"Do you want to play with me?" the stranger asked again, tilting her head.
"... Define play." Mokou asked, on guard.
"I like to play rough with my toys, but they always break. Everything's too fragile. Sis says I shouldn't play with other people, because when I break them it makes problems. But playing with others is so much fun... he... ke... kehehehee!" the stranger chuckled.
Mystia could tell easily from her mannerism, her shifting tone of voice, and random chuckles. This strange-looking... thing, was completely nuts. Yet, she still seemed child-like. There was an element that seemed like an innocent child to her. Mystia couldn't help but think of Rumia, looking at this blonde.
"I can assure you, I'm not one to break easily. Who are you anyway shorty?" Mokou asked, breathing out some smoke, as an act of intimidation.
"Why does it matter? In a few minuites you'll probobly be broken, and the sweet stuff will be all over me~" the stranger said, before she darted forward, in a movement Mystia's eyes could hardly follow, and she smashed her weapon into Mokou's side.
Mokou acted quickly, it wasn't clear if she followed the movement, or worked on instinct of centuries of battles to the death, but she caught the stranger's weapon in both hands. Holding it back was a huge struggle for her, however.
"... You're not broken yet." the stranger said, almost sounding upset. "Flandre." she added.
"Flandre? What's that?" Mokou grunted, through bared teeth, as her arms struggled to keep the stranger's weapon away.
"My name. I figure you might not break for long enough for it to be worth you knowing." the blonde said, jumping backwards, taking her weapon with her.
"I am Flandre Scarlet. Remilia's little sister. I'm surprised she hasn't told you about me. She loves to talk. Too much." the being said, her eyes glinting red in the night.
"You don't look like a vampire.." Keine commented.
"I'm friends with Remilia, and she never mentioned you." Mystia said.
Flandre just smiled, and her weapon ignited.
"Do you like my wand?" she asked. "It's the only toy I have that doesn't break. It's good at breaking things too."
"Mokou, be careful... if she's truly Remilia's sister, she must be incredibly powerful, as well as possibly being insane." Keine warned.
"Yeah, I figured the powerful thing out already. That wooden stick almost cleaved me in two." Mokou said, putting her hands in front of her, before unleashing a massive torrent of flames. The fires were controlled masterfully, not even damaging trees, but engulfing Flandre.
"Tehehehehehehe. You're funny." Flandre's voice said from the fire, before Mokou suddenly rushed into the flames, and the two flew into the skies, Mokou grabbing Flandre around the neck, dragging her away from Keine and Mystia.
"Mokou must be planning to fight seriously, or feels we're too close." Keine said. "Stay back Night Sparrow, this fight is far beyond our level."
Keine was right. The two stared exchanging danmaku of incredibly high level, the battle more intricate than any danmaku Mystia had ever seen. However, the danmaku quickly became only part of the battle, the two exchanging blows. Flandre's fighting style was more about brute force, and was completely random and wild. On the other side, Mokou threw punches and kicks like someone who had practiced for years, despite being far slower and physically weaker than the rampaging vampire, she was able to hold her own in physical combat due to sheer skill.
Mokou pushed Flandre back, before she roared, seemingly in anger, and the flames surrounding her, the phoenix-like cloak, grew and engulfed her completely, turning Mokou into a giant phoenix made entirely of fire. With a screech, the mass of flame rushed at the Vampire.
"Laevatein" Flandre said, as the flames surrounding her wand turned into rainbow colors, the scheme matching her crystals. The vampire cackled as she swung the wand towards the phoenix, and a massive wave of heat emitted, one Keine and Mystia easily felt.
"I've never seen anyone fight back Mokou's 'Possessed by Pheonix' technique with raw power..." Keine said, as the phoenix and the wand stayed in contact, struggling against each other.
Then, suddenly, without warning, the flames of the wand grew larger, and the pheonix's flames dissipated, a fireball struck to the ground near Keine and Mystia.
Mokou was in the flaming crater. She wasn't moving. Mystia couldn't sense any signs of life.
"Oh dear... she broke." Flandre said, landing. "Who wants to play with me next?"
The voice was innocent, but Flandre had already shown what she meant by 'play'.
"Should we run?" Mystia asked.
"We should, but then what's stopping her getting into the village? It'll be a complete bloodbath." Keine said. "I have an idea, however."
Keine looked at Flandre.
"That's a nice wand you have there." she said.
Flandre looked at the wand, which was still burning in a rainbow of flames.
"It is. The fires are pretty. I can make the fire any color I want. It can do a lot more, but fire is the best." she said.
"You called it Laevatein, right?" Keine asked.
"... Yes. Why?"
"Isn't that the wand of the Trickster God, Loki? How did you come across a relic like that?" Keine asked.
"This isn't story time!" Flandre snapped. "This is play time! I only got so long before sis finds out and comes to take me back home! I shouldn't be out, I snuck out..."
At that point, Mokou jumped out of the crater, and tackled Flandre, before engulfing both her and the vampire in flames. Flandre screeched as the fires covered her, and she thrashed to get Mokou off her.
"So fire does hurt you, eh?" Mokou sneered.
"Get off! I don't like hugs!" Flandre shouted. "Get off me! You're heavy!"
"Seriously..." Mokou said, dumbfounded.
"The fire's OK, the you isn't! Gettoff!" Flandre screamed, kicking and flailing Laevatein, to no avail, her small stature not being able to actually hit Mokou.
"I ain't gettin' off till your sis gets here. I can see you can't move with me on you, I'm simply too large for you to free yourself, can't use your strength when your arms can't move!" Mokou retorted.
"Nooooooo! I want to play more!" Flandre roared. "I'll break you! You're fun to play with but I'll break you if you'll ruin playtime!"
"Go ahead. Break me. See if I care." Mokou said. "You can't break me."
Flandre then stopped thrashing, and Laevatein's flames went out, the wand vanishing. Flandre used what movement she could in her right arm so that her finger touched Mokou.
She looked lke she was concentrating, before she opened her eyes.
"Kyuu~" she said.
Mokou screamed, and then, she exploded into a red mist. Nothing was left.
"... I-impossible. That shouldn't be possible... she just touched her... and she exploded..." Keine murmured.
"I can break anyone. Anything that annoys me." Flandre said, getting up. "My power is destruction itself. I can destroy anything, anyone. All I have to do is 'Kyuu~' and then there will be none."
As the Vampire said 'Kyuu~' she closed her hand, and several trees vanished, nothing left. She then started walking towards Keine and Mystia, slowly.
"Now then... who wants to play with me next~" Flandre said, reaching out with her right hand.
Just as the hand was about to touch Keine, a torrent of water crashed between Mystia, Keina and Flandre. The vampire shreiked in surprise, and moved away from the flowing water, before she was encased in a bubble, which was then encased in what seemed to be a magical cage of flowing water.
Someone was floating in the clearing. She was wearing a very light purple... dessing gown, with a hat that looked like a sleeping cap. Her hair was dark purple, and her eyes half-closed.
She coughed a few times, and wheezed, before she spoke.
"I apologize for anything the little sister has done, and ask that you keep her existence quiet. Reimu and Marisa already know, no need to go telling them." the magician said weakly.
Mystia, of course, knew who this was. It was Patchouli Knowledge, the librarian of the Scarlet Mansion. The fact that she appeared here, and addressed Flandre as the 'little sister' confirmed Flandre's words. However, it also confirmed how dangerous Flandre was, if Patchouli, who was of ill health, and almost never left the library, was forced to leave not just the library, but the mansion.
Flandre shouted and hissed, and the bubble popped, only for another one to form.
"Younger Sister, may I remind you that below that bubble is flowing water." Patchouli wheezed. "I know you have mind enough to know self-preservation."
Flandre just pouted inside the bubble, and Patchouli left, the bubble following her.
Both Mystia and Keine took a deep breath when Patchouli left, and both sat down.
It was a few minutes before Mystia spoke.
"... You don't look upset. Mokou died..." Mystia said.
Keine loked at Mystia.
"Yes, she died. She'll be back soon. Mokou is an immortal. It takes something serious to make her die at all, and if she does, she just resurrects. Mokou is impossible to kill for any notable length of time." Keine said. "She wasn't lying."
Almost in que, in a flash of flame, Mokou appeared, clutching her chest.
"Oh GOD THAT HURT." she roared. "Being immortal sucks sometimes, you feel the pain that you would have been spared if you died."
"It's still hurting? Even after resurrecting?" Keine asked, sounding concerned.
"I'm still dying! Whatever she did to me was bad enough that it's killing me multiple times over. She pumped me full of some sort of energy, which set off a..."
Mokou gasped, and burst into flames, turning into a pile of ashes. A moment later, with another burst of flame, she returned.
"Chain reaction of some sort within my very being. It's still ripping me apart. I'm gona keep dyin' until this energy runs out, and that don't feel like it's gonna happen anytime soon, even if the intervals are getting..."
Mokou died and ressurected again.
"... longer. At first I was dying so quickly I couldn't even finish resurrecting. I think in the first second I died a thousand deaths, and before I actually managed to resurrect, I'd died a total of 23,457 deaths. I'm still dying every few seconds now... most of them just aren't 'so much damage I need to re-make my body outright' deaths."
"... How long do you think it'll be until the Elixir overpowers this destructive energy and you stop dying?" Keine asked.
"Uh... two hours? Maybe? I dunno. I've never died so hard that I die even after ressurecting!" Mokou shouted, before holding up a finger.
"One moment. Gonna burst into ash again."
Mokou indeed, did burst into ash. However this time, as the rush of fire signaling her resurrection rose, it fell back down twice, before the third time, she came back.
"Oh god I died mid-resurrection a few times there. I hate to think what woulda happened if any mortal got hit by that thing." Mokou said, sounding in agony.
She paused for a few moments, before she chuckled weakly.
"I gotta introduce that tyke to her. She has GOT to go through this. Be fun to see if she stays sane through this pain. She could use with a few centuries of complete insanity like I had." Mokou said.
ystia was completely overwhelmed by the claim that Mokou had died over 20,000 times in the span of a few minutes. It wasn't just that number that was hitting her, however. It was how close Keine and her were to facing the same fate.
That was when Mystia figured it out.
She had never seen Flandre, and she recalled the initial warning Rumia said Remilia had told her about the basement.
Not to enter if you valued your life.
That was where Flandre was the whole time. Locked in the basement, alone.
The Night Sparrow couldn't help but feel sorry for the vampire, and wondered, did her madness come before, or after being locked up.
Keine returned a few days later, not to eat, but to let Mystia know something.
Mokou said she died a total of 54,683 times, and kept on dying due to whatever Flandre did to her for two days after the actual event.
The Night Sparrow just chuckled in response, utterly unable to comprehend what it must have been like for Mokou. The idea of dying only once was bad enough for her.