It was the next morning. Maribel and Renko would live with Keine until a new place was built for them; which would not take long with the humans working on it; combined with their own; small magical powers.
As such; Rumia decided to go to Mystia's restaurant for breakfast. Mystia was there herself; and took Rumia's order for 'The Usual'; which consisted of Lamprey cooked over an open fire; covered with a syrup made from fruits around the Misty Lake.
Rumia started to eat; talking to Mystia since the place tended to be rather quiet at this particular hour; when the door opened.
Rumia raised an eyebrow; and Mystia looked somewhat worried; as a blonde-haired woman; wearing a red dress entered. The woman they saw a few nights ago. The one who worked for Yuuka. Elly.
The Shinigami walked over to Rumia and Mystia; and looked cheerful. At this close distance; Rumia noticed a miniature scythe like a badge on her hat.
"Hello!" Elly said happily. "Don't worry. Yuuka gave me some time off."
"Yuuka. Time Off. That dosen't sound right." Rumia said; sounding suspicious.
"Well I just guard a gate that no-one even visits. Yuuka gives me time off when she feels like it. There seems to be no rhyme or reason." Elly said. "Don't worry; you can trust me."
The two looked at Elly with suspicion still.
"Well; what do I have to do to get some food here anyway?" Elly asked.
At this point; Mystia's face lost all suspicion.
"What can I help you for?" She asked.
"That's sudden Mystia..." Rumia said.
"Quiet Rumia. Everyone's an equal customer here. I'd serve even Rika if she came in and asked for food. I'm a professional! I'm not gonna let who someone is stop me doing business!" Mystia said; looking at Rumia with determined eyes. "So Elly's a customer; trust her. Food brings people together!"
Rumia sweatdropped.
"Well; I guess you did break help the boundaries between humans and youkai with your food." she said.
Elly chuckled quietly, before Mystia asked Elly again.
"What do you have to do with apples?" Elly asked.
"Uh; Apple sauce; glazes that use apples; apples themselves... Cider..."
"I'll take all of it. Give me all the apples." Elly said; her eyes lighting up.
"W-what?" Mystia said; looking taken aback. "Are you an eater on the level of Rumia or something?"
"Only when it involves apples." Elly said.
Mystia just sighed. "I'll bring out apple products one at a time. How's that?"
"That works." Elly said; sitting down on the other side of Rumia's table; facing her; before the Night Sparrow flew into the kitchen.
The Shinigami looked at Rumia for a few seconds; before she spoke.
"Yuuka awakened; didn't she?" she said flatly.
"If by 'awakened' you mean; 'became a crazed god bent on murdering everything around her' then yes; she awakened." Rumia said simply.
"Well; I guess I should explain a bit to you then. I'm off the clock; I can say what I like without Yuuka kicking me." Elly said.
Rumia raised an eyebrow. "Why would you tell me things Yuuka wouldn't want me to hear?"
"Because perhaps; if this were to happen again; you might be able to use the knowledge to bring Yuuka back again. I consider it in Yuuka's benefit; and besides; I like chatting." Elly said.
Mystia arrived with a glass of cider and a bowl of lamprey covered in apple sauce and glazing. With an apple on the side. Elly looked at Mystia like she was some sort of Apple-bearing goddess for a moment, before she took some hearty mouthfuls.
"Anyway; you should be aware; that the Yuuka you know; the one in the Garden of the Sun; is a fake." Elly said.
"Hmm?" Rumia went.
"You know how if you cut a branch of a plant, and plant that branch; you can grow a new plant identical to the first? That's called 'taking a cutting'. Yuuka did that to herself. She wanted to have an effect in Gensokyo; some fun I guess. So she made a weaker version of herself. A clone. The Yuuka you know in Gensokyo is only 1/10th as strong as the real Yuuka." Elly explained.
"But she's as strong as me; and the others; the one we know!" Rumia said, before she smirked.
"I recall Yuuka mentioning her underling was strong enough to be a member of our group herself. I thought that odd. That explains it. But... how strong are you then?" Rumia asked.
"Hmm. Depends. About 11 years ago Reimu and Marisa managed to beat me aside and get into Yuuka's mansion; but that was because I had got lazy and not trained or had any fights for centuries. Now that I've been training again; I'd consider myself in prime form, so... uh... I'd say I'm three to four times stronger than the Yuuka you know."
"You're bluffing... there's no way you're that strong..." Rumia said.
Elly narrowed her eyes; and Rumia suddenly felt herself struggling for breath. She felt her heart beating slower. Then she relaxed, and everything returned to normal.
"That was..."
"Yes. I am a Shinigami. Or; used to be. I was the strongest of all Shinigami; stronger than even the Kishin." Elly said, before she looked away.
"But Shinigami have a shelf-life. One can only take... so much killing. Their own souls cannot bear it anymore. They either collapse into madness and murder; or into depression. Everyone has a breaking point; and the Yama of my region decided... I was nearing mine. I was retired. Retired Shinigami go to the far-flung corners of the world to hide, that; or they offer themselves to be killed."
"That's dreadful..." Rumia said.
"Well; the real Yuuka lives underneath the Lake of Blood; in the very North-East Corner of Gensokyo. There; under the lake; is a portal. I shall not confide with you the purpose of this portal; but it is vital enough that I guard it. The real Yuuka lives within it; in her own miniature dimensional pocket." Elly said. "To even get under the lake one would have to get past the vampire who lives there; no easy task."
"I can imagine..." Rumia said; thinking of Remilia; as Elly finished off her first load of food and began a second.
Then she did something odd. She took the small scythe off her hat; and it grew into it's full size. She then smeared some of the food into it's blade.
The food sunk in; and the scythe wriggled.
"W-what?!" Rumia exclaimed. "Did your scythe just eat?"
"Yes." Elly said. "It's very special. The scythe itself is part youkai. You see; some of the wood used to make it comes from the very first apple tree. A tree which turned youkai. As such; the wood cut from it became a youkai too. I call it 'Malus'. It means 'Apple'." Elly said. "It has the power to change it's shape and size at will. Kinda similar to one of my student's powers."
"Student?"
"Komachi. She can manipulate distances; so can achieve a similar effect with her scythe." Elly said happily. "My own power is much more mundane. I have the power to create and manipulate floor tiles. Be it stone; glass; or whatever. I can form a square tile of it."
"... That sounds useless."
"So does 'Manipulation of Flowers'." Elly said, finishing a glass off. "It ain't what the power is; but how you use it! I mean; I'd call 'Manipulation of Darkness' pretty useless myself. Loads of youkai can see in the dark anyway; and the dark don't hurt anyone. It's what's hidden inside it."
"You got a point..." Rumia said.
Elly continued to eat for a while, not saying anything else. So; instead; Rumia spoke.
"You know; you don't seem all that bad. Here I thought you had to be evil and all that since you worked for Yuuka." Rumia said.
Elly just laughed. "I'm not evil! Yuuka isn't really evil either. She's just... uh... kinda..."
"Influenced by a mad god sealed inside of her?" Rumia asked.
"I guess you could put it like that." Elly replied; shrugging her shoulders, before there was a glint in her eye.
"You know; I heard Yuuka mention once that you're supposed to be pretty strong. I have no problems having a bit of a sparring session. Since I'm not a Shinigami in Service anymore; you don't need to worry about a cut from my scythe killing you instantly or anything."
Rumia looked at Elly; and was about to refuse; when Shinki barreled into the restaurant.
"Oh; there you are! I've been looking for you! I got something I wanna try out on you. But you gotta get yourself really tired first."
Rumia looked at Shinki.
"What do you want to do?" she asked.
"Well; I heard you had a little 'Evil God' problem a few days ago. So I thought I could make you a weapon. A Divine Weapon. Something that could hurt a god. Since; you know; Divine. But to do something like that; I'd need you to be exhausted so that infusing my powers into you doesn't cause you to well... explode. You know how it is. Your energy is from the Heart and all." Shinki explained; excited like a little child.
"You've... never made a Divine Weapon before; have you Shinki?" Rumia asked.
"Nope!" Shinki said. "But Remilia mentioned Gungir to me yesterday; and then Lævateinn. So I went back to the mansion and read up about these weapons and chatted to Remilia and I thought it would be cool to have a weapon I made!"
Rumia just looked at the huge; ornate staff Shinki was holding. It was as large as Shinki; and larger than Rumia.
"Oh no; I didn't make that. Well. I did. Just BEFORE I became a God. Long time ago." Shinki said; still excited.
Elly looked dumbfounded.
"Is this what a sane God is like?" she asked.
"I wouldn't call Shinki exactly sane." Rumia admitted. "Her idea of a beautiful world is basically what most would see as a hellish landscape."
"No God is really sane." Shinki said. "Except Gods of Sanity. But you don't hear or see many of those. So I suppose they don't exist."
She turned to Elly.
"Who are you anyway?" she asked.
"I'm the gatekeeper who works for the one that the 'Mad God' is sealed into." she said.
Shinki looked upset.
"Well... uh... I supposed it's not a problem me talking about how I want to make a weapon capable of killing your mistress right in front of you?" Shinki asked; looking worried.
"No. The way I see it if Titania is killed Yuuka is freed from her vile influence. I have no qualms. Besides; as you said Shinki; all Gods are mad. You could be talking about any god. Even so; I would be powerless to stop you. I can tell when I'm out of my league."
Shinki slapped Elly on the back, before looking to Rumia "Well said! Now then Rumia; shall we get going? I suppose the only one here who could fight you to exhaustion is... well... me."
"I'm not fighting you Shinki. I have a better idea." Rumia said; looking to Elly. "I assume your offer of a spar is still open?"
Elly grinned;' and called Mystia over; pulling out her coin and paying, before she replied. "Of course it is! I need to see the results of my training anyway."
Yeah; I'm taking the excuse Elly gave about being off-form in LLS and running with it. But considering Elly's position her being weak makes little sense. [Her excuse holds water. Beating up a vampire to get to her isn't easy; even if Kurumi is not on Remilia's level] Especially considering the time she is introduced in the story.