Gensokyo has finally made their move. And since they've been noticed by the JSDF, it's now also a race against them to get more influence and control in Falmart first. Naturally, considering their history with the Outside World, they won't be very happy to see how the JSDF is outright making significant changes and throwing the balance of powers out of whack in the Special Region without considering the consequences.

At least Moriya Shrine and the kappa take multiple factors into consideration and are trying to make scientific advancement in Gensokyo a gradual process. In GATE canon, however, it took Rory passing on a warning/threat from Emroy for the JSDF to get the hint, and even then, they only slowed down their spread of scientific advancement in the Special Region.

Besides, introducing magical girl fashion to the ladies? There is no way in hell that anyone in Gensokyo would allow it to happen. Remilia, Sanae, and Hecatia would be especially angry. Remilia because aristocratic ladies should dress as aristocratic ladies, Sanae because magical girl clothes will clash terribly with a culture similar to Ancient Rome, and Hecatia because she'd probably want them to dress like her or something like that.

Once again, here's the poll for Yukari's past as Maribel and Sanae's life before Gensokyo. One vote for each.

Yukari options:

1. Something bad happened to Renko because Maribel made a mistake, and it broke her and made her throw away her humanity to become Yukari after obsessively training to master her ability to see and interact with boundaries so it would never happen again

2. Maribel went on a journey by herself to experiment more with her ability to see and interact with boundaries, and eventually turned into a youkai and became Yukari; she didn't tell Renko about the journey, so Renko is still wondering where Maribel (now Yukari) is

Sanae options:

1. Sanae was friends with Risa (Itami's ex-wife) in high school and hasn't aged ever since she moved to Gensokyo and became an arahitogami (living god)

2. Sanae "mysteriously disappeared" (aka moved to Gensokyo) a few years before GATE canon started

Poll vote results so far:

Yukari 1: 13

Yukari 2: 23

Sanae 1: 26

Sanae 2: 9

As a reminder, the deadline for this poll is when the national diet happens.

Disclaimer: I don't own Touhou Project or GATE.

Dawn in the Special Region led to a gruesome scene. At Alnus Hill, JSDF members walked among the corpses, looking for survivors to take in as prisoners and give medical treatment. Meanwhile, at Betula Hill, Remilia and Sakuya went around with large spears, occasionally impaling soldiers and propping the spears up to let the bodies hang down, regardless of whether or not they were still alive.

Holding out a cup, Remilia stood in the shade as she caught some blood dripping down from a soldier still holding on to his last threads of life. Vision fading, the man spent his last seconds watching in horror as Remilia removed her helmet and lifted the cup to her lips, sipping the life fluid.

Rolling the blood around in her mouth, Remilia grimaced as she analyzed the taste. "Their blood is ordinary, yet at the same time it tastes as though something was added to glamourize the taste." Taking another taste, she elaborated, "It is not dissimilar to adding herbs and seasoning to meat, yet it tastes more akin to those foods from the Outside World that were… How did the Moriya shrine maiden and the newspapers put it again, Sakuya? Chemically altered?"

Bowing, Sakuya answered, "The answer would be genetically modified and artificially flavored, Remilia-sama. Preparing foods in such ways was already quite widespread even before the mansion was relocated to Gensokyo near the end of the late twentieth century."

Scowling, Remilia said, "Ah, yes. The practice of using chemicals to falsify a flavor, and modifying an animal's genetic makeup to make it grow larger more quickly to have more food and money in a shorter amount of time. That is what I tasted in their blood. The soldiers are either modified in some way or have consumed the meat of a beast that was. I can taste it so clearly. Even the Moriya shrine maiden's favorite beverage, Mountain Dew I believe she called it, tasted more natural than the blood of these soldiers."

Handing the cup to Sakuya, she put her helmet back on and took the spears for herself. She continued, "I shall continue alone here, Sakuya. Go inform the others of what I have told you."

Performing an elegant curtsy, Sakuya stated, "As you wish, Remilia-sama." She vanished not even a moment later, having left to inform the tengu and kappa. Resuming her work, Remilia returned to putting up more impaled soldiers.

Watching from the top of the hill, Momiji pursed her lips. "It is a logical tactic, using the corpses to fend off the enemies as a scare tactic," she said, "but we need to advance as well." Glancing over at Mayumi, she asked, "When can we expect to move out?"

The haniwa answered, "Because the armies have been driven off, we should be able to travel without much hindrance. However, it is recommended that we take this opportunity to expand the area of our stronghold, since we now have the fields around the hill free to take. In addition, the army from the Outside World may head in our direction, so we should prepare for possible interactions. With these factors in mind, it would be best to have an expedition force leave tomorrow at the latest."

Nodding, Momiji left to prepare an expedition force. Suddenly, she stiffened and looked to the north, narrowing her eyes. After a few seconds, she called out, "There is a large western dragon on a rampage about two days' walking distance away from here. Bring Himemushi Momoyo here immediately! She is to be a member of the expedition force!"

The kappa went into overdrive, reinforcing their steel barriers to have resistances to heat and magic, as well as setting up anti-air artillery. Nitori sweated heavily as she continued modifying Hisoutensoku, with Sanae behind her handing over the proper tools and occasionally pitching in with the actual physical work itself. The tengu became even more vigilant, watching out for anything that approached the hill.

Within hours, the expedition force was ready. Of course, Momoyo was among the group. The other members consisted of Reisen, Aya, Sanae, Mokou, and Akuta, a kappa chosen by Nitori. Reading from her notepad, Aya declared, "Alright, so we have three objectives. First is to scout the area and know the nearby settlements. Second is to deal with any remaining soldiers from the invasion that may still be in the area. Finally, we are to hunt down and deal with the dragon before it can deal too much damage. Does everyone remember their roles?"

Speaking up, Sanae answered, "The crappy bird gets info about the place, Reisen is the medic, the kappa does stuff, Momo eats the dragon, Mokou is the muscle, and I use my amazing modern formal education to analyze the culture of this world!"

Ignoring the shrine maiden's blatant jab at her, Aya said, "Okay, so everyone remembers. Well then, let's go out!" The group headed in the direction of the nearest settlement, as directed by Momiji. As they reached the foot of the hill, they took to the air, flying high to map the area and to travel faster.

After a few minutes, Akuta spoke up. Looking at her tablet while adjusting her radar, she reported, "The army from the Outside World is on the move too. We're high enough to avoid being seen by them, but it looks like they're heading in the same direction as us. What should we do?"

Sanae said, "We should stay away from them. We know that it's the JSDF, but that's all. We don't know what else they're doing here."

Grunting, Mokou summarized, "So skip visiting settlements for now and just scout the area while taking out more soldiers from the invasion and hunting the dragon. Got it." She ran a hand through her hair, brushing it out of her face.

Periodically, Aya pulled out her camera and snapped photos, writing notes on each photograph and detailing their directions. After a couple hours, she stopped. "Alright," she muttered, "we have the area closest to the hill mapped out for now, so we have enough to make a temporary map. And since the closest settlement that seems significant is a bit close, we should probably activate the kappa cloaking device now."

Going through her bag, Akuta pulled out several bracelets, passing them out to the others. "This is a bracelet version that we've been working on," she said, "after putting them on, you just need to press the green button to activate the cloak. Pressing the red button will deactivate it. There's a one second delay between pressing the button and the cloak activity. You'll be invisible, but you can still be heard if you're not careful."

Taking more photos, Aya made a few mental calculations. "We're almost at the nearest city. According to the information given to us by the two commanding officers who cooperated with us, Formal and Pompey I think their names were, it should be calle-"

"It's called Italica!" interrupted Sanae. "The city is called Italica, and it's an important part of the Saderan Empire's economy. If we take over Italica, we'll have a stronghold we can use as a place to have more control!"

Before anything could escalate, Mokou decided to cut in. "Alright," she snapped. "that's enough. Akuta, put a tracking beacon and camera somewhere they'll be safe and hidden. Sanae, go see what you can figure out about this world's culture. Momoyo, Reisen, and I will split up and try to gather some information. Tengu, map out the city and take photos of any places that look important. We meet back at the city gates in two hours."

Smirking Momoyo said, "Got it! We better run into that dragon soon, though. I'm starving!" They all activated the cloaking bracelets, vanishing from the air.

Later, the six met back at the gates of Italica. Decloaking in the air above, Aya pulled out her notebook and started, "I got Italica mapped out, and took pictures of places of interest, as well as a top view of the entire city. What about you?"

Akuta reported, "Italica's definitely facing some trouble. Hastily made wooden barricades, the walls outside are damaged, and repairs are clearly a rush job of urgency, not half-assed lazy work. Going by damage marks, I'm guessing bandits, but we don't know for sure yet." Pulling out a tablet, she tapped on it a few times before adding, "Tracking beacon and camera are working. We should be able to see the problem soon."

Mokou said, "Reisen, Momoyo, and I looked around the districts. For a city that's supposed to be a wealthy trading hub, there's a lot of people who aren't doing that well." Sighing, she rubbed the back of her neck. "But going by what the kappa said, I can guess why." Looking at Sanae, she asked, "So what were you able to figure out?"

The green-haired shrine maiden was unusually serious. She was silent for a moment, before she finally spoke. "I think I figured out the culture of this empire."

As the others looked at her, she continued. "From the clothes, architecture, language, and food, it seems to be an Ancient Roman civilization. That shouldn't be possible, however." Floating back and forth, she pursed her lips. "The Ancient Romans died out a really long time ago. The only thing I can think of is-" Her eyes widened. "The Ninth Legion!" she gasped.

Blinking in confusion, Momoyo asked, "The what now?"

Still in shock, Sanae rambled, "The Ninth Legion of the Roman Empire is considered one of the greatest mysterious disappearances throughout history. It disappeared almost two thousand years ago with no explanation. Even now, there are only theories about what happened, and none of them have concrete evidence, only speculation. If the Ninth Legion ended up here, it could explain their disappearance and why the culture of this world is this way!"

Grabbing Sanae's shoulders, Reisen asked, "What do you mean? You're not making any sense!"

Calming down, Sanae took a deep breath and looked at everyone. "We know that the Gate opens in different worlds. What if the Gates in Gensokyo and Ginza aren't the first time it happened in our world?"

Eyes widening, Mokou exclaimed, "So you're saying that this Ninth Legion disappeared all those years ago because it went through a Gate and started this empire?" When the green-haired girl nodded, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Damn, and I thought Gensokyo was the place with a complicated series of events."

Reisen's ears twitched. Looking to the sky, she said, "I heard the dragon. I'm a bit surprised it took this long for the dragon to reveal itself. Should we go now?"

Sanae said, "Momoyo and Mokou will go to the dragon. Reisen, the kappa, the dumb tengu, and I will go back to base to report everything we found out."

Without waiting for anyone to answer, Momoyo licked her lips and grinned. "Which way? It's time for lunch, and I haven't eaten yet."

…

Itami shifted uncomfortably as the girl dressed in Gothic Lolita sat on his lap. Since the JSDF picked her up while evacuating civilians, the girl had been shown immense respect by the refugees, something that slightly set him on edge. Glancing over at Kurata, he whispered, "How long until we get there?"

Before the younger JSDF member could answer, a large shadow passed over them, and a loud roar echoed through the area. The civilians started screaming, and a wave of fire plowed through the caravan. "The dragon's here!" shouted a soldier. "Rear line under assault!"

Itami ordered, "Totsu, man the minigun on the LAV! Everyone, prepare for combat!" Grabbing his rifle and turning to the girl, he said, "It's going to be dangerous, so move to the back. It's safer there." Grabbing his radio, he announced, "All troops, draw the dragon's attention away from the villagers. Launch the attack!"

The villagers screamed as they tried to escape, with some of them getting killed in the chaos caused by the dragon. Meanwhile, the JSDF fired bullets, only for them to bounce off the dragon's scales. "Don't relent!" shouted Kuwahara, an older man serving as the platoon sergeant, "Japan has a tradition of fighting giant monsters, and you can be damn sure we'll continue it here!" However, they were unable to harm the dragon. Both their rifles and miniguns failed to even scratch its scales.

Roaring, the dragon approached the caravan, successfully grabbing and swallowing a man who was too slow to get away. It spewed a torrent of flames at a jeep, forcing it to swerve off the road to avoid driving into the flames.

"Shit," cursed Nishina, "nothing we do is working!"

"It doesn't matter, just keep aiming!" shouted Itami. "We need to get the dragon to stop targeting the civilians!" Turning to Kurata, who was driving, he ordered, "Kurata, stay clear and prepare for its blaze! We need to circle around!"

A shifting noise behind him drew his attention; the elf girl they found in the ruined village woke up. "Ono!" she shouted, "Yuniryu ono!" She pointed at her eye, then at the dragon, then back at her eye.

Eyes widening, Itami shouted, "Aim for its eyes!" The dragon was forced on the defensive, and used its wings to protect itself.

Pulling out a panzerfaust, Katsumoto called out, "Ready to fire!" A second later, he quickly glanced behind him and added, "Oh, backblast clear!"

Everyone snapped, "Just shoot already!"

Katsumoto fired the rocket, watching as it soared towards the dragon. However, it moved to the side just enough to be able to dodge it. Suddenly, a blur struck the dragon on its side, sending it back into the way of the rocket. Glancing to his side, Itami saw the strange girl standing next to him, her arm outstretched. "Was… was that you?" he asked. As if answering, the blur returned to the girl's hand, revealing itself to be the massive axe she carried.

The dragon's roar gained their attention. Looking towards it, the JSDF realized in horror that the rocket had badly damaged the dragon's wing, restricting it to land travel. The dragon faced the caravan and reared its head, prepared to breathe fire once more.

Suddenly, it jerked to the side when a massive torrent of flames engulfed its head. Flailing around, the dragon roared as it tried to find its attacker. In its rage, it left itself open to more attacks, causing itself to get hit by another barrage of fire. Now stumbling around, the dragon was unable to move when a massive centipede, easily large enough to wrap itself around a skyscraper multiple times, burst out from the ground and grabbed on to it.

The centipede wrapped itself around the dragon, restraining the massive beast and preventing it from moving. The dragon struggled to move, even spewing flames into the air, but it failed to loosen the centipede's hold.

"What the hell is that?" gasped Kurata, "How did that thing hide itself? We should have felt it coming with how big it is!"

The struggle between the two titanic creatures continued for several seconds, until the centipede managed to get its mandibles on the dragon's neck. A moment later, a sickening crack echoed throughout the field, and the dragon's body went limp, its neck twisted and hanging limply at an unnatural angle. However, the centipede wasn't done. With a mighty tug, it ripped off the dragon's head, before making off with it.

As the centipede rumbled away, someone approached them on the road. They first seemed to be a man, but as the person got closer, Itami realized that it was actually a girl who could only be described as handsome. She had long white hair tied in a ponytail and red eyes, and wore a white collared shirt with red sashinuki hakama wrapped in paper tags and held up by suspenders.

Noting her clearly Japanese clothing, Itami wondered, "Is she a cosplayer who was taken to the Special Region and got away from the soldiers?"

Getting off the LAV and walking up to her, he called out, "Excuse me, but are you-" He stumbled back when a wall of flames erupted between him and the girl. Ignoring him, the girl turned to the side and walked over to the dragon's corpse.

"Hey, what are you doing, kid? Get back here! It's dangerous!" called Kuwahara.

The girl ignored the JSDF's calls and climbed up onto the corpse. What happened next shocked them.

A massive pair of bird-like wings made of fire burst out from the girl's back. Holding on tightly to the dragon's corpse, she started to rise up into the air, carrying it with her. After the dragon's corpse was about ten meters above the ground, she flew into the sky, before both she and the corpse disappeared into thin air. All the while, she ignored the amazed stares of the JSDF and villagers, as well as the looks of shock from an elf, an elderly man, and a petite girl with light blue hair.

Back at the youkai outpost on Betula Hill, Aya, Sanae, and Reisen finished sharing their findings while Akuta left to make a report log regarding the expedition. A rumble and the ground shaking caught their attention. A tengu reported, "Himemushi Momoyo and Fujiwara no Mokou have returned with the dead dragon!"

At the base of Betula Hill, the cloaking field generator hummed as it came to life, allowing the corpse of the dragon to be seen by those within the area while staying invisible to the rest of the world. Ripping another piece of flesh from the dragon's neck, Momoyo moaned in delight as she fed on the beast. "Wow, this tastes amazing! Even if other youkai ate it, I'm sure they'd love it too!"

Staring at the dragon, Momiji flipped through the papers containing all the information they had about Falmart, whether it was freely provided by Colt and Pompey, or extracted from the prisoners. Finally, she stopped at a certain page. Looking back and forth between the paper and the dragon, she was silent for a moment. After several seconds passed, she finally said, "That is the Flame Dragon, which is considered the most dangerous monster in Falmart since nobody has been able to defeat it. And you're saying Momoyo killed it by herself in less than thirty seconds?"

"Well," interjected Mokou, "I did blast it with fire a few times."

"That isn't the point," snapped Momiji. "What happened is that its death will draw far too much attention, and the gods of this world may be alerted. In addition, you let the Outside World military see you, and although you did not speak to them, they will now be on the lookout for others like you, meaning they may approach us soon."

Piping up, Sanae exclaimed, "Oh, yeah! The people from the Outside World that we saved! How are they doing?"

This time, Remilia spoke up. "They have acclimated rather well. All medical checkups have been completed, and all the humans have adjusted to living here, though they still show fear and awe when seeing us. As of now, they have been allowed to reside within guest rooms of my mansion." Looking towards Alnus Hill, she continued, "When we establish contact with the Outside World military, we will then give them two choices: to return to their homes, or to stay here and live new lives."

Pursing her lips as she reviewed the information, Momiji relented and sighed, "Very well. Your reconnaissance mission is complete, and we have the necessary information about our surroundings and nearby settlements. Take a break for now. You are dismissed."

A few hours later, Yuuma laughed with glee as she continued serving dragon stew, stripping the Flame Dragon's corpse for meat. Although removing its scales was a pain, the meat within was more than enough as a prize for the work.

"Get your dragon stew!" she called out as she passed out more bowls. "There's plenty, so don't be afraid to get seconds!"

Dinner was quite the noisy affair. With the reveal of the dragon, many of the youkai were on edge, as well as eager for a good fight. As more of the Flame Dragon was stripped, the scales and bones were taken by the kappa and tengu to make weapons and armor, while the skull was chosen to be a trophy.

Soon, it was time for night patrols to start. Everyone moved to their stations, when a kappa ran to the command center, waving a tablet that blared loudly. "We have major activity!" she called. Stopping to catch her breath, she calmed down and said, "The tracker and camera set up in Italica is picking up major activity. After activating the camera, I saw that the city is being sieged by the soldiers that attacked us, and according to the scanners, there's nearly a thousand of them."

Cursing, Momiji snarled, "I will lead a platoon out immediately! Fujiwara, Joutougu, you're both coming with me! Bring six haniwa with us as well!" She stormed away, barking out orders to the nearby tengu.

Standing up, Remilia sighed. "It seems I will be going as well," she commented, "If we are to head to Italica, we will need to speak to the one in charge, and I hold the most qualification to do so." She walked away, followed by Sakuya, who was close behind her.

Within minutes, the platoon was ready. Standing in front of them, Momiji and Mayumi watched in silence as they all prepared themselves. As the kappa took flight with their backpacks, the tengu followed afterwards, with six of them carrying a haniwa. They headed towards Italica, keeping an eye on the roads for both bandits and soldiers.

At full speed, it took only ten minutes for them to arrive at Italica, just in time to see the soldiers begin their nightly siege. Remilia commanded, "Drop two haniwa at each gate! Split up evenly among the three gates. As the main forms of access, they must be defended at all costs!"

The haniwa were dropped, and they landed in the way of the charging bandits. At the south gate, one bandit group nearly had them land on them. "What the hell?" exclaimed one of them as he stumbled back. "What are these things?" Upon taking a closer look, he burst into laughter. "Look, boys! They're so desperate that they're throwing statues at us now!" The bandit army started laughing as well.

None of them noticed that the statues started moving. The terracotta soldiers suddenly attacked, taking down multiple bandits each. The first bandit ran back, screaming, "What the? They're not statues, they're golems! They have a ma-" He was cut down before he could finish. The bandits scrambled back, trying to make room for themselves to get away from the haniwa.

To their surprise, the constructs did not chase after them. Instead, they retreated and formed a defensive stance in front of the gates. The bandits didn't have long to wonder why. A group of figures dropped from the sky. Ten of them seemed to be the humanoid variants of volralden wearing unusual garments, while another five looked like children wearing oversized blue coats and giant green packs on their backs. Finally, another volralden-like woman landed in front of them, wielding a sword and shield.

Without hesitation, the bandits charged, believing their numbers would be enough. Unfortunately for them, they failed to recognize their opponents as the denizens from the other side of the Gate on Betula Hill.

"All tengu, attack the bandits! Kappa, fortify the city defenses!" ordered Momiji. She leapt into battle, cutting down a bandit. With elegant execution, she shifted to the side to dodge another bandit's sword before beheading him with one swing. Pursing her lips as she observed the army, she flew into the air, ignoring the shocked looks the bandits sent her. "Dog Sign: Rabies Bite!" A barrage of danmaku shot rained on the bandits, scattering them as they tried to protect themselves.

At the eastern gate, Mokou blasted a torrent of flames at the bandits, incinerating those who were too slow to escape. "Bring it on, you bastards! Not so brave now that you're fighting someone who can beat you, huh?" she taunted.

"Don't you dare call us cowards, you bitch!" A bandit charged at her, screaming in rage. "For the glory of Lord Emroy, you shall die!" Swinging his sword wildly, he tried to cut Mokou down, but she stepped out of the way with ease. Grabbing the blade, she heated it until the bandit was forced to let go to avoid burning his hands.

Waving the sword around, Mokou said, "Really? This thing is so poorly made, even a pitchfork would be a better weapon." Turning to face the bandits, she was too slow to react to the arrows. Three went into her head, while one pierced her throat and another five stabbed into her chest.

A cheer erupted from the bandits, but it was short-lived. Reaching up, Mokou ripped the arrows out, though she was too forceful with the three in her head. Healing up, she frowned as she looked at the three broken arrows. "Damn it, they're still in my head." She grimaced as she held a hand to her head, able to feel the arrowheads within. Snapping her fingers, she created an explosion that obliterated her head, letting the three arrowheads clatter to the ground at the bandits' feet. A few seconds later, Mokou's head reformed. Rolling her neck, she turned to the bandits and asked, "Now then, where was I?"

At the western gate, Mayumi watched as the bandits were driven away. "Let them go," she called out to the tengu accompanying her. "In their state of fear, they will leave a trail to their base, making it easier for us to find it. And if they do return with larger numbers, it will become far simpler to wipe them out."

As the battles raged on outside Italica, Remilia smiled as she stared at Myui Formal, the last remaining person who held any ruling power in the city. Clapping her hands, she announced, "Sakuya, remove my armor." The silver-haired maid appeared and quickly removed the armor before disappearing just as quickly. Gazing at the frightened young girl with a predatory grin, she purred, "Hello, Lady Myui Formal, current ruler of Italica. I am Lady Remilia Scarlet, mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I hail from the world on the other side of the Gate on Betula Hill, and I have an offer for you. For your own sake, I hope you listen to what I have to say."

Trembling, Myui gulped before managing to say, "Y-y-you may s-speak, Lady Scarlet. What offer do you have?" Remilia's smile grew wider.

Getting it out of the way now, Akuta is an original character who was made just for being in the expedition force this chapter. I couldn't go with Nitori because she's working on Hisoutensoku. She's just a filler for the expedition team. Like Nitori, her name is a reference.

Nitori's name origin: a phrase from the novel Kappa – "河童にとり" which is read as kappa NI TORI

Akuta's name origin: Ryuunosuke AKUTAgawa, the writer of the novel Nitori's name comes from.

One thing I will say: Hecatia might get involved in the Special Region later on. As both canon and Sanae explain, it's implied that the Saderan Empire is descended from the Ninth Legion, which mysteriously disappeared, and even now we still only have theories as to how it happened. Anyways, Hecatia is based on Hecate, and the Ancient Romans referred to Hecate as Trivia. Three guesses what she does, assuming the Saderan Empire still has the information of the Roman deities even after about two thousand years.

Please tell me what you think, review, constructive criticism appreciated, and NO flames. Keep your insults to yourself. They contribute nothing to the story (unless you're insulting characters that honestly deserve the burns).