After a very long hiatus, I'm finally back with continuing this story!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 9: The Ruined Abbey

"Say, wot's yer problem, eh?" Yangus asked Jessica, who was still holding the ring Angelo had given us with a rather disgusted look on her face, as we were making our way back to the Abbey. "Just keep it! Accept wot's given ya, an' take wot ain't! That's 'ow we men do stuff, right, guv? Hah hah!" Heh… Yeah, sure, if you want to put it that way, Yangus…

"No way! I cannot stand greasy men such as you! With their self-satisfied grins and their ridiculous swaggering!" Jessica retorted to Yangus.

"'ey!" Yangus exclaimed offendedly. "Ya see, guv!? That's why I won't 'ave nuffin' more to do wiv birds. I just can't figure 'em out!"

I just gave an amused chuckle at this. I guess that's what I get for hanging with a rich and poor person at the same time, while I felt like I was more in between: not too rich, and not too poor. That's basically the basis of what True Companions is; the people involved in this ragtag bunch might not necessarily like each other, but at least they know that they can rely on each other when needed. How do I know this? No surprise; it was obviously Jewel who told me.

"Well, whatever. Let's just head back to the abbey and give that Angelo guy his ring back already." Reimu said.

[BGM: Friar's Determination – Dragon Quest VIII]

Soon enough, we made it back at the outdoors square in the Abbey, and wouldn't you know it, the same two Templar knights we encountered previously were still blocking the door. We approached them, and the knight on the left immediately questioned, "You again? What is it this time?"

"I suppose you don't recognize this, don't you?" Jessica asked, showing them Angelo's ring.

"…What? You've got Angelo's ring?" the same knight asked surprised, then he huffed. "Put it up as credit at the pub again, did he? That boy's a disgrace!" Seems like the entire Abbey is aware of Angelo's actions indeed…

"Um, if you don't mind…" I interfered. "We just came here to return his ring, okay?"

"Very well, then! Angelo's inside. Now hurry up!" after that, he and the other knight stepped aside and we went through the door.

Now, contrary to what I expected, the sleeping quarters were surprisingly less fancier-looking compared to the rest of the Abbey: it had rather tightly enclosed brick halls with decorative brimstone arches, along with brimstone columns to hold the walls in place, and torches were placed along on some of them to give the place some light. Stone statues of what assumed were deities were placed into alcoves in the corners, and two staircases leading to the second floor were on both sides.

"Okay, we're here." Youmu said. "Now where could Angelo be?"

"Ugh, he should've at least told us in which portion of the abbey he would be!" Jessica groaned. "But I can never relax until the nasty work's out of the way. Come on! Let's go and find him!"

"Maybe we could split up to make this search easier." Aya suggested. "Then, if one of us finds Angelo, we can just report back to the rest!"

"That's a good idea, Aya." I nodded, and with that, we devised our search groups: I, Jessica and Remilia would search the bottom floor, while the rest would search the upper floor. As I walked around the bottom floor after Jessica went to check through a door that was just next to the rightmost staircase, I looked over to see Remilia standing directly in front of an entryway with steps that led downwards.

"Hmm…" I heard her musing. "Curious…"

I decided to approach her. "Something up, Remilia?" I asked, causing Remilia to jump a little and turn around to face me.

"…Oh, it's just you." Remilia replied, regaining her composure. "No, it's nothing important. It's just that these stairs caught my attention somewhat."

"How come?"

Remilia sighed. "Do you really want to know?" I nodded back, as Remilia sighed again. "Alright, fine… These stairs leading down to this dark entryway is reminding me too much of the entrance leading to my mansion's basement. And in there…is where my younger sister stays."

"Oh…"

"Well, since you're already here… then let's go check down there together and see if we can find this Angelo."

"Right." I nodded as we both walked down the steps, where we were greeted with a sight that judging by Remilia's face, was something she wasn't expecting; that entryway didn't lead us to an ordinary basement. Rather, it led us to a dungeon, complete with several cells (thankfully all empty).

"Huh… now this is rather unexpected." Remilia remarked. "They have an entire dungeon down here…?"

"I mean, it is a knight's job to lock up and interrogate those who go against the law, so it's no surprise that they would have a dungeon here." I pointed out as we started walking around. "And Templar Knights are no different."

"Oh, right… My memory of the past is a bit hazy, so I don't remember much about how knights handled the laws of justice back then."

I blinked. "Pardon? Are you saying that you know about knights?"

"I do. You see, I'm not actually native to Gensokyo unlike the other girls. I was originally from the Outside World, in a country named Europe. As far as I can remember, that place had a setting similar to this world, thus answering your question."

"Ah, I see… But wait, if you weren't from Gensokyo, then how did you end up in it in the first place?"

"It happened when my mansion was suddenly brought there, which in turn transported me alongside it. I'm not entirely sure why this happened, but I can just assume that it has to be fate."

"Hm." I merely did. She really does talk about fate a lot, huh? But again, that is part of her ability, so that's pretty justified.

Eventually, we came upon a door after we took a turn and when we went through, it took us to what's likely the interrogation room. There, we could hear voices coming from behind the wall before us and by looking through the bars on it, we could see two people; one dressed in red and the other dressed in blue… Angelo and Marcello! Knowing this, I immediately gave Remilia a 'shush' signal as she nodded, and so we stood quiet to listen to the conversation.

[BGM Pause]

"…Well done! You managed to cause another brawl at the Simpleton pub. I hope you're proud of yourself." Marcello spoke to Angelo with bitter sarcasm.

"News travels fast." Angelo simply replied. "What a fine intelligence network the Templars h-"

Marcello instantly cut him off, "How much more shame do you intend to bring to our abbey!? You're like a curse! Yes, a filthy curse. If you hadn't been born, we'd all have been spared a lot of misery." …Whoa. Did he really go that far as to say that?!

Angelo could only growl under his breath in what I guess is frustration as Marcello continued, "You're nothing but a petty crook with a pretty face. It sickens me to think we share any common blood." 'Share any common blood'? Are they supposed to be brothers…? "…Hmph! Enough! Templar Angelo! By order of the Captain, you are sentenced to a term of penitence. I'm hereby stripping you of your right to leave the abbey. You do not leave this place. Not for anything! Understood? Cross me on this, and I'll see to it that you're expelled from the Order! And don't think the Abbot will be able to protect you this time!"

…I can't believe this. Marcello is sentencing Angelo to confinement just because he's a massive embarrassment to the Templar knights? I get where Marcello is going with this… but that's just too cruel. And to think that these two are possibly brothers… that just makes this even worse. I was about to listen more to their conversation, until I felt a hand grab my wrist as I looked down at it to see that it was Remilia who did it.

"Remilia?" I whispered. I could feel that she seemed tense about something, as I was able to tell that by the way she was gripping my wrist. "What are you…?"

"…Let's get out of here, Eight. I'll tell you then." Remilia whispered back to me, sporting a serious look on her face.

"O-okay…" and then, she began to silently drag me out of the room with no effort despite being way shorter than me. That wasn't too surprising for me this time, since I did read something about vampires having superhuman strength.

[Resume BGM]

Once we were out of the basement, I proceeded to speak to her, "Is something wrong, Remilia? You seemed tense back there."

At this, Remilia let go of my wrist and sighed before replying, "That part where Marcello is sentencing Angelo into lockdown… It reminded me too much of what I'm doing with Flandre."

"Flandre…? Oh wait, is this your little sister's name?"

"You're correct."

"And you're saying that you also sentenced her into confinement just like what Marcello is doing with Angelo? Why would you do that to your own sister?"

Remilia sighed again, but sadly this time. "I did that because of her…issues. See, she's mentally unstable and has the power to destroy absolutely anything. So if you combine both of these…"

My eyes widened. "…Oh, yeah… Things could get very hectic if she went out of control."

"Exactly. And that's why I decided to set up a rule on her in which she's never allowed to leave my mansion, and so she stayed in the basement since then. Honestly… I do feel a little bad for doing this to her, but that's the best course of action so that she doesn't hurt anyone."

Oh wow, that does sound like what Marcello is doing to Angelo… Well, sort of. The reasons are different in that Marcello's is due to preserve the reputation of the Templar knights (and also possibly because he hates Angelo and doesn't care for him), while Remilia's is just for the safety of others… but still, forcibly sentencing someone who's close to you into lockdown is still a cruel and selfish thing to do regardless of the reason, since it will badly affect the victim's mental health due to boredom. Plus, who's to say that having Flandre locked in all the time is only going to make her mental instability worse? Now I have the right words to say to Remilia, and I did just that:

"Okay, listen… I understand where you're going with in that direction, but you can't just force someone into confinement like that. That's a very selfish action."

"Yeah, I know that… but it's for the best for everyone." Remilia sighed, crestfallen and with her eyes shut.

"Best for everyone… or best for you?"

"Huh…?" and just like that, that armor-piercing question of mine made Remilia's eyes open back up, and she looked up at me in surprise.

"If anything, I'm not actually worried about Flandre's mental instability at all. What I'm worried about is the condition you're putting on her. What needs to be done is get her into therapy, not keep her locked up and call it a day. It will only worsen her condition, and then she'll be way harder to deal with than before."

"How would you know that? You haven't even met my sister yet."

"I know, but the thing is, I don't even need to meet her in person to know what's going on with her in a situation like this. And besides, even humans can go mentally unstable, not just Flandre. Because of this, I would just imagine myself in her situation in order to tell you how I would feel about this if I were her."

"Oh…" Remilia crestfalled sadly again. "I'll admit…Sakuya, my head maid, did at one point suggest therapy to me, but I told her to drop it. I guess I do sometimes think only of myself…" she sniffled a bit. "I'm such a bad sister…"

"Hey, don't say that." I said softly as I knelt down and patted her shoulder. "Everyone makes mistakes. But as long as you learn from them, then you'll become a much better person than before."

"I…will?" Remilia looked up at me again.

I smiled. "You will! By learning from your mistakes in the past, that means you won't repeat them again. Obviously the past can't be changed, but the present can if it's not too late. And that's all that matters." I then paused for a bit with a finger under my chin, before saying, "Say, let me ask you something that just came into me… Has Flandre ever tried to leave or escape the mansion once?"

"Funny you should ask that… She never did."

"Is that so?" a smile formed on me again. "That is a good sign."

Remilia was taken aback by that. "What?! It is?"

"Think about it. If she's that willing to stay inside, then that means she's fully aware of her condition and understands that she might lose control over her temper at any point, and thus end up destroying things she cares for. That alone is some remarkable maturity for a young vampire girl, don't you think?"

"Y-Yeah, you're right… And where are you going with this?"

"What I'm saying is that, by showing impressive maturity like this, her mentality might improve this way!"

"Wh-What?! So you're saying that…"

"Yep! If Flandre keeps this up, she may yet become more stable this way and have more control over her powers. That way, no one in Gensokyo will be in danger. Of course, that's just my assumption."

Remilia stood silent, possibly processing everything I just told her… and then she smiled to me. "Wow… That's actually the first time ever a human's words have touched me."

"Well, there's always a first time for everything." I chuckled.

"Yeah, true. Thanks, Eight. I feel a lot better now. Maybe once I get back home, I should complement Flandre for her signs of maturity."

"She will definitely appreciate that. And if she does fully recover from her instability, then will you let her out of your mansion?"

Remilia didn't even hesitate to answer. "I will. She's earned it."

Just then, we saw Jessica coming out from the double doors located on the far wall at the back. I guess she went to check there next while I and Remilia were in the basement. We both rushed over to her. "Oh hey, you two." Jessica said. "Did you find Angelo?"

"We did. He was at the basement." I replied. "I and Remilia also heard something interesting down there too." and so I told her about the conversation between Angelo and Marcello.

"Wow, that really happened? It's hard to believe those two are brothers."

"Took the words right out of my mouth there." Remilia threw in.

"What about you, Jessica?" I asked. "Did you find anything behind those doors?"

"Well, I saw a fancy building on the other side of a wooden bridge over a pool of water. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go very far because there were two more Templar knights standing in the halfway point of the bridge, blocking the way."

I sweatdropped. "Oh… another blockade, huh?"

"Yes…" Jessica muttered. "So, what now?"

"Hmm… perhaps Angelo could help us with this somehow."

"Hm? You…" and at this exact moment, Angelo's voice came from behind me and Remilia as we turned around to see him walking over to us.

"Huh. Speak of the devil." Remilia remarked.

"You are some of the people I met at Simpleton, right? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what are we doing here!? You told us to come!" Jessica hissed, taking out Angelo's ring to show it to him. "Now you can take back this stupid ring and we'll be on our way!"

"My ring…?" Angelo blinked, and then he cupped his chin with a smirk. "Of course! I can still play that card!"

"What card?" I raised an eyebrow.

Angelo's face went serious. "Okay, listen! I've got a favour to ask."

"A favour!? You're kidding, right!? What makes you think we'd want to help you?" Jessica questioned. Oh come on, Jess. Give him a chance, at least…

"Just listen, all right!? There's no time to argue!" Angelo exclaimed, before partially turning around in alert. "…Can't you feel it? Can't you feel the sinister presence in the abbey? I heard that a jester got into the Abbot's residence. I'm convinced he's the source of the sinister air."

Just by hearing the words 'jester' immediately made our eyes perk up. "A jester!?" Jessica asked.

Remilia would glance up at me, a serious look donning her face. "Eight, you don't think it might be…"

I instantly mirrored her expression. "Yes. No doubt about it." I nodded. It has to be Dhoulmagus again! Already, I swore internally that we would stop him from killing anyone this time.

"I don't know what he's planning to do, but I'm sure Abbot Francisco's life is in danger!" Angelo said. "You've got to help! I need you all to get into the Abbot's residence and make sure he's all right."

I just couldn't refuse that favor if it means preventing another murder. "We'll do it." I answered with a nod.

"…Thank you. I'm in your debt. Now, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. One of you may have seen them already, but there are some obstinate idiots guarding the bridge to the Abbot's residence. You can't go that way." Oh, so that building Jessica mentioned is the Abbot's residence. Makes sense, I guess. "But if you're prepared to go the long way around, there is another way to get there."

"Fire away." Remilia said.

"You have to leave the abbey as if you were going to Simpleton, but turn immediately left along the river… Just follow the river along keeping the abbey in view. Keep going along the river and you'll come to a ruin. It's the old abbey that was used before this one. There's an underground passageway leading from there to the Abbot's residence. I'm afraid that's the only way. The entrance to the ruin can be opened with the Templar's ring I gave you, so you just keep hold of it, all right?"

"…Huh. How oddly convenient." I thought while blinking.

"Anyway, there's no time to lose! It's in your hands now. Please help the Abbot!"

With that, Angelo moved out of the way so we could pass. As we approached the doors to leave the sleeping quarters, we heard footsteps from behind and we turned to see the others coming to us.

"Oy! I 'ope ya weren't thinkin' on leavin' wivout us, eh?" Yangus said.

I laughed. "No, of course not! In fact, you came back just in time." then I, Jessica and Remilia explained to them everything that Angelo informed us.

"Huh, so in the end, this ring did have a utility for something…" Alice mused. "And you said that we need it to access some old abbey so we can reach the Abbot's residence?"

"Correct." I nodded. "And this time, we're going to prevent Dhoumagus from murdering the Abbot. So we better hurry to the old abbey before it's too late!"

The others nodded in response, and then we all proceeded to leave the abbey. But as we were leaving, the thought about the Alchemy Pot just came over to me all of a sudden, and I think it was an obvious reason: the old abbey must be filled with even more powerful and dangerous monsters, so I, Yangus and Jessica might be needing some stronger equipment, and perhaps better healing medicine for all of us.

[BGM End]

Because of that, as soon as we were outside, with night almost falling, we met with Trode and Medea where I would immediately request to the former, "Your Majesty, would you mind if I use the Alchemy Pot for a bit?"

"Why, of course you can! You don't even need to ask, my boy! Go on right ahead!" Trode answered almost instantly, and so I walked over to the back of the carriage.

"Alchemy Pot?" Marisa asked, seemed intrigued by that as she followed me.

I grabbed the Alchemy Pot and brought it in front of me to show it to her. "This is." I said before I gently set the pot on the ground. "From what Trode said to me, this can be used to mix various items to make new and better ones, such as equipment and medicines."

"Ooh, cool!" Marisa gleamed as I saw the rest of my party coming over as well. "Well? Show us how it works!"

"Sure." I chuckled. "I'll start with medicine first." I glanced over at Reisen and requested, "Reisen, will you lend me some Medicinal Herbs?"

"Oh, okay!" Reisen fished into her bag, and pulled out a handful of Medicinal Herbs from it. "Here you go!"

I took the Herbs from her, put them into the Alchemy Pot, and closed the lid. Then, we watched as the Pot rumbled and gurgled as vapor was coming out from the lid, and once it stopped, I proceeded to remove the contents in the pot… revealing batches of Strong Medicine!

"Sweet! It worked!" I beamed. "I just made Strong Medicine!" and then I handed Reisen back the new Medicine so she could put them in her bag.

"And I guess this new medicine is able to heal more severe injuries, right?" Reisen guessed.

"Yup!" I nodded, then I glanced back down at the pot. "But I'm not done yet, though! I'll be making some more stuff so we can be ready to tackle the old abbey!"

And with that, I experimented more with the Alchemy Pot to create new equipment. In the end, the results were: a Long Spear, a Feathered Cap and a Bronze Shield for me, a Stone Hardhat and an Iron Axe for Yangus (I also decided to let him equip the Gold Bracer I got from Khalamari for some more additional defense), and a Snakeskin Whip for Jessica. After we were all equipped and ready to go, we all set off towards the river bank on the left of Simpleton as Angelo had instructed.

By the time we arrived at our supposed destination, which appeared to be a small mostly empty grove with an ancient stone marker up ahead, it was nighttime. Unfortunately, we couldn't rest at this moment; no matter what, we can't let someone else die at Dhoumagus's hand.

"Old ruins upstream… A stone marker…" Jessica mused. "Yep, this has to be the place."

"I'm surprised that there's some ol' ruins buried below 'ere in the first place." Yangus remarked. "But I ain't got a clue where to start lookin' for it, mind."

"Hmm…" Aya mused, looking around the area until her eyes darted over to the stone marker. "Oh, look!" she pointed to it. "See that crest carved on the stone marker? It's the same as the one on the ring! Let's have a closer look!"

We did it so, as we could see some kind of crest inscribed on the stone marker that indeed appeared to be the same as that on Angelo's ring, and there appears to be a hole for inserting the ring. Without hesitating, Jessica took out the ring and pushed it into the impression in the stone marker, and then gave the ring a little twist.

All of a sudden, magic burning smoke poured out from the old ruins, catching all of us by surprise. "Blimey! Wot's goin' on! Looks like somefin's burnin'!" Yangus exclaimed.

"Wait… Something seems to be appearing within the smoke!" Youmu said, squinting her eyes.

Once the smoke dispersed, we saw that a good chunk of the grass around the old ruins was gone, and a hole on the ground now stood in place. We approached it in curiosity, and we could see some steps leading down into the darkness.

"…How did that happen?" Jessica wondered. "Maybe it's some kind of holy power, or something?"

"Wow! I never knew holy powers could open up secret passages!" Cirno exclaimed.

"Let's just leave it for now." Reimu said. "We have an Abbot residence to reach to as soon as possible, remember?"

"You're right." I nodded. "Let's go." and we walked down the steps.

[BGM: Heart Beat Shaker – Ys IX: Monstrum Nox]

According to Angelo, the Ruined Abbey used to be the former Abbey that was abandoned due to an unspecified horrible disease claiming the lives of everyone living there. Now this dark, dull, damp and dim place was haunted by mostly undead beings and evil spirits, presumably what could be the remains of the people who died by the plague in here (which is quite disturbing…).

"So the Abbot's quarters is somewhere beyond this place." Alice said as we looked around and took in the scenery. "For a ghost abbey like this, I'm pretty sure we might encounter a lot of undead monsters in here."

"That's exactly what I had in mind." I said. "But we have to be careful; I read in some bestiary books that undead monsters tend to spread curses, diseases or even poison when fighting."

"Well, if that's the case, we might as well go all out and get rid of these monsters before they can do any of these to us!" Remilia eagerly said, stretching her arm. "I'm totally ready for this, since I'm much stronger in the night!"

"Alright, but don't get too reckless." Jessica told her.

"Oh please, I'm already an undead being myself! I'll be fine!" and right after saying that, Remilia suddenly rushed forward in an incredible speed towards the first monster she spotted, a Flyguy, and hit it with a powerful melee strike before clawing it to death.

"Well, dang…" Yangus breathed.

"That's Remilia for you." Reimu said. "Normally she's the kind of person to sit still and let others, especially her servant Sakuya, do the job. But once she gets excited over something she finds novel… You can see it for yourself."

"Noted as much." I nodded as we walked forward to the doorway and went through… where a Metal Slime suddenly fell from the ceiling and landed in front of us, making my eyes widen. "Oh! A Metal Slime!" I exclaimed excitedly; Metal Slimes are infamous for providing lots of experience when defeated, at the cost of being extremely hard to kill as they are resistant to every type of attack possible, except for Metal Slash which kills them instantly, and even having a tendency to flee often.

"I'll get it!" Marisa exclaimed and put her hands together. "Narrow Spark!" she called out and fired a laser at the Metal Slime… but it only took scratch damage from that. "…Huh!?" Marisa's eyes widened in disbelief.

"How did…?!" Youmu breathed.

"Metal Slimes are highly resistant to almost anything." I explained. "Melee attacks, ranged attacks, magic attacks… you name it."

"So not even a Master Spark can kill it instantly?! G-geez…" Marisa stuttered.

Just then, the Metal Slime began to flee from us. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Reimu shouted. "Binding Border!" she called out, and suddenly, the Metal Slime was bound in place by barriers that formed around it as it frantically looked around in panic.

"Good thinking, Reimu!" I complimented with a smirk and then I leapt over the barriers with my spear out. "Thunder Thrust!" I called out and skewered the Metal Slime from above, as a critical hit noise sounded out while the Slime was history. As the barriers disappeared, I stood still for a moment as I took in the fact that I actually managed to kill a Metal Slime so early… and my eyes gleamed. "I can't believe it… I did it! I killed an early Metal Slime!"

The Gensokyo girls looked confused. "Uh, why are you so excited about? Is there something special about a Metal Slime?" Reisen asked, and then I explained basically the same thing I mentioned above. "Oh…"

After that, we went down the stairs to a wide room that was filled with Drackymas and Bags o' Laughs. Some of the Drackymas swiftly swooped towards us while the remaining ones fired a Snooze spell, but we all dodged both attacks as Cirno fired ice lasers at the Drackymas, freezing them up in an instant before they shattered into pieces. Meanwhile, Jessica prepared to launch a Sizz spell at the Bags o' Laughs, but then one of them casted a Fizzle spell on her first, thus temporally disabling her magic.

"Darn it…" she muttered, earning mocking laughter from the Bags o' Laughs before they charged directly at her, but then Alice got in the way.

"Leave them to me." she said. "Dolls: Lemmings' Parade!" she called out, sending out a boatload of dolls that marched along the ground and exploded on contact with the Bags o' Laughs, destroying them. Wow, I never knew she could laden her dolls with explosives too…

"Thanks, Alice." Jessica thanked.

"No problem." Alice replied with a small smile as we took a left turn on the path, finding a treasure chest as Reisen went to open it… aaaand it suddenly turned into a Cannibox.

"Wah!" Reisen yelped as she jumped back when the Cannibox attempted to chomp on her. "What is this?!"

"A Cannibox." I said. "These guys love to disguise themselves as regular chests to fool travelers, and wait until they're discovered before chomping on them."

"Yikes…" Reisen trailed off before getting serious, "Well, no matter! Not even a mere chest can escape from my red eyes!" her eyes glowed, where a red laser sight materialized from them and caught the Cannibox into her point of view in which it got blasted by a wave of energy from her eyes. This left the Cannibox dazed, giving Reisen the chance to finish it off by firing some rocket bullets from her handgun.

With that taken care of, we walked back into the wide room and we went to the right path this time. I noticed that there was two wooden cabinets on the wall as I went to open the first one, getting an Iron Nail from it. Huh! Maybe I could use this for an alchemy recipe once we clear this dungeon. Next I opened the other cabinet, and I got a Dagger. I gave it to Jessica as she put it away for later, then we all went down to the lower level via a ladder in the floor, taking us to a narrow hallway where more Flyguys were flying by… only to be instantly taken down by Remilia firing red spear bullets at them.

"You're all welcome." she spoke charismatically as we walked through the hall, going into a doorway on the right to find another treasure chest laying out in the open as I proceeded to walk over to it.

"Uh, you're sure it's not a trap again, right?" Reisen asked, uncertain.

"No, I don't think so." I replied.

"And how would you know that?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Just my intuition, I guess." I then opened the chest, taking out a Bronze Shield. Perfect! Now Yangus can replace his Scale Shield for this one instead! I immediately gave it to him before we moved on, going through the door on the right and encountering Skeletons that were patrolling another hallway. Half of them proceeded to literally remove their skulls and toss them at us, but Aya swung her fan to deflect the skulls before going for a spell card.

"Wind Sign: Wind God's Fan!" she called out, firing red bullets at the Skeletons to defeat them. After that, we turned left and arrived into a room that was filled with coffins and piles of human skeletons.

"Okay, now this is creepy." Marisa commented. Couldn't agree more there, and I noticed that even Jess seemed to be a bit creeped out as well. So we went down the staircase in the middle of the room that took us to a room that had its floor covered with poison, along with some tumbled old furniture scattered across the poisonous swamp and some Mummy Boys walking around it completely unharmed.

"Oh, a poisonous swamp…" Jessica trailed off. "How are we going to get across unharmed?"

Taking a good look at the furniture, I noticed that some of them seemed to be arranged in a way that could work as a bridge, and that gave me an idea, "Simple, we can just use the furniture here."

With that said, I, Yangus and Jessica walked along the furniture while the Gensokyo girls flew, making sure to deal with the Mummy Boys that would attack the three of us by throwing danmaku at them. Once we made it across, we headed onwards to some double doors up ahead but got our progress blocked by a Walking Corpse who proceeded to slowly lunge at us, only for Youmu to cut it down first.

[BGM End]

Upon opening the double doors, we saw on the other side a zombified priest with jaundiced yellow skin, sunken eyes that glowed purple, some missing teeth, and the way his mouth was cracked open was almost like if he was in constant never-ending pain. He wore robes and a miter in various shades of purple and magenta trimmed with gold. On his right hand, he wore a ruby ring and was holding a tall staff topped with a cracked skull.

"Raaaaaaaaargh!" the priest (whom Fairy suggested I should call him Tortured Soul for…some reason) roared in anguish. "So much pain! So much sorrow! Why does my Goddess remain silent? How long must I languish in misery? We served you so faithfully… Yet we died in agony. That terrible plague consumed my beautiful abbey. Oh, the memory… The pain! So much pain!"

"Uh… Wot's 'e talkin' about?" Yangus raised an eyebrow, completely confused.

Youmu furrowed her eyebrows in a serious expression. "He appears to be a lingering spirit." she said. "When a person has died but has either not realized it or not being able to move on, they will come back to the world of living as such."

I glanced down at Youmu in surprise. "Wow, you sure know a lot about topics related to death, Youmu."

"Well, I do live in the Netherworld, which is the world of the dead." Ah, now that makes sense. "But…" she looked back at the Tortured Soul with a finger under her chin. "I can feel that this one has been in an endless torment after his death, and he's now going insane as a result." Oh, that isn't good…

"You got that right, you who's still living!" Tortured Soul exclaimed in anger.

"Um, I'm actually half-dead…" Youmu replied.

"Silence!" Tortured Soul snapped. "Now you all shall taste for a moment the agony I have endured for an eternity! But fear not… for you shall be saved by the blissful peace of death!"

Jessica recoiled in appalment by that. "No, thank you! I'd rather die naturally than by a cursed soul like you!" she instantly took out her whip, leading me and Yangus to take out our weapons too.

"My minions! Come over!" but then Tortured Soul slams the bottom of his staff on the ground, creating a magic circle as a horde of Skeletons and Walking Corpses suddenly emerged out of the ground and surrounded us.

"Ugh, not this again…" Reimu groaned.

"Oh, you all can easily deal with these monsters." Remilia said, flying out of the crowd of monsters and directly facing Tortured Soul. "I for one am more willingly to put this soul out of its misery!"

"Then count me in too!" Jessica exclaimed, lashing her whip at a Skeleton to destroy it and joining Remilia.

I went on ahead and skewered a Walking Corpse with my spear in order to join them too. "Make that three!" I smirked.

"Try all you want…" Tortured Soul growled. "But in the end… your fate of death is already sealed!"

"Heh! Too bad for you, because I can easily turn that fate on us around! For I am the vampire of fate herself!" Remilia grinned, and then we got ready for battle.

[BGM: Septette for the Dead Princess – Touhou: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody]

"Die!" Tortured Soul shouted, charging dark energy on his left hand and firing several blasts at us, but we easily dodged them as Remilia planted her feet on the side wall and leapt away from it to ram down into Tortured Soul at an incredible speed to push him back, then Jessica hit him with a Frizz spell, all while I was doing one Psyche Up and preparing my next strike.

"Multithrust!" I called out, running over and stabbing Tortured Soul repeatedly.

"Argh!" Tortured Soul yelled, then he recovered and recited, "I summon more of thee!" by doing this, another Skeleton and Walking Corpse emerged out in front of me as they tried to attack me, but I quickly jumped away as Jessica used Whiplash to stun them and then Remilia took out a spell card.

"Curse: Curse of Vlad Tepes!" she shouted, launching what appears to be bloodstained knives at the Skeleton and Walking Corpse, instantly killing them…but that wasn't all; the dripping blood from the knives would then suddenly turn into red danmaku that went to attack Tortured Soul next.

"Rrgh…" Tortured Soul growled, as he next summoned four floating Skeleton heads that were powered up by dark magic and sent them at us, forcing us to dodge again… although I didn't expect one of them to suddenly bite on my arm really hard, and boy did that hurt so badly.

"YAAAGH!" I screamed in pain, and for the second time (or perhaps third time?), the exact same barrier of light I previously saw while fighting Geyzer appeared on me. So those flying skulls were actually powered up by cursed magic, which just like last time, I was protected by that magic once again. Still doesn't help the fact that I now have bleeding deep holes on my arm due to the strong bite I received, and as a result led me to kneel down on the floor while dropping my spear.

"Eight!" Jessica cried, apparently having witnessed my unfortunate situation as I looked up at her while wincing in pain. "Why you…!" she turned back at Tortured Soul angrily and launched a Frizz at him once more, and then Remilia shot a cross of red energy at him after she had dealt with the floating skulls.

"Grrr… I had enough!" Tortured Soul exclaimed, launching a Sizz spell at the two but they quickly dodged, and then Jessica launched a Crack spell at him as he tried to retaliate by firing more dark blasts at her, but she dodged and Remilia brought out another spell card.

"Devil: Remilia Stretch!" Remilia charged red energy on her hand and quickly mowed down Tortured Soul with all her strength, followed by Jessica casting Sap on him to decrease his defense before switching out her weapon for the Dagger and striking him repeatedly… while I… could only just watch. Damn, this sucks…

I could hear Tortured Soul groan a little as if he was in pain, and then he got his defense decreased further by Jessica's Sap while she avoided the Sizz spell he threw again, and then Remilia landed in front of him with yet another spell card at the ready.

"Let's end this." she said, and then she raised her arm as a large spear made out of red energy materialized on her hand. "Divine Spear: Spear the Gungnir!" she called out and threw the spear directly at Tortured Soul, hitting him point-blank.

"Uaaaaaaaaaargh!" Tortured Soul screamed as he got stabbed by the spear right through where his heart would be, and was left standing still in place.

[BGM End]

Using what's left of his strength, Tortured Soul rose his free hand up to the ceiling as he cried in a blissful tone, "Oh, my Goddess! My dear, sweet, Goddess!" at this moment, a column of light shone down on him complete with rising sparkles. "At last, I shall rest, cradled in your blessed arms!" and with that, he disappeared along with the light. At the same time, the remaining Walking Corpses and Skeletons that the others were dealing with also disappeared.

"Whew, I guess we finally managed to end his suffering and he can now rest in peace." Jessica sighed with a smile.

"Good for him. And thus his fate was sealed." Remilia added. I also cracked a smile at this… only to wince in pain again by the wound, which caught everyone's attention as they surrounded me.

"Guv! Yer alright?!" Yangus asked concerningly.

"Do I…look alright…to you?!" I grimaced, while on my pocket, I could hear Munchie squeaking in concern for me.

"Can't you just use your healing spell like you did it on me last time?" Cirno asked.

"No… This injury is too severe than yours were…so a normal Heal spell won't be enough…"

"Then…" Reisen began fishing into her bag of medicine and pulled out a batch of Strong Medicine, then she knelt down to me. "Maybe this will help?" gently, she placed one of the Medicine's leaves over my wound. After a few seconds, a healing aura surrounded me as my wound had closed back up into scars and I no longer felt any pain, thus I was able to stand back up.

"Thank goodness I made these." I sighed in relief. "Thanks, Reisen."

"No problem!" Reisen smiled.

"Oh hey, look!" Marisa said, pointing to a narrow tunnel on the left. "That should lead us to the exit!"

"Then let's hurry!" Aya exclaimed. "We have to go see if the Abbot is alright!"

"Yeah, we've wasted enough time here in this place." Reimu said, and so we hurried over to the tunnel while making sure to avoid touching some small puddles of poison along the way, until we came upon a ladder as we proceeded to climb our way up.

To be continued…

And with that, Remilia was the next one who would get the spotlight in the boss battle, and additionally, the chapter itself! Since the main focus of the Maella Abbey arc was about conflict between siblings, I figured that she would be fitting for this setting.

So next time our party will check up on the Abbot, and if he's alright, then surely they'll get away scott-free... Right?

Eight: Uh-oh... I'm not liking the sound of that.

Too bad that you'll only find out what will happens next in the following chapter. Well, until then!