Reimu stared into the obscure visor of the armoured man. Any rage or bloodlust she felt had disappeared but her fist remained in place. Everyone around her was staring as well, anticipating with anxiety the next course of events. Yukari, Eirin and Shikieiki stood in wait, knowing full well the mannerisms of the man Hell dubbed the Doom Slayer.
Reimu, while herself a Hakurei, lacked the physical might that her mother had thus making her chances against him very slim. She could use her magic but no one knew how effective it was against the killing machine that fed off the very energy the demons used. She braced herself for any action the armoured man would take.
Without warning, the Slayer let go of Reimu's fist and lightly bumped it with his own. The fist-bump was then followed by him pulling his fist slowly away from hers whilst waggling his fingers dramatically.
It was a move only the people who met him could have expected. The fist-bump, a gesture of friendship and camaraderie usually associated with close friends, appeared to contradict the image of rage incarnate painted in her head. As she stared into his dark visor, she could only manage to utter a single word that perfectly summed up the sea of questions that she had. "What?"
"Good to see you again, soldier," greeted Yukari while waving her hand casually. She, along with Eirin and Shikieiki seemed to treat his gesture as though it were an everyday occurrence. Slinging her parasol over her shoulder, Yukari walked up to him and looked up into his visor. "I take it, those explosions earlier are your doing?"
He shook his head in response, prompting a raised brow from Yukari. She opened her mouth to ask him more questions but an answer came yelling down the corridor accompanied by clumsy hurried clunking.
"Yukari, Yukari! There are explosions all around the facility's perimeter!"
The room they were in rumbled as soon as the notice was given. Everyone turned to look at the figure who was hunched over panting in a green jumpsuit. Her bobbed twin-tails bounced lightly with each breath she took along with her signature rucksack. She then stood up to address Yukari, who was amused by the sight she saw.
"Also…the Slayer has arrived-oh hey! Didn't… see you…there…big guy!"
The Slayer gave her a small salute in response. Reimu, Sanae and Marisa however, had their eyes wide open. The figure, noticing this asked, "What's the matter, guys? You look like y'all seen a ghost or somthin."
"Nitori…is that really you?", asked Marisa, her voice strained and shaky.
Pointing to herself with pride, Nitori announced,"Uhuh, the one and only."
She then found herself on the receiving end of a hard backhand which knocked her down to the floor. Nursing her sore cheek, she looked up to see a fuming teary-eyed Marisa.
"You ASS!", screamed Marisa as she pulled Nitori up by her jumpsuit. "Have you ANY idea how worried you made me?! I searched high and low for you on the day I read about it. Then, I gathered my friends to help me investigate it and find you the next day. You better be glad people like me still remember you!"
"Actually, you brought us to Kisume's bar to watch the grand opening of the power plant and discussed possible theories of how Nitori disappeared", interjected Reimu.
"Yeah! And most of the time, you were the one spouting out nonsensical stories like "Nitori turned around and got whacked over the head!" and then spent hours trying to sell the same story over and over", chimed Sanae full of conviction.
"Shut up!", she retorted with her face red with embarrassment. "It was a few minutes, not hours! Get it right! Besides, it was an interesting detective story that made a lot of sense at the time."
"Pshh, yeah right. When did you ever make sense?", said Reimu.
"HEY!"
"Actually, that's not too far off the truth."
The three girls stopped their bickering and turned to Nitori, who was now standing with a swollen cheek. "Eh?"
"You heard me, it's not that different from your story, Marisa," said Nitori. "It's just that I wasn't kidnapped by the legions of Hell or anything of the sort."
"Wut?", blurted Marisa.
"Girls," Yukari announced as she moved to stand beside Nitori. "Meet the insider, Nitori Kawashiro."
Nitori scratched her head in embarrassment with a little chuckle.
"Yukari knocked me out and told me about her plan when I woke up. Didn't have time to notify anyone 'cause apparently, I was out for an entire day so today was when I first knew what I had to do: bring you guys in and provide updated info on the current situation." Nitori then pulled out a laptop from her rucksack and turned it on to show live surveillance footage, core reactor status and a map of the facility being monitored.
"I guess I do owe some of you an apology, right?"
Marisa sighed as she put her arms up and shook her head in exasperation. She then gave Reimu a nudge with her elbow and glanced at her. Reimu, noticing the glance, gave her a silent nod of approval.
Pulling her hat down, Marisa lunged towards Nitori with a feral smirk and landed a straight punch right in the kappa's cheek. Right before the kappa could be flung full force towards the wall, she caught Nitori's jumpsuit by the collar pulled her back before dropping her to the ground.
Dusting her knuckle, Marisa helped her up and gave her a smile saying, "Apology accepted."
"I'm impressed," said a calm deep voice. "The young Hakurei, like her mother, has surrounded herself with some interesting and energetic friends."
The girls, who were transfixed on Nitori, turned towards the armoured man. "You knew my mother?", blurted Reimu.
The question appeared to catch the Slayer off-guard as Reimu saw him flinch slightly. She also noted that Yukari somehow had a hand in whatever reason that caused him to react that way because she saw him then turn towards the sage youkai and crack his knuckles.
"Indeed I did, little Hakurei, indeed I did," he replied, his visor facing her. "You were only but a small child when I first came here and your mother was the one who took me in at a time when I was distraught, angry and confused by my circumstances."
"I was also the one sending you those sticky notes all over because, under circumstances caused by Yukari here, I had to avoid contacting you directly until your memories were refreshed," he then added after seeing Reimu's mouth open.
"My memories?", Reimu quizzed. "What do you mean-?"
A loud boom and a terrifying rumble shook the room violently, causing everyone to drop on their knees or flat on the ground.
"Nitori!", Yukari called out. "What's the situation out there right now?"
Checking her laptop, which she was relieved to find was still intact, Nitori yelled, "We need to move! The explosions have taken down the shutters of the maintenance hall nearby. I'm detecting a lot of movement both from in and out of the facility!"
Eirin, who was now standing up and dusting herself off, asked, "Is it the work of the 'guests' Yukari brought?"
Nitori, her eyes glued to the screen, replied, "No, none of them are the guests. If anything, they actually look like the residents who live here."
Sanae, Marisa and Reimu, who were already overwhelmed by the info dump of finding out the Slayer's connection to the previous miko and the revelation of Yukari bringing dubious outside 'help', cried out in unison, "Wait, what?!"
BOOM!
"Whoa!", cried Reimu as she fell yet again when another explosion rocked the facility. It was either a larger explosion or a closer one as the vibrations were now strong enough to make dust trickle heavily from the ceiling. Alarms were now blaring and the lights in the room were pulsating in yellow-orange flashes.
She coughed and wheezed but she managed to get herself on her knees. From what she could see, everyone, save for Yukari, Eirin, Shikieiki and the Slayer, were all on the floor struggling to stand.
"This is bad…", muttered Nitori as she got up with her laptop in her hands. Her face turned pale as the number of red dots gathered just outside grew larger by the second. She then punched in a command that brought down a steel shutter to close off the locker room entrance and cried, "The demons…they're here!"
Loud thuds and muffled roars filled the room immediately as the demon horde tried to break down the shutter. Creaks and squeaks soon followed as indentations of claws and fists began to appear on the shutter's surface. Everyone except Yukari, Eirin, Shikieiki and the Slayer looked on horror as the howls of the demons grew louder with every beating it took. They instead glanced at each other and gave a knowing nod. Yukari spun around and swung her parasol to open a portal at the back of the room.
"There's not much time left," Yukari announced to Reimu and her friends. She then motioned to Shikieiki to move towards the girls. Shikieiki gave a confused look but went along without question with Komachi following her. Yukari did the same to Nitori, who also obliged with little complaint.
"Yukari? You're not thinking what I think you're about to do, are you?", asked Reimu, her brows furrowed with worry.
Adjusting her mob cap with her free hand, she gave Reimu a sly smirk.
"Oh Reimu, you know me too well."
She then reached into Eirin's cleavage via portal, pulled out a scroll and threw it at Reimu. Seeing Reimu catch it with ease, she walked up to her and put her free hand on Reimu's shoulder.
"Listen to me, Reimu- oof!"
Yukari found herself looking at the floor after she felt Eirin's karate chop slam into her head, no doubt the result of embarrassment from what she just pulled. Blood seeping down her forehead, she looked back at Reimu with a wistful smile.
"The scroll I've given you is the one you're looking for. In it contains everything you need to know about saving your mother and the current crisis. Nitori will act as your guide and Shiki and Komachi will provide aid to you whenever you need it."
"You could've asked, you know?!", interjected a red-faced Eirin, her free hand buttoning up her exposed chest area.
"Oh, and one more thing," added Yukari, Eirin's words falling on deaf ears. She stood up and placed both her hands on her parasol's handle. "These creatures do not adhere to the Spell Card Rules. As such, neither should you."
"What do you mean?", blurted Reimu in confusion.
Lifting her parasol like a cane, she bade them farewell with a "Toodles!" and a wink before bringing it down to open a large portal beneath the girls' feet.
"Damn you Yukari!", yelled Reimu, Marisa and Sanae as they fell along with Nitori, Shikieiki and Komachi.
"Say hello to your mom for me!" added Yukari before she closed her portals. Wiping the blood off her forehead, she wondered what else was she supposed to be dealing with.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Oh, right. The demons. She turned to her remaining companions, Eirin and the Slayer and pointed nonchalantly at the now severely dented shutter in front of them.
"Oi, Slayer, what's your game plan for this problem right here?", she asked while nudging the armoured man with her elbow. "You're the expert here."
"Uh, guys, you might want to hurry. The shutter's going to cave in at any moment now," warned Eirin.
The Slayer, looking at Yukari, pulled out a large futuristic shotgun seemingly out of nowhere and pumped it.
"The same plan I've been following for the past few millennia, Yukari: Rip and Tear."
The imp jumped up and down trying to get a better view of the front. After giving chase to the humans that fought it at the abandoned bar, it decided to return to base. It was thankful for the serum spray given to it along with every demon that arrived as the laser beam the hat-wearing human shot only winded it. It contemplated continuing pursuit after losing them but the huge horde that people call its demonic brethren might have already killed them by then. It was a shame. Being too cowardly to face against the monstrous Doom Slayer, it only tasted the flesh of dead humans. Being transferred here did not make much difference at all as everything was mostly dead by the time it arrived. At least the variety of corpses made for it. Youkai meat was not all it was hyped up to be.
Aimlessly hunting for stragglers in the power plant with fellow imps, it was natural for it to be excited when it heard the alarm go off followed by a series of explosions. A challenge! Adventure! Knowing that there was no possible way that the dreaded Slayer could ever show up, it charged along with the crowd that seemed to be focused on a specific locker room. The girl's locker room, to be exact. This confused the imp. They were beings created from the depths of Hell and the succubi, while responsible for birthing them, only acted as a medium of the creation process. Noting the small population Hell had due to eons of the Slayer's slaughter, it wondered if all this fuss was for locating females for succubus transformation. If so, it wished it joined his fellow imps in dealing with the forces responsible for the explosions.
However, there was no turning back now. It got swept away by the excitement and found itself amongst the presence of hundreds of Hell Knights, Hell Barons and Pinkies. At least, that was what it thought were the names given by humans for the brutish bald beasts, tall goat-legged demons and rotund tusked rams. It saw them only as its brothers and thus, made no such distinction. Due to their towering height, the imp was forced to jump to see the action properly.
Then, an idea came to it. With its diminutive stature, could easily weave its way to the front. Amidst the roaring of the demons and the clanging of the iron shutter, it managed to squeeze through into an open gap in the crowd. It was conveniently positioned such that it had a clear view. Such occurrences were suspicious but it did not question it. If some unknown force was allowing it the luxury of the view, why bother asking?
It saw that the shutter was nearly breaking due to the persistent efforts of the Pinkies and the fists of the Hell Knights. It could not help but grin with glee. Whatever was in that room surely must be a threat of high level if it called for the attention of many of its stronger, bigger brothers. Since the Slayer was not here, it wanted to see for itself what lay behind that steel shutter.
What happened next shocked the living lights out of it. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared but it was certain that it saw it! Just as the shutter was knocked down, a rip opened in the space in front of the front-liners. The rip, no, gap had numerous eyes staring at everyone from within. Before the imp had time to feel unnerved by the mysterious gap, a train came speeding through the hallway, turning everything in its path into a bloody pulp. As it sped through the demons, blood and guts spattered everywhere like a race car speeding through puddles. The imp's small size allowed it enough mobility to jump away in time but the train was gone by the time it wiped away the blood and bits of demons off its face.
A lot of questions were flooding its head and it doubted it wanted to know the answers to it. Unfortunately for the imp, the answer was about to hit it like a shotgun blast to the face. The high pitched roars its fellow Hell Knights were making made its heart drop like an anvil. Emerging from the cloud of dust and stepping onto the remains of its runover brethren were three figures: A blond female with something resembling an umbrella, a white-haired female wielding a mystical bow and arrow and the very being it refused to believe was here with it. Armed with the shotgun that struck fear and iron pellets into the hearts of demons, the Slayer charged.
xxx
How much ground did it cover already? 10 metres? 100 metres? All it knew that the further it ran away from them, the better. What kind of monsters did this realm have?! It was terrible enough that He was present but the other two accompanying him were no less terrifying. The blond, the one called Yukari, seemed to strut carelessly in the wake of the Slayer's wrath. However, if anyone got close enough to her, the gaps will suddenly appear and murder any demon in a variety of unconventional ways. Crushed by a large gravestone, impaled by street signs, carved into pieces by lasers. Those were just some of the ways Yukari dispatched so many of its brethren. As for the fate of those still living, she finishes them off with her parasol and walks away.
Eirin, the silver-haired one, acted as active support for the Slayer, creating a tag-team of death. As the Slayer jumped into the fray with his shotgun, mulching several heads as he landed, Eirin would pick off the stragglers surrounding him with her bow and arrow. The imp knew that it was not a common bow as conventional human weaponry, excluding firearms and demonic energy-infused fists, did little harm to them. But the arrows that struck them had killed them even if they were not vital areas. Was it poison? A toxin? Could be. But then it saw her charge up an arrow until it glowed. Upon release, it blew a hole in the torsos of ten Hell Knights, the arrow itself stopped by a wall.
The area that they were in, a main hallway, should have been a huge advantage for the demons as the Slayer would have little room to move. Not that it mattered anyway if past encounters were to be taken account. Still, it would have given it more time to catch its breath. However, with the aid of these two women, it had to keep running just to keep a safe distance away from the bloodshed. This was definitely not what it signed up for. As a desperate measure, it threw fireballs behind it as it ran. This was not to score a hit on the Slayer but rather to push his fellow demons towards him to buy itself more time. Brothers? Brethren? Forget that, it could care less about such bonds. When the Slayer is around, it is every demon for itself. The shocked looks of betrayal and fear that they gave it when they felt a fireball push them forward only served to fuel its desire to run. Even if it was an accident, the imp would die anyway as punishment for friendly fire so it might as well wish everyone else death.
The sounds of explosions were getting closer. Relief was beginning to wash over it. It was finally going to be free from the Slayer onslaught and join its fellow imps in combatting this significantly lesser threat. Feeling confident as the sounds grew louder, it ran faster until it reached the maintenance hall.
The maintenance hall was a wide and spacious area designed to accommodate the various departments dedicated to maintaining equipment, vehicles and systems. As such, the hall itself looked a lot more like a plaza than a complex due to its immense size. Which was why the imp was puzzled to see its fellow imps running away from it despite it being their best battlefield. A flying head of an imp into its chest was enough indicator as to why. Coming towards its general direction were a large group of people comprised of various youkai. Most of them wielded weaponry that were no doubt taken from the fallen Moon rabbits on the surface. The ones that were leading the charge, however, were armed with nothing but their bare hands. One was short and appeared to be drunk. The other was about as tall and as muscular as the Slayer himself. Both women had horns; the former having two and latter having one. In an ironic twist that only the imp seemed to perceive, the demons were running away from horned devils.