, dressed in bright green clothes whose shapes and patterns resembled a suit of medieval armor, along with several tiny black and white swords made of clothe stitched over his arms and chest. The boy's face was too one of determination, prepared for their incoming duel.
So that's what magicians from the outside world wear to fight other magicians?-asked Luna, floating by Syaoran's side.
With clothes like this, there's no way we can lose!-squealed Star, hovering by Sakura's side.
Queen of Hearts Sakura, the card mistres and Knight of Swords Syaoran, her shield! Since we're met Alice in this wonder land of sorts I thought this would be appropriate! You both look so wonderful!-explained Tomoyo proudly, holding her camera.
Yeah, you both look cute and all, now aren't you missing anything else? A tome or wand or whatever your magician's main tool is ka?-asked Marisa, flexing her neck around, while Alice stood silently by her side, holding her tome without any expression on her face.
Sakura pulled the star key from her neck covered in queen frills and chanted:
O Key that conceals the power of my star, reveal your true nature to me, by my power I command you! Release!
Spinning her wand around herself a bit for warm-up, Sakura held it with both hands and declared:
I'm ready!
This is my magic wand.-said Syaoran, slashing the air in front of him with his sword.-I'm ready, but ladies first.
Quite city-sect from you, but even then it's a bit of a stretch to call Marisa a lady...-sighed Alice, holding her face with a hand.
If you don't move, I'll shoot then.-grinned Marisa, mounting her broom and kicking herself up, starting to fly through the air, while pulling a card from inside her hat and placing it on the back of her magic furnace.
Oh, so Kirisame still has to ride a flying stick to fly. And I here thinking only little girls who have started to learn magic did that.-snickered Meiling.
It's only natural that Marisa-chan isn't as wonderful or talented as Sakura-chan.-commented Tomoyo.
Hey, don't tease Marisa-chan just because she still only knows how to fly like that!-shouted Sakura-I'm sure she's still trying her best here!
W-what are you saying? This is the classic way a magic girl should fly! Don't you have any respect for tradition?-frowned Marisa-Let's get started with maximum firepower da ze!
[Love Sign] Master Spark!
From Marisa's mini-hakkero furnace shot forward a freaking huge magic laser, bright with at its center at with the colors of the rainbow at its edges.
SHIELD! RELEASE!-Sakura managed to call her top defensive card just in time, protecting not only herself but Syaoran and the fairies as well.
Such strong power of love... But my feelings for Syaoran-kun... Are stronger than Marisa-chan's feelings for Alice-sama!-declared Sakura concentrating on The Shield to resist the devastating attack upon them.
Well, that isn't that hard, since they're just friends at best. Marisa just loves to tease Alice whenever they meet. Marisa's best sparks I've seen only come out when she's near a certain other person.-commented Star Sapphire.
Hoe...Who then?
Focus on the battle, Sakura-chan. Marisa can't keep that kind of spell for much longer. As soon as it subsides, we'll change to the offensive...-sighed Syaoran
The very ground around them shaken as the Master Spark persisted for some more seconds, covering all the area around the magic dome with blinding white light. When it subsided, they saw the ground around them had been reduced to a smoking crater.
Allow me to remind you they're still just human children and not youkai.-chastised Alice to Marisa for her brutal display of power.
Humans, youkai, I blow them all up the same.-smirked Marisa as her mini-hakkero was left releasing smoke and leftover magic traces.
Obey the command! God of thunder, Come Forth! -chanted Syaoran stepping out of Sakura's Shield and lacing a jufu over his sword, shooting several lighting bolts against the blonde magicians.
Star Sapphire and Luna Child giggled and joined the boy in his attack by launching several blue and yellow magic bullets from their hands, although their aim proved lousy at best and all scattered harmlessly around.
[Blue Sign] "Benevolent French Dolls-Alice pulled a card of her own and it transformed in dozens of tiny puppets with azure dresses and blonde hair that circled around her and Marisa, absorbing Syaoran's attack. The dolls were turned to ashes from the thunders striking them, but more materialized from Alice's hands to as fast as they were destroyed to keep blocking the attack.
Sakura dismissed her Shield and pulled a new card, swiftly activating it with her wand.
Capture them all! WOOD! RELEASE!
Long and flexible vines covered in leaves sprouted from the ground all around Alice and Marisa, rising in the air and forming a closed dome around the magicians and dolls, then they started to tighten up the trap. However suddenly violet flames burst out from inside the closed vines, swiftly spreading out and burning them all to ashes.
Please, Sakura, I live in the forest of magic. I have to deal with this kind of thing every day before breakfast when I go mushroom collecting. Burn da ze!-The source of the violet fire proved to be Marisa's mini-Hakkero, spouting out a torrent of of the magic flame upwards that almost miraculously didn't burn her own clothes or hair due to the proximity, then the black-white witch pointed it down and the flames descended upon the surprised card mistress.
Obey the command! Water Dragon, Come Forth!-Syaoran managed to pull one of his jufus in time and release a stream of water to counter Marisa's violet flame.
Alice didn't lay idle however as she replenished her blue dolls lost to the vines and subsequent burning, and they proceeded to unleash a continuous barrage of red magic bullets. And then those bullets shot more bullets of their own. Luna Child and Star Sapphire tried to counter the incoming barrage with their own bullets, but their shots were just too few compared to Alice doll's multiplying attacks.
SHIELD! RELEASE!-Sakura could've used another card to retreat, but that would've meant leaving the faeries and Syaoran behind to their fate, so once again she resorted to her defensice card.
Hey, that's really lame, Sakura. You can't just play on the defensive da ze.-taunted Marisa, stopping her fiery assault.
No, Syaoran-kun was right... You're burning yourself pretty quickly in this battle, Marisa-chan, I can feel your magic energy has already dropped below half, and I still have plenty. I don't need to hurt you to win this, just to outlast you, Marisa-chan.
Oh, aren't you a cheeky little magic girl? But you know, Sakura-chan, your Shield has a glaring flaw. You can see me. I can see you. It means some light is still getting through. And lasers are made of light. I just need to focus on the right wavelength...-Marisa pulled another spellcard and placed it behind her mini-hakkero.
Narrow Spark!
Marisa's magic furnace started to glow with a blue light.
Hoe...?-Sakura didn't really understood the witch's speech, never being that good at science. But when a sapphire beam shot from her magic furnace towards her, Syaoran pulled her to the ground, and the card mistress could see how the new laser passed trough her Shield as if it wasn't there, burning the left arm of Star Sapphire, who had remained at her side, to a crisp. At least it had a much smaller width and duration than her Master Spark.
Owowow, Marisa always has this crazy spells...-whined Star Sapphire as her arm regenerated under the light of the night sky.
How could she...-asked Sakura with confused eyes.
You can't trust the Shield against this opponent, Sakura-chan. But you're right Kirisame doesn't have that much magic left, we'll just have to dodge whatever she has left.-said Syaoran as he helped her get back up.
Marisa's pretty darn good at offense and learns patterns quickly, you can't dodge her forever, but she doesn't have much for defensive magic. If you can get close to her, she's just a regular human...-advised Luna.
Yes, stay just there, it's like shooting fishes in a barrel da ze!-grinned Marisa as she charged up another Narrow Spark, Sakura, Syaoran and Star Sapphire seemingly with nowhere to run as the Shied around them was battered by the shots from Alice's dolls.
Sakura, if you can get close enough you should be able to overpower Kirisame. All that blast magic certainly isn't suited for close combat.-said Syaoran.
But if we try to get out or I drop the Shield, we will be hit by those...-said Sakura with a sad look on her face, looking around as she stood up again, red bullets exploding all over the barrier protecting them-If that would just stop for a few seconds it would be enough...
Don't worry, Sakura-chan!-smiled Star Sapphire, pulling a card from her skirt-If it's just a few seconds you need, I can get you that!
Why the sudden sense of self-sacrifice? Usually you worry first about saving your own ass.-asked Luna Child with a suspicious face.
Helping to defeat a big name like Marisa is well worth getting blown up a few times.-smiled Luna.
But I don't want you to get hurt for me, Star-chan...-said Sakura.
She is a fairy, Sakura-chan. Immortal, regenerates. Also we don't have much choice but trust her now...-frowned Syaoran.
No escape for you now MUHAHAHA!-laughed Marisa as she unleashed a bigger Narrow Spark, wide enough to leave no dodging space inside The Shield area.
Almost Simultaneously Sakura dismissed The Shield and Luna activated her card
[Starlight] "Star Laser"!
A dense sphere of blue bullets formed around them and expanded outwards, clearing away Alice's red bullets in a series of explosions that filled the area with a series of right flashes, quickly followed by a barrage of yellow lasers that destroyed several of Marisa's dolls! However this spell quickly came to an end as Marisa's latest spark cleared a path towards the concentrating Star Saphire and vaporized her, but the the two other humans and the other fairy were no longer near her.
FLY! RELEASE!-from the midst of the the explosions rose Sakura, now with large white feathery wings growing out of her back, spreading them open and launching herself towards Marisa.
See, Marisa, that is a much more elegant way of flying-smirked Alice, rearranging her dolls.
Pft, I'll show her to properly dance in an aerial battle.-smirked back Marisa as she aimed her Mini-Hakkero at the card mistress and started shooting thin and fast lasers out of it, that the winged girl managed to dodge while still flying closer to the witch.
Alice moved her fingers to have her dolls aim upwards towards Sakura, but then she felt some more of them being destroyed. The youkai puppeteer turned around just in time to see Syaoran dashing towards her at great speed, using his sword to cut down the blue dolls in his path without a single sound. Behind him followed a smiling Luna, using her power to silence his movements and cover his approach as Alice's focus had turned towards Sakura. Alice pulled more dolls between them, but Syaoran also slashed them down while closing in with clear determination on his eyes.
Oh, so you are a Magic Knight alright. In that case I don't need this dolls anymore.-smiled Alice while pulling another card and chanting:
[Magic Sign] "Artful Sacrifice"
A doll to the right of Syaoran started glowing, and the boy's battle instincts told him to jump back. The next split second, the doll exploded violently, blowing up all the other nearby blue dolls together with it! Alice wasn't done yet as she pulled another card:
[War Sign] "Little Legion"
The card formed in a new batch of winged dolls, this time each armed with a long sword taller than itself, and Alice's fingers started moving faster, positioning the dolls in multiple squares around her:
..Ranks of five, Agmen Quadratum formation...Charge!
Syaoran had barely recovering his footing from the explosion's shock wave when the formed up dolls were upon him, flying at great speed while swinging their swords in perfect synchronization. The boy managed to parry most of them by using his own bigger sword as a shield, but several of the dolls spread out and surrounded him, managing to bite his flanks with their relatively smaller but quite sharp weapons. Tomoyo's costume managed to prevent any serious wounds, but he was still hurt.
Nothing is better than strength in numbers. Big things are combined small ones! -grinned Alice as she observed Syaoran forced to step back again and again to avoid getting himself completely surrounded by the sword-swinging dolls.
Above the forest of magic.
Sakura was flying as fast as her wings could carry her, yet Marisa easily kept a constant distance between them as she flew away riding her broom sideways, allowing her to keep her small laser bombardment upon the card mistress.
What are you waiting for, Sakura? Show me your lasers da ze!-taunted the witch.
Marisa-chan, I don't have any laser...-started saying Sakura, then something struck her mind and she pulled out a card and threw it in the night sky-Well, if you insist, I do have something... SHOT! RELEASE!
As it was struck by the wand, the card transformed into a pink body of light that started firing out beams of pink energy. Marisa flew her broom faster to move out of their trajectories, but then they started to become increasingly more accurate with each attack.
Hehehe, what cute little lasers, I guess it fits a cute little girl like you, Sakura. But what about this big girl's laser da ze?-taunted again Marisa as she pulled another card and placed it behind her mini-hakkero.
[Perverse Love] "Easy-Harvest Master Spark"!
Double green and purple magic circles formed in front of Marisa, and trough them she shot a narrow white beam from her magic furnace. Sakura easily dodged it. Then the beam started quickly expanding wider, faster than what she could fly away. Still Sakura smiled as she dismissed The Shot and pulled another card, hitting it with her wand:
MIRROR! RELEASE!
The magic glass formed in front of Sakura just as the Harvest Master Spark was about to hit her, reflecting it back upon its caster. The night sky was filled with light for a moment as the massive laser flew into space, and then there was no sign left from Marisa besides leftover magic, that Sakura hurried to capture:
Return to the form you were meant to be in, Marisa card!-chanted the Card Mistress before picking her new acquisition.
Turning one's spells back at them... I'm starting to like you more and more, Sakura da ze!-said a familiar voice behind her.
Sakura turned around to see Marisa in the opposite direction she was a second ago. Her clothes and face skin were lightly singed but otherwise she seemed unarmed, besides being breathing harder than before.
How... Can you teleport?-asked a dumbfounded Sakura, who was sure that the reflected spark had struck Marisa head on.
Nope. Don't have barriers or subtle manipulation or regeneration or invulnerability either. I can dish out the hurt but I can't really take it. So how do you think I've made myself a big name as a magician in combat?
I don't know... But I won't give up! WINDY! RELEASE!-Sakura unleashed her first card upon the witch.
The answer it's simple... I'm the fastest thing in the skies of Gensokyo!-grinned Marisa as she stored her mini-hakkero inside her clothes, grabbing her broom with both hands, then suddenly launching herself upwards like a rocket, outpacing the Windy's green tendrils of air trying to catch her.
In front of Alice's house
Syaoran was getting the hang of Alice's pattern, predicting how her sword dolls would attack, parrying and dodging as needed, not forced to retreat anymore, while Luna simply observed and chuckled from above, no longer silencing his movements to save up her magic.
This is feeling more like a ritual dance than a duel...-said the boy, swinging his blade in a wide arc to push them away-You're holding back, aren't you Margatroid? You still haven't opened that book radiating powerful magic and only use those dolls of yours.
How rude.-smiled Alice-You're also holding back. Only using your sword and those basic chinese amulets, when I can sense much greater magic on you. But it is more pleasant this way, isn't it, Syaoran? If one is defeated using their true strength, then there would be nothing left afterwards.
...I just need to delay you. Sakura-chan is more than capable of dealing with an ordinary human. Once she's captured Kirisame's cards, she can come for yours.
Hohohoho, I'm afraid you're understimating Marisa quite a bit. I can't blame you for that, she is but an ordinary human indeed. But she can be quite... Resourceful.
Syaoran didn't reply and pulled a jufu
"Obey the command! Water Dragon, Come Forth!"
A dual torrent of water shot from each end of the paper, drenching the dolls and pushing them away while revealing the shape of the invisible strings connecting them to Alice. Syaoran slashed with his blade at them, but his blade harmlessly passed trough them.
The strings that attach the body and soul are the same as the ones that control my dolls. Both are strings of the heart that cannot be cut. -explained Alice while pulling another card- [War Command] "Doll's War"!
More dolls jumped out from the card, carrying a mix of axes and spears, joining the ranks of the sword-wielding ones and creating a more dense formation with which they restarted their assault on Syaoran, who found himself struggling once more.
Above the Forest of Magic.
Sakura watched in awe as Marisa flew at overwhelming speed trough the night sky around her, performing a circle trajectory.
Can you do this with those fancy wings of yours? Witch Leyline!-asked Marisa as she leaned her body closer to her broom and placed a card on it, suddenly speeding up even more as she left a trail of blue stars behind her. Flying straight at the red haired girl!
As Sakura realized that Marisa was closing in to ram her with the rocketing broom, she tried to fly out of the way, but the witch simply corrected her trajectory to home in against her. The card mistress only managed to bend her body so that tip of the bamboo tool hit the side of her chest inside of her face, the impact sending her crashing trough the air.
Ah...That really hurt...-said Sakura as her wings unfurled at full to stabilize her flight and she rubbed the pained area with her free hand, holding her wand to recall the Windy, that was simply unable to keep up with the witch's speed.
Oh, still able to talk back? That should have broken a few ribs at least... I didn't sense any barrier, so some sort of shock-absorbing fabric? I'm sure I already saw something of that caliber before... No matter, you don't look like you can take another one of these da ze!-declared Marisa with a wicked smile as she started speeding up towards Sakura once more. The witch saw her pull another card, but didn't change her course, confident that she would impact before whatever spell the red-haired girl was trying to use could take effect.
TIME! RELEASE!-The world instantly turned a pale yellow around Sakura, Marisa's immobilized bamboo broom touching her face, the witch's face frozen with a terrifying grin as her unmoving eyes stared directly at her.
The card mistress tried to pull another card, but the concentration needed just to keep The Time active was too much. She could even barely move. Sakura knew that she had scant seconds to do something before she fainted from trying to keep up this spell, so she reached her hand out towards Marisa's broom.
In front of Alice's house
Suddenly the incoming dolls with a series of sharp implements coming at Syaoran froze in mid-air and the world turned to shades of yellow. The boy instantly knew that Sakura had just used The Time, keeping him out of the time freeze as well. That Marisa seemed to be proving quite a powerful opponent after all. Syaoran knew that he had just a few seconds so he leaped over the dolls and approached Alice. He knew that trying to inflict harm to something that was frozen in time was impossible, otherwise there would be little reason for he to use any other magic when it belonged to him. However there were other things he could do. Syaoran had noticed the puppeteer rings she had in her fingers that kept moving during battle. Swiftly, he pulled them out of her hands, then raised his sword in position to strike.
As he did so returned back to normal, and as it did so the doll soldiers fell to the ground while Syaraon brought down his blade over an Alice oblivious to the change. There was no hesitation in his movement for he knew she was a youkai. She wouldn't die from that. However at the last moment a tiny doll jumped from inside Marisa's blouse holding a razor that it used to parry the sword. Then the stringless doll started glowing red, then shot a scarlet beam towards a surprised Syaoran, that fell on the ground dodging the point-blank attack.
Hmm...What did just happen?-Alice seemed to be realizing something strange had just happened as she realized her fingers were now naked while Shangai went after Syaoran swinging her razor wildly-Time manipulation magic? Unusual.
If you can make dolls move on their own, why do you use strings in the first place?-asked Syaoran, managing to slice the shangai doll in half before it reached him, then jumping back to his feet.
For now I can only automatize some of their actions. It is quite limited as you can see, they don't fight nearly as well when I'm in direct control. And now I'm without my strings, oh dear...-Alice started pulling inanimate dolls from inside her shirt with her hands, clutching them tightly between her fingers. Then she started throwing them directly at Syaoran! The boy decided it was best not to be near those and jumped away. It was the right decision because each of the lifeless dolls detonated violently upon touching the floor!
You also carry explosive things inside your clothes?-asked a dumbfounded Syaoran as he leaped away from the incoming cute bombs.
Where do you think she learned how to cram volatile magic inside of other things from?-smirked Alice, now with an half-insane look on her eyes as she kept throwing her explosive dolls nonstop, making it impossible for Syaoran to approach.
Above the Forest of Magic, just after time had resumed to flow normally.
Marisa kept going forward full speed, but her Sakura was nowhere in her line of sight anymore. Then the witch heard her voice from behind her:
Card created by Shou Toramaru, abandon your old form and reincarnate under the name of your new master, Sakura!
Marisa turned her head to see that Sakura had moved pretty far away from her while time had stopped (although the witch hadn't noticed how yet), now casting a spell-no, changing it. Transforming it to a new form of her own. Something that Marisa had done quite a bit herself. But the card mistress was doing it in a matter of seconds. Seems like she didn't have that title for nothing. Marisa turned her broom around as fast as she could to home in against her again, but Sakura still had enough time to chant:
[Light Sign] "Aura of Justice"!
Golden pillars of energy descended from the sky in a circle around Marisa, converging towards her and forming a cage, forcing the witch to stop or get burned!
Please give up, Marisa-chan. -said Sakura, holding another Card in her hand at the ready.-I can barely sense any magic left on you.
Ah... Ah... Like hell I'm gonna be beat by light magic da ze!-Marisa was left breathing hard after canceling her leyline magic, but still she pulled another card and placed it at the side of her mini-hakkero-[Love Sign] "Non-Directional Laser"!
MIRROR! RELEASE!-chanted Sakura as soon as she heard the word "laser" again.
However what shooted from Marisa's magic furnace were not one but ten lasers of different colors, spinning wildly around her. Their erratic trajectory reflected from Sakura's magic glass and scattered in all directions except back at Marisa while created an opening on the pillars of light trapping the witch, which she used to escape.
In front of Alice's house
The duel between Alice and Syaoran was interrupted as purple laser cut a swathe on the area between them, soon followed by a yellow one at their side and then a green barely grazing Alice and even more lasers of other colors followed.
Damnit Marisa, would it kill you to aim your spells!-shouted Alice at the point in the skies where the lasers were coming from.
Fairy, private talk now!-shouted Syaoran to Luna Child, taking advantage her opponent was distracted, although the lasers erratically raining down from above meant he couldn't counter-attack properly. And also that Sakura was in trouble.
Communications secured boss!-replied the moon fairy, making sure their voices couldn't reach anybody else again.
If you have any magic that could get me up there, use it now!
I got just what you need!-grinned Luna Child while pulling a card and chanting:
Moon Sign "Luna Cyclone"!
Syaoran saw several yellow balls of energy forming around him and start moving in a circlar pattern and upwards, creating a powerful wind current that lifted him towards the skies.
Alice frowned at her opponent running away, but didn't say anything as she stopped throwing dolls and went to retrieve her puppeteer rings from the scorched grass.
In a dark library in Gensokyo
The girl in pink pajamas was floating between the seemingly endless bookshelves when something suddenly swooped in from above. A little girl with blue hair and red eyes, dressed in an elegant pink dress, long black bat wings attached to her back. As she spoke, she revealed a pair of sharp canines among her upper teeth:
Remember the outside world we used to live on before coming to Gensokyo, Pache?
Yes. Lots of old magic there to research, Remi. By the way, did you see our cat? I've sensed some strange magic disturbances recently, so I would like to send her to investigate.
You mean the human? She's busy with dinner right now. Anyway do you recall why we had to leave the outside world?
...I don't actually remember. I helped with the ritual to carry the mansion to a bunch of places before reaching here, but the exact reason why evades me. I also have the memory of a bunch of humans that kept bothering us. I guess you wanted some vacations, Remi?
Pache, what if I told you you found a very dangerous tome in the outside world? A tome sealed by one of the strongest magicians in existence to have ever lived, only to be opened by girls with natural magic powers? A tome with no long text inside but just a bunch of cards? An unique tarot deck, where each card had its own magic abilities and a self sentience of sorts?
You mean a spellcard collection? I don't see how that could be possible. Spellcards were only developed in Gensokyo shortly after our arrival here. There's no way they could exist on the outside world before that moment.
Ah, yes, funny that. We arrived here and soon spellcards are developed... What if said hypothetical tome was cursed? What if the cards initially rebelled and had to be tamed by magic and strength and guile and trickery? What if properly failing to master the cards inside meant getting your memories erased? But not just your memories about this particular deck, but also any feelings you had for people you cared for, as well as those person's own feelings towards others? In a way, for your personal world to be completely destroyed without actually breaking anything physically? And then the cursed tome seals itself again until a new magic girl finds it.
That sounds like extremely advanced dark magic. But if the magic girl isn't actually killed on the process, their magic powers should increase considerably from the experience of being exposed to such a powerful set of spells, even if they failed to master them.
Quite correct, Pache. And then we would end with a bunch of quite powerful but emotionless magic girls. Rings any bells?
…Not really.
Suppose that at some point in time, the tome would be forgotten from the outside world. It would find its way into Gensokyo. It would end up in a shop of the human village, where a young woman with inherent magic powers, mother of a little girl of her own, would manage to open it. Mastering the cards and attaining great power, she would however be shunned by her fellow human villagers, who would start seeing her as a youkai. Too kind to impose her will by force, and fearing for her own young daughter's safety, she willingly fails to master all the cards and is afflicted by the curse. Ironically this makes her become even more ostracized as she shows no more emotions but still is able to use magic. Her own daughter and husband stop caring about her and each other. The young magic woman, surrounded by suspicion, hate and fear, starts to take those qualities upon herself and slices open her own belly in ritual suicide. But she can't pass on to the afterlife. She cannot rest. She remains in this world as an evil spirit, still grasping the knife covered in her own blood, resentful towards all of humanity. She plans revenge for years. She is sealed and breaks free. She gathers followers. Among them, a young girl from the human village shunned by everybody, including her own father. The evil spirit's own daughter. The young girl has no magic power of her own, but is eager to learn, to prove herself at something since she too has no more feelings for her own fellow humans. They're no longer child and parent, but student and teacher. Under the evil spirit's tutelage, the young girl learns powerful and dangerous magic. The evil spirit is eventually sealed away for good, but her student is still free.
I know of no evil spirit that maches your description.
Of course you cannot, very few remember she even existed when we first arrived here, and there's no surviving written records of her actions. Somebody made sure of it. But blood will tell many forgotten secrets for a being such as me, even if it is but a rusty drop dried up many years ago.
Fascinating. One day I should be able to properly understand your blood magic.
Some day, Pache, but this hypothesis isn't finished. Now imagine, a certain magic girl from the outside world who unlocked the tome but failed to master the cards for being a coward, and started to care more about her doll toys than people after the curse affected her. So she treated the people who were previously close to her as dolls. Not caring anymore about the world where she lived in, she shut herself in her own fantasy world. Her magic would take them to a new fantastic place. She killed them one by one. Not out of malice, simply experimenting. Beheading, poison, nailed alive to a tree like if they were a curse doll. The last shreds of attachment to her life lost, she committed suicide. Thus, too coward to use a blade, she hanged herself, but she was no longer human after killing so many of her own in such cruel ways. A simple rope could not end her existence anymore. Instead she only cursed herself to descended into magic hell, Makai, where she further refined her spells and kept creating dolls to serve her, before a great catastrophe pushed her back to Gensokyo.
Are you saying that Alice Margatroid ran into this tome previously, Remi? I'll agree that she's not your average youkai magician, and her self-imposed isolation always seemed somewhat suspicious.
I'm not throwing any names, this is after all just an hypothesis. Alice isn't the only one doll user in Gensokyo with a mysterious past after all. But let me continue this train of thought, next we have a natural born magician youkai that loves books. She is good friends with a pair of vampire sisters and they happily reside in the outside world despite most other youkai there being long gone, since the superstitions that sustain their existence are still popular among humans. The natural magician loves to collect magic books and notes, building herself a great library on her vampire friend's mansion basement. She knows how to be discrete to don't attract unwanted human attention, but one day she acquires a cursed tome that when opened releases several magic cards that go around wrecking havoc. The older vampire sister helps her capture them back, but it becomes harder to keep their actions secret anymore due to the great power of the cards running rampart. Their activities end up attracting the attention of a dangerous vampire hunter. Just an human, but one skilled with the way of the blade and with natural moon magic, more in particular time manipulation. A truce is put into place between them however as the rampaging cards are deemed a greater threat than the vampire. A rivalry and eventually friendship ends up developing between the vampire and hunter. The cards are all captured. All ends well.
There's no way that theory can be true. There's only two recorded vampire sisters in either world in the last 500 years. And you are one of them, Remi.
Ha, you got me, because this story doesn't end there. For you see, the great magician who created the cards had secretly reincarnated. Once he sensed the cursed tome had a recognized new mistress he went to check her himself. He creates all sort of new challenges for her until they finally duel face to face. But the youkai card mistress decides to play fair, to walk her own path and take on the challenge without the help of her other friends. She is defeated and loses the cards. Her feelings for others lost, she becomes a bookworm that spends most of her life surrounded by books, slowly withering away. If not for the older sister vampire's unique ability to see and repair the broken chains of fate between them, she would probably have no feelings for others at all. One of the great magician's minions, turns out to quite dislikes youkai. For she is a shrine maiden. She pursues the vampires, magician girl and the hunter who had befriended them half way across the world until they reach China, where they manage to befriend a powerful local youkai as a bodyguard. But in doing so they attract the attention of a powerful clan of human warriors. They end up needing to run away across the sea to the island that is Japan and manage to hide inside the great Gensokyo barrier, its existence hinted from ancient chinese scrolls.
And that sounds like us, except I don't remember any cards inside books nor that great magician reincarnation. But supposing that my memory was indeed sealed, which is far from impossible in the realm of magic, that implies all four magicians who survived the cursed book are now in Gensokyo. That sounds like quite a rare coincidence.
There are no coincidences in life. There is only fate.
That you can manipulate. Have you been controlling the events of this hypothetical cursed tome, Remi?
Let me tell you a little secret, Pache, everybody manipulates fate when they make a decision. People sow actions and reap consequences for them. I simply can get a better view of the threads-chains of destiny. I have an easier time grabbing them, yanking them, even breaking them, but anybody else can do it if they have the will and the patience.
This discussion is... Fascinating, but your hypothesis still doesn't explain the disturbance I felt.
Indeed, because then there's another magic girl who finds and manages to open the book in her father's basement. Because a vampire able to see fate had left it there. The girl is a bit dense, so she'll never notice that her father, an hard worker and methodical researcher will never ask for the strange book after she takes it for herself. Because the father never knew it was there in the first place.
And what would be this hypothetical vampire's objective be by doing that?
She needed a distraction to throw away the Shrine Maiden's and warrior clan pursuit while they searched for a way inside Gensokyo. It was supposed to be a simple matter. The girl lacked any kind of experience with magic and although she was lucky, she wouldn't last a year as far as her own fate was concerned. Many would try to help her, but it wouldn't be enough against the devastating power of the cards. The chinese warrior clan would clean up the mess of their neighbours left behind, and eventually run into a conflict against the great magician. Perfect revenge.
Sounds more like petty revenge to me. But that would be a magic incident in the outside world. It would not affect Gensokyo.
But the future was forced to change. The chinese warrior clan sent a single boy to Japan. He more than anybody else changed the girl's fate, creating exceptionally strong links with her. He taught her how to better use her magic, he provided a rival figure to push her forward, using himself as a shield, he even bent and twisted time itself to make sure she would succeed, never letting the girl learn just how much he had truly supported her behind the scenes. Over a hundred terrible fates for the girl completely averted directly because of him. Even the great magician's plans went out of tracks due to his presence. The hilarious part was that when it was all over the boy just tried to walk away expecting that the chains of fate forged between he and the girl would just disappear like nothing, but the she pulled him back. Chains so strong that they actually materialized in magic like the outside world hadn't seen being born for centuries. And that was bound to attract the gap youkai's presence. She arranged for them to be brought to Gensokyo.
Didn't the gap youkai visit us the other day?
Yeah, but I'm tired of pretending I'm her easily manipulable puppet. She thinks she has me under control, but I only played along when it was convenient.
You definitely fooled me. I could've sworn you were just making up stuff because you've been bored, Remi.
It's impossible for others to know the burden that is being so close to fate as I am, Pache. Our time in Gensokyo has been a relaxing vacation, but this place is just too boring. Too much sun and rain. Even when an interesting incident happens, most of the time I can't participate because of that. I miss the human cities of the outside world. So much fine food and entertainment all year round. But getting out of Gensokyo is much harder than getting in. Doubly so if you want to carry a mansion with you. So the main point of my hypothesis is, we don't need to move a finger to find the source of the magic anomaly, it being the card mistress and the boy. A magic anomaly that may just be our ticket ouf this place. They'll be coming here soon enough. The chains are already in place and slowly pulling them. We just need to wait. I knew this day would come for years. It's why I've put up with so much boredom.
And then what happens, Remi?
Then we and them make choices, Pache. That will decide the fate of both Gensokyo and the outside world.
We should still send the cat to make sure those chains hold, Remi.
...How many times do I have to tell you, Pache, she's an human! Do you think a cat could be a chief maid with class?
It's all inside the error margin, Remi.
(Review reply:
sandrdrake111:Thanks! I guess I indeed ended up portraying Yukari more on the evil side, but it's nice to hear you're still enjoying the story)