"Yumemi, eh?" Rumia asked.
"Yes." the woman in red responded.
"... You don't look anything like I expected. Chiyuri looks like a sailor, and you guys are stealing magic. I'd have expected you to look like some captain or a pirate or something." Rumia said.
Yumemi smirked. "I'm a scientist. I would prefer you not to call me a thief, although I guess it is accurate. Anyway, allow me to explain."
"That's what we were trying to get your underling to do." Eirin commented. "And then she went aggressive when we pointed out issues."
"Yes, I heard that discussion, I have a communicator device." Yumemi said, before she sighed. "Let me explain why, first. Chiyuri mentioned our world no longer has magic, but for 8,000 years, that was not an issue. However, it is an issue now. We are running out of natural resources. Science is limited by what physically exists, ultimately. Thus, I devoted my life to returning magic to my dimension. I found a way to open small portals to other dimensions. Large enough for a couple of people and some equipment. I found a way to make a pocket dimension to contain magical energy. I found a way to break down the magical energy of each dimension and locale into the same basic building blocks."
Yumemi paused.
"I'm getting too technical, sorry. I get sidetracked. What it boils down to is this; I am taking as little magical energy as I possibly can, to save my people from their end. I have intentionally spread the process across dimensions to minimize the impact to each individual dimension."
"That's the thing. You assume you won't cause any harm." Rumia said. "But every dimension is different, and every world has it's breaking point. Makai is different to Gensokyo. Even the Moon is. Did you know this is the last pocket of magic on this planet? This is like, a nature reserve or something. Messing with the magic here is already having an impact of creatures which are closely tied. Who knows what the tipping point where the damage will be too much is?"
Yumemi looked shocked... but not angry. She looked... upset.
"Is that the case? That is a shame. I did not want to cause any harm. However, likewise, I cannot stop. The project is at the point where I think we have 90% of the energy required. But the energy needs to stay in it's raw form, or else it will not adapt to the order of our dimension. If we tarry too long, it will adapt instead to the pocket dimension. For that reason, I cannot stop. It will be... another two weeks, I think. Even if I could stop taking energy from this land... Gensokyo, that would only increase the strain on other dimensions. It would cause problems for them."
"Then I hope you understand where I'm coming from." Rumia said. "I can't allow you to even risk ruining our world. I understand what your issue is, but I can't risk Gensokyo's stability are already negative effects, on my friends too. It's a shame, you're a pretty decent person, I can tell, but if I have to, I'll beat you up and smash whatever you're using to take the magic myself."
"I would prefer it not to come to violence. After I attempted to kidnap the Miko I realized I was losing my moral compass..."
"Moral compass? You know that you gave Rika technology that she used to attempt Genocide, right?!" Rumia shouted.
"I-I-I wasn't aware of her intentions! I only gave her some drones to construct with, she said she was making something for the people!" Yumemi stammered, her tone of voice and body language not showing anything but honesty.
"Yes, she made something for the people all right, and in her mind making something for the people is making something to commit genocide on youkai." Rumia huffed.
Yumemi was quiet for a few moments, as was everyone else.
"You realize, that the other world that your energy matched is one of those worlds I am also taking energy from, right?" Yumemi said calmly. "If I wre to stop taking energy from this place, Gensokyo, it would only increase the strain on the place of your other magical origin; Makai."
Rumia's eyes flared, and she rushed at Yumemi, ready to attack before a device formed in Yumemi's hand. It was a sphere, with what looked like a magisterial ring on it. For the briefest of moments, Rumia felt a massive magical force eminateing from it, and swore she saw a white flash, and stopped, by sheer instinct.
"You're why Shinki's been feeling weak recently!" Rumia growled.
"If Shinki is the one who called herself the Goddess of that world, yes, although she told me she could withstand that amount of energy being taken without batting an eyelid."
Rumia sighed. Shinki and her pride...
"Of course, Makai and Gensokyo are far from the only places in the multiverse with magic. I have spread extractors among every location with magic I could find. If I recall, the moon of the planet Gensokyo is part of also has one."
At this point, Eirin spoke.
"There's no way that the Watasuki Sisters would have let you do something like that. They would have stopped you."
Rumia knew instantly what this meant. She knew Eirin probobly did as well, she was just confirming it.
"Two sisters on the moon did try and stop me, but their powers, based on magic, did not work on me. Admittedly, I was unable to defeat them either, so we came to a stalemate. The purple-haired one said she had to let me do what I wanted, as she couldn't stop me." Yumemi claimed simply.
"Rumia, you notice that? That means her defense is incredible." Eirin said.
"No, not just her defense.. for the briefest of moments before I struck her, I felt a great energy from that sphere she's clutching. I felt as if... if I had continued, I would have died." Rumia said. "She has some great offense too, even if she was unable to hit it."
Yumemi sighed.
"I would prefer it if you stopped talking about plans to fight me. I have no intention of fighting if it can be avoided. All I ask for is two more weeks. I would highly prefer to avoid violence."
"Two more weeks of you risking Gensokyo? The fairies? My freinds? Not gonna happen." Rumia said.
Yumemi was quiet for a few moments, before she just look towards Chiyuri.
"I will be taking my subordinate now. I implore you let me save my world, and trust that I will do as little to damage yours as possible. You must understand, if I stop, my people will die."
Then, Yumemi's device loosened four prongs of white, magical energy, like flame, in the shape of a cross. Yumemi swung the energy through Eirin's familars, and not just the ones cut, but those near, disintergrated, and Chiyuri walked out of the hole.
Eirin looked visibly shocked... and also in some pain. Rumia knew from Mystia and Wriggle, that damage done to familiars was fed back somewhat as pain to the master. With the amount Yumemi had destroyed in one strike, she could only imagine how much pain Eirin was in, despite just wincing.
"I would greatly prefer not having to use this to defend my interests." Yumemi said. "I wish we do not meet again, however rude that may sound. Come Chiyuri, seeing as you can't find the device to do maintenance, I will do it with you."
"OK Boss!" Chiyuri said, before they both flickered in the air, and then vanished.
"Teleportation." Eirin said, her voice a little wavering.
"She's strong..." Mystia commented.
"Looks like we've got another tough one on our hands, eh, Rumia?" Wriggle said. "It isn't anything you can't stop, right?"
"You don't understand." Daiyousei said. "That freeing of her subordinate; the talk about how she is doing the same to Makai and stood even with the Watasuki Sisters... it was all intimidation. Her speech about her morals and her motivation... Yumemi was fighting the entire time. She was trying to stop a fight from happening in the first place. I couldn't tell much clearly about her, except... there were no lies in her tone of voice. She legitimately is trying to save her world."
A few moments passed.
"So the question isn't if Rumia can stop her... it's if she can bring herself to." Daiyousei added.
"The feeling you felt when you were about to attack Yumemi... it wasn't the feeling of your death. It was the fear of what you would do to Yumemi's people." Eirin said. "You knew that Yumemi was speaking the truth... didn't you Rumia?"
"My instincts told me to stop because what I was doing wasn't right." Rumia admitted. "But I can't let Yumemi keep going either. We know now she's taking enough energy to make even Shinki too tired to even visit Alice."
The youkai punched the ground.
"But... if she really is as strong as Yorihime and Toyohime... I... don't think I can stop her, even if I can bring myself to try."
"About that..." a voice said, which made everyone turn around.
Kaguya was standing outside Eientei.
"I felt something when she summoned that orb. It was a space-time distortion. When it flared up like a cross for the attack, I felt magic rushing through a tear in space-time. With my power over Eternity and the Moment, I may be able to stop her using her weapon."
"Wait, Princess... you're saying you'll..."
"The Lunarians are no longer looking for me, Eirin. There is no reason for me to stay within your barriers to hide anymore. I see no reason why I cannot contribute to resolving an incident, especially since my needs have been core of two now." Kaguya said.
"We still need to find out where Yumemi went to though. We don't know where the device even is." Kogasa commented.
Rumia smiled, with a sly grin.
"We know something though. They wanted to use Rika's base to stay in while they were doing work before. That's why they helped Rika, right? So that must mean..."
"The Mountain Ranges." everyone said together.
"But if she's as strong as the sisters, we'll need help." Rumia said.
"I'm sure Remilia will be able to help out." Wriggle commented. "She's not exactly one to worry too much about the moral side of things anyway, and if fairies are in danger, that means her own maid force too."
"Wriggle you genius!" Rumia said, hi-fiving her freind. "Of course Remilia would be great to help us out here! She dosen't need to worry about Yumemi's weapon either, she's... Remilia!"
"She also doesn't need to worry about Flan going out of control while she's gone." Mystia added.
"Even then, the mountain ranges are large; and we have no idea what the device is. We could be looking for a needle in a haystack." Kaguya commented.
"Leave that problem to me. There's only one person who knows those Mountain Ranges, and I'm the only one who's gonna be able to find her." Rumia said.
"Rika?" everyone, even Cirno, asked.
"Yes... I'm gonna lure out Rika to help us. She didn't seem to like Chiyuri anyway."
Author Notes:
Writer's Block is an evil thing, when you're attempting to write Yumemi right and transcripting from an RP into a consistent story. Apologies for the delay, I wanted to get Yumemi right.