"Reimu?"

"…"

"Reiiiimuuu?"

"…"

"REIMU!"

She glanced around to see the magician standing with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping on the ground slowly in impatience, "Hmm? What is it?"

"Don't you 'hmm?' me, Reimu! We've walking down this damn street for ages already!" she chided.

"Relax, Marisa. Relax. Signal's pretty bad down here if you can't tell," she replied calmly as she pulled out her phone. She pressed the power button and showed Marisa the screen.

She leaned closer to look at the small signal strength indicator at the top right corner of the screen. "Ceh! Emergency calls only…"

Reimu then looked at her with a face that reeked of 'I-told-you-so'. "Deal with it."

"She's got a point, Marisa", Sanae butted in. "This was your idea, after all."

Marisa replied with a frustrated moan.

oOo

Moments earlier…

The three girls flew away from the hill as fast as possible, making sure to get as far away as possible from the demonic imp. After a few minutes, they slowed down and hovered in the air for a bit to assess the situation below.

The wind blew gently in the burning ruins of streets and homes, a soothing breeze in the ravaged underground metropolis. Embers fluttered around like the petals of a cherry blossom during the height of spring. It was an oddly beautiful sight for the three maidens to see as the embers complimented the scene of blazing buildings that provided an amber-orange glow throughout the caverns of the Underground, creating a setting similar to that of a late evening sunset. The ever-glowing bright blue column of light emitted from the power plant at the centre of the view. At any other time, they would have seen that blue column as the Underground's finest decoration, second only to the Palace of the Earth Spirits in elegance.

However, the strong metallic smell of blood that hung in the air was a constant reminder that this beauty was built upon the suffering of many others. Entrails and body parts littered the streets as far as the eye could see. Corpses of all shapes and sizes could be found dangling from rooftops or strewn about left, right and centre, with very few in perfect condition.

It was made painfully clear to them that these demons did not discriminate in choosing their victims. Man or woman, human or youkai, young or elderly, healthy or sick, all were mercilessly slaughtered.

"This is… I cannot even begin to describe it." Sanae said in shock and disbelief at the carnage before her eyes.

"Yeah, no kidding. Whoever these guys or girls or…"

"Demons", interrupted Reimu.

"Yeah, demons. Whatever." Marisa said while rolling her eyes. "Point is, these demons have practically thrown the Spell Card rules out the window and are wreaking havoc the good ol' fashioned way."

"I noticed", she stated.

Before they could continue, they felt a finger poking at both their shoulders. "What is it?" they asked in annoyed unison to a concerned Sanae.

"Don't you guys think the streets down there are awfully…quiet?" she asked.

They then both looked down to the city below. Sure enough, there were no demons in sight. Not an imp to be seen.

Reimu hovered lower for a minute or so then she hovered back up again.

"Huh. There's absolutely nothing there. Other than a few weird gaping mouths with a glowing ball in them scattered here and there, there are no demons around."

That's odd. You'd think with carnage of this magnitude that this place would be flooded with'em… Marisa thought as she looked around. "Hey, Rei. You wanna give Yukari a call?"

Reimu shot her an incredulous look. "Firstly, why don't you make that call? Secondly, why Yukari of all people?"

"I lost my phone back in the bar and, for your second question, she's Yukari freaking Yakumo, remember? Gap hag extraordinaire? She's the only person who can get us out of here. Besides, it's looks FUBAR down there." As she said this, her hands were flailing around, much to Reimu's amusement.

"What's a foo-bar?"

"Something I learned from one those movies I borrowed from Rinnosuke."

"Oh."

Reimu then reached into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone. She then checked the signal strength of the area. No bars. She then nonchalantly informed her of said lack of bars. No one is happy with this. Sanae, on the other hand, continued to ponder about the disappearance of the demons and their motives in committing such cruelty.

Then, Marisa had a wonderfully beautiful idea. If the signal was poor up here, then it surely would be stronger on the ground where the transmission towers were. She reasoned that it would be a better use of their time looking for a plausible source of transmission on the ground than fly around aimlessly hoping to find the sweet spot where the satellite signal could penetrate far enough through the solid rock ceiling of the Underground. The huge geyser hole that acted as the main entrance was a no-go.

Too many flying demons surrounded that area. It was like they were guarding the power plant below from intruders. Thus, the only rational idea was to walk the streets for signals. She stroked her chin at the brilliance of this plan. After dragging Reimu and Sanae over for a brief discussion, Marisa and co. were about to trek the deserted streets of Hell…

oOo

After walking for almost an hour with no signal to be found, they decided to take a break by a fountain in the city square; the only place they could find that was not completely drenched in blood and entrails.

"Still got nothing, Reimu?" asked Marisa as she fanned herself with her hat.

"Nope", replied Reimu.

Sanae looked around for a bit, scanning the area for survivors in the hope that maybe, just maybe, they could save someone. She pulled out her phone and checked her signal before quietly putting it away. She had just remembered that she still had her phone. Luckily for her, Reimu and Marisa did not notice. She dreaded to think would they would do to her if they noticed. After all, an extra phone meant wider coverage and higher probability in getting a signal. Just in case they did, however, she decided to start up some small talk to distract them.

"Say, Marisa. Have you ever handled a gun before?" she started to ask.

Marisa let out an amused hum before replying.

"Funny you ask me about this. Why not ask Miss Red and White over here? She's the one who handed the guns to us."

"Hey! A demon imp was going to attack us and there were guns on the floor. What else was I supposed to do?", snapped Reimu.

Marisa laughed heartily at this. "Relax, chill out. I know as well as you do that someone gave these to us. I mean, you're not the kind of person who puts poorly written sticky notes on weapons."

"I'm not the kind of person who puts anything on weapons!"

"Don't you think these look kinda strange?" said Marisa as she examined her gun, ignoring Reimu's rant. This prompted Reimu, who had stopped ranting, and Sanae to examine their own guns.

The gun was nothing like anything they had ever seen before. It looked like something Nitori would make if she was hopped up on crystal cucumber. Its body was a metallic black with a brass handle. On its chamber, the label 'LFG MKII' was inscribed. It was no doubt a weapon of futuristic origin yet the scratches on its body spoke volumes of its age.

Marisa loved the feel and weight of the odd gun. Then, whilst her two friends were occupied in examining their guns, she held hers firmly with her right hand, her arm outstretched, taking aim at a conveniently placed tin can on a bench a few metres away. Her pointer finger gently caressed the trigger, assessing the pressure needed to pull it. With a deep breath, she steadied herself to place the can in her sights…

"What are you doing?"

"Uwah!" While she was deep in focus, she did not realise that Sanae and Reimu had been watching her the whole time, their guns fully examined. Her antics were confusing and worrying both of them so Sanae decided to ask her why she was doing so. Which resulted in a currently startled Marisa.

In her panic, she fired off a flurry of shots before unsuccessfully attempting to hide the gun away in her hat. Luckily for her, Reimu and Sanae's attention were not on her.

Instead, they watched as one of the lasers hit the can, which then recoiled off the bench, over their heads and into a lamp post. The lamp on the lamp post then shattered upon impact with the can and the shards along with the glowing hot bulb fell into the trashcan beside the lamp post, causing it to burst into flames. As it burned, embers fluttered out of the fire and into the air, floating around.

As it so happened, one of the embers fell onto a trail of oil, setting it on fire and setting off a trailblazer that went around the fountain where they sat, out into the far end of the street in from of them and made a sharp left into a warehouse.

It was unclear to them how there was even a trail of oil in the first place but it was speculated to have been a survivor's last ditch attempt at killing the demons before he died in the middle of setting up his trap.

Were he still alive he would have been proud. The moment the flames went into the warehouse, it exploded in a great ball of fire. Charred limbs of demons could be seen flying out of the explosion at incredible speeds. The girls, who at this point had come to accept the absurdity that was Gensokyo, cheered in delight like children witnessing a fireworks show for the first time.

Then, they heard a terrible roar…

oOo

"Come on! We're almost there! Hurry!"

The girls were on the run. A huge horde of demons hot on their tails. And they were running out of steam fast.

Apparently one of the debris from the explosion pierced straight through the heart of a Gore Nest that was from the sidewalk across the building. Of course, should a Gore Nest be destroyed in any way, the cavalry will come running. And run they did.

As soon as the roar died out, multiple portals appeared out of nowhere with imps and Hell Knights charging out of them. The empty streets became full once more as reanimated dead bodies possessed by evil spirits emerge out of the woodworks. The demons flying in the air also came down to join in, wanting to be part of the hunt.

The girls then ran as fast they could to find the nearest building to hide in. However, everywhere they went the demons were quick to follow and they blocked off most, if not, all of the buildings.

Except for one. The Yagokoro Medical Centre.

Safety was within reach! There was still hope! They sprinted all the way towards the medical centre in a pure adrenaline-fuelled mad dash. Aching legs be damned. The demons followed suit. Soon it was not long before they were within the medical centre's compound.

Then, they heard an automated voice that blankly stated, "Demonic presence detected. Initiating lockdown on facility."

Shutters began to rapidly shut off every window and entrance from top to bottom in a cascading chorus of clacks.

Reimu watched in horror as the shutters made their way down from the tenth floor to the fifth in 3 seconds flat.

To make matters worse, the horde was breathing their necks already, unleashing a hail of fireballs upon the girls.

The entrance was already beginning to close shut. The demons, closer with every second. They, at the worst possible moment, were out of breath. They were pretty much dragging their feet at this point. Sanae tripped over and fell. Things started to look grim for them.

But, Reimu had one trick left up her sleeve. Mustering up all of her remaining strength, she picked Sanae up in one swift move and slung her over her shoulder. She then ordered Marisa to hold on tightly to her and told her fire her Hakkero.

Marisa was confused but was in no position to question her and fire a Master Spark towards the demons behind them, sending flying straight into the medical centre's entrance at speeds that would make the tengu blush. Noticing that the entrance was halfway shut, she began to worry that they might be zooming to their deaths.

Right before they hit the solid metal shutter, Reimu kicked open an interdimensional rift while yelling out, "INTERDIMENSIONAL RIFT!"

Once they got through the rift, Reimu planted her feet on the floor and tossed an exhausted Sanae aside, sliding to a stop mere inches from a wall.

Regaining her bearings, she walked towards a chair behind the medical reception desk and slumped into it. Looking over the desk she saw Marisa, who had been thrown off by inertia, unconscious with her head buried in her hat. Sanae, on the hand, landed perfectly on a row of waiting seats, fast asleep.

Stifling a yawn, Reimu grabbed a stack of papers on the desk and arranged them neatly before resting her head on the stack. Her eyelids felt heavy. She could feel her fatigue catching up to her. Sleep was sorely needed.

Just before her mind slipped away into the realm of dreams, she could hear the automated voice announce, "Welcome to the Yagokoro Medical Facility. We hope to fix you up soon~"

"Fuck you."

And with that, Reimu Hakurei fell asleep, unaware of the chaos that was about to unfold on the surface…