I looked upon the massive and grimly red mansion that stood before me and my friend, Yuugi that was ever so familiarly dreadful to me. I thought about the high risk of my life if I decided to go here, but I knew it was the only way I'd find my friend Alice. If Yukari ever decided to pop up here, then I could deal with her and clear my name as soon as possible. Yuugi was strong enough to fight both Remilia and Yukari if needed and I was smart and well-armed enough to hold my own against anyone else thanks to my new weapon that Nitori and I made together. If that wasn't enough, hopefully I could reason with these people. We were about to circle around to the front gate when another solution came to mind.

Reinhardt: "Hey Yuugi, wait! I have a better plan."
Yuugi: "What could that possibly be?"
Reinhardt: "Well it occurred to me that we shouldn't waste any time so I thought that we should sneak in from the back door instead of going in from the front so we could avoid as much conflict as possible."
Yuugi: "Why in Hakugyokurou should we do that? I see that as a coward's move and a thief's plan! Didn't I teach you better?"
Reinhardt: "Well I'm no coward and certainly not a thief-"
Yuugi: "So what's the problem then?"
Reinhardt: "I just think it's much quicker to avoid unnecessary conflict. I'm not much of a fighter anyways. I only fight when it's for survival and I try to avoid it when I can't handle it. Remember, my life is at risk in a world like this with me being human, but I refuse to go back to the corrupt and rotting world outside of the border where I would die slowly starving or from some toxic air pollution."
Yuugi: "...Well I guess you have a point. Come on then before the sun goes down."

I then realized it's mid-to-late afternoon, so we climbed over the wall to find ourselves looking over a courtyard with hedges, flowers, and a fountain in the middle. We jumped down into the courtyard just as a fairy maid was coming out from the back door probably to tend to the garden while Hong Meiling was keeping the gate. She was a bit surprised at our arrival and instantly flew our way to shoot some danmaku at us. I took cover behind a hedge as Yuugi dodged the small line of shots to shoot her own at the fairy, instantly knocking her a bit unconscious against the red brick wall of the mansion. I felt a bit sorry for her, being only a simple little footsoldier in the red army, but Yuugi continued into the mansion and I followed right behind her.

Yuugi: "Y'know, what you did back there was a bit cowardly of you."
Reinhardt: "I'll have you know that in the military, soldiers wouldn't think twice about hiding behind cover to protect themselves from bullet-fire. Of course, the reason for that is because the bullets in the outside world are too fast to dodge and actually kill people, so there is perfectly good reason to hide behind cover when bullets are about to be fired."
Yuugi: "What a twisted world you live in."
Reinhardt: "I would say the same about yours."

We continued through the hallways through the elaborately large mansion and continued to fight through small waves of unexpecting fairy maids. While Yuugi exhibited her traditional danmaku firing and dodging techniques, I demonstrated my military-like aim-and-shoot paired with my hiding behind cover. My new weapon proved to be an amazingly important asset in my arsenal, but butt jokes aside, the shots seemed to stun the maids in place before they fell to the ground. I took the time to check their pulse when we weren't in an encounter. I got a slight jab of electricity upon touch, but their pulses were fine so I had nothing to worry about the deadly factor in my Kappa's Tazer. Yes, Kappa's Tazer. That's what I decided to call Nitori's and my new invention. Yuugi questioned it a bit, but it didn't really matter. We eventually reached a big hall and found ourselves standing before the scarlet devil herself with her top servant by her side.

Reinhardt: "Surprise surprise, didn't think you'd see my handsome face again, huh?"
Remilia: "I was a bit disappointed at Yukari when she took away what would be my most delicious meal."
Reinhardt: "Why I'm flattered, m'lady. You're too kind."
Remilia: "Thank you. You know what. I was a rather rude hostess for my honored guest. No wonder you wanted to leave. I never offered you any dinner when you arrived. I bet you were starved by the time you came to my gates. You looked so skinny when I first met you. Now you're beefier. Yuugi, you did a good job feeding him for me."
Yuugi: "I didn't do it for you, I did it so he would be stronger! So he could stand up to people like you!"
Remilia: "Oh, so we're getting hostile now? Would you dare fight me?"
Yuugi: "I would have no problem with it."
Reinhardt: "I think you're all lunatics."
Remilia: "Reinhardt, I thought you would be more gentlemanly than that. I thought I was 'too kind'. I was going to offer you dinner."
Reinhardt: "You were going to have me for dinner! Now that isn't rather nice of you."
Remilia: "Well what would a vampire have to eat? I am not going to starve like you would have."
Yuugi: "Enough of this chat! We came here to find Reinhardt's friend, Alice! Where is she?"
Remilia: "How rude of you! Reinhardt and I were having a rather deep conversation, and just for that, I don't think I want to tell the likes of you."

With Yuugi and Remilia speaking those words, I already began to see balls of energy of various colors, shapes, and sizes fly about the room. We were in a rather open space being in this big main hall, so I was forced to either attempt dodging the bullets or make a run for a column that stood among a row to hold up the architecture of the room and a walkway on the second floor above circling the edge of the room. As I took cover behind the pillar while the oni and the vampire dueled, Sakuya, who I almost forgot was there with us due to her silence, flanked me, coming out from the flying bullets under the second floor walkway where I was to block any attempted escape. My heart just about jumped as I had nowhere else to go. Sakuya flashed in front of me (with her time-manipulating ability) and grabbed me.

Sakuya: "You're not going anywhere, Torres-san. You're coming with me while The Mistress is busy."

In an instant blur, I was taken to some kind of meat locker. It looked like it came directly from some horror scene. The place itself stenched with the smell of blood and flesh. I saw men hanging on meat hooks chained to the ceiling with tons of blood splattered everywhere. I saw where knives punctured the flesh and noticed that the genitalia were all cut off, leaving big bloody spots where they would be. I couldn't stand this place already, even with only being in here for a few seconds.

My head was pounding endlessly and Sakuya made it no better after she threw me toward a wall while getting out a knife and her pocket watch. I used this window of opportunity to get out my survival knife and slice her wrist of the hand that held the pocket watch, thinking that it was the the object that allowed her to stop and slow down time. Thank God that was the case. She yelled a bit in pain and proceeded to slash at me with her knife. I countered the attack and seemingly by instinct, I aimed for her throat. I completely forgot that I shouldn't kill anybody, but luckily, she dodged my swing to cut my cheek in return. I held the pain in while I aimed to disable the hand that held her knife, but she avoided the attempt to stab me in the arm near my right shoulder. I did my best not to scream so I wouldn't show weakness, but I succumbed to the pain and fell to the ground. I did my best to hold my blood in with the knife still in my arm, but I was at my knees before the one with the upper blade and all I could do was pray to God and ask for mercy.

Sakuya: "I saw the way you wielded your knife. You swung it like a beast does its claws. Have you no proper etiquette even in fighting?" With all the strength I had to live, I could still speak.
Reinhardt: "You're more of a monster than I am. You kill your own kind to serve a devil you call a mistress! I would only kill if either my life or the lives of those I love were in jeopardy. You kill for a living." My voice was rough, but it still worked.
Sakuya: "Well in the beginning, I didn't exactly ask for this. I was at the mercy of my mistress just like you are at the mercy of me. I serve her because she chose to spare my life, even when I tried to end hers. Even if I wanted to leave, I would just be ruining my own life with nowhere else to go. Nothing to eat and nowhere to stay. The mistress would be very unhappy with my leave if I were to do such a thing. I have no other choice, so please don't take this personally."
Reinhardt: "I understand, but there is much to be had for a free man. In case you haven't heard of Him, there's a certain Man Who, long ago, suffered and died, knowing that if He did, my sins would be no more and I could live a free life, not having to worry about any dangers that would surround me. Another thing about This particular Man, when He died, He rose from the grave alive three days after suffering the most pain-staking torture and death in history because He was The Son of God, sent down in human flesh to teach us and save us from an eternity in hell. This Man's Name is Jesus Christ. Have you heard of Him?"
Sakuya: "I've heard of very few tales of such a Man, but I don't believe in God."
Reinhardt: "Then perhaps I could tell you of His Wonders so that you could live life more freely and abundantly. Maybe Remilia could be saved and maybe she could even step into the light without having to be burned. If only you could take a leap of Faith like I did. I serve The Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and He protects me and provides for me and most of all, loves me better than a father would love his son."

For some reason, Sakuya was speechless. I wouldn't blame her, but she started to back up and turn around to leave the meat locker and me to bleed while she held her cut wrist to prevent further bleeding on her behalf. I could almost hear sniffling somehow as she was walking out. So here I am, abandoned again in a sudden change of scenery. Only this time the only thing that would hold me back is the wound I have in my arm, but all I could think of was The Lord's Mercy upon me. Lord, bless Sakuya for her act of mercy like the act of Mercy you bestowed upon me. I was washed in a different kind of Blood when You saved me, the wreck I was when You found my soul. Now I would need to get back up and find Alice while Yuugi occupied Remilia's time.