Stage 6 – Leroy, Crown Prince of Necropolis

The three girls followed Synder and Eburinferuton into Necropolis. They head for the large castle the city is built around, eventually hearing a young man shouting at someone furiously. The male voice mentions Synder's name more than once, so they assume she is nearby. They round the corner, entering a courtyard and sure enough, Synder and Eburinferuton are there, being yelled at by a handsome young man wearing armor with blue hair. This is Prince Leroy Charmant, the current crown prince of the Netherworld.

Leroy was dressed in the regal garments of an English prince of the 1,600's, however, closer examination of his uniform revealed he was actually wearing a suit of plate armor. His hair, moderate cerulean and with a dark phthalo blue streak was cut short and swept back, and his armor was light yellow and green, with red pants with a light blue stripe going down each side. He carried with him a sword and tower shield. His eyes were moderate cerulean and his skin was light gray.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, SYNDER!? THIS IS GOING WAY TOO FAR, EVEN FOR YOU! I DEMAND YOU APOLOGIZE TO THOSE WOMEN!"

"L-Leroy, PLEASE! I-I can explain!"

"Alright, FINE! Let's hear it! And I want an explanation from you too, Eburinferuton!"

Synder and Eburinferuton looked at each other, and then looked at Leroy who stared back at them expectantly. With a sad sigh, Synder explained everything to him, with Eburinferuton backing her up. As they speak, Leroy started to give them both a look of understanding. He too, gives a sad, despondent sigh.

"Oh… What a mess this is," Leroy replied with a sad smile, "All this for my sake? I don't get it. Couldn't you have just asked?"

Eburinferuton looked at Synder and scolded her for her recklessness. "I TOLD you this was a bad idea. After the chewing out you gave Yuyuko after that whole mess with that cherry tree youkai, I would think you'd know a bad idea when you hear, er, think of one."

To be fair Synder knew this which is why she couldn't really disagree. " …Oh… Thinking back on it now, this wasn't one of my better ideas," she replied with a sigh, then snapped back, "I just didn't think I had any options!"

"Well, Jin is our friend!" Leroy reminded them, "I'm sure she can fix things. I don't want this marriage any more than you do, Synder."

At that moment, Reimu, Marisa and Youmu burst onto the scene, shouting for them to stop. Synder and Eburinferuton looked shocked and a little annoyed, but Leroy just looked at them in confusion.

"HOLD IT!" shouted Reimu.

"STOP!" Marisa yelled.

"WHAT THEY SAID!" Youmu added.

Leroy raised an eyebrow as he looked at them, then gasped. "Eh? I know you… You're Yuko's friend, Youmu! What are you doing here? Who are your friends?" Synder gasped pointed at them. "Gah! Those two are Reimu and Marisa, Leroy! They're the ones who keep interfering with me. Do something!"

This gave Leroy pause. But he decided to greet them carefully, "Er, right. Hello there, ladies. My name is Leroy Charmant. It's a pleasure to meet you. I know you want the lamp back, but you have to understand-"

"We don't want to hear it, Leroy!" Reimu held up her hand and interrupted him, "Either you give us the lamp, or we beat you three down and take it! The choice is yours!"

Leroy's eyes widened. He was not used to such defiance. Either way, he couldn't help but sigh. "…Fine. I'm sorry it had to come to this, ladies. But, I'm afraid I must stop you. How about this: A duel between the two of us on even ground. If I win, you must stand and let us make that wish. But if you win, then I promise you: The lamp is yours."

"…A duel?" Reimu tilted her head in confusion, "I've never had one of those. Is that anything like a Spell Card Battle?" she asked as she held up a random Spell Card.

"Reimu, was it? It can be anything you want. You are the challenged, so that means you are the one who gets to choose how we fight."

"Oh. Well the choice is simple then. I chose a Spell Card Battle. Are we going to fight here, or do you have some special place for dueling or whatever you call it?"

Leroy nodded in agreement. "Very well. But I get to choose the weapons. I chose my shield, sword and Eburinferuton. You may use whatever you want. As for a place to duel, I do indeed. This way, ladies."

Youmu was worried as she looked at Reimu. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Leroy is an expert at dueling, especially with swords. He was easily able to defeat Youki Konpaku, and was able to easily defeat me as well."

But Reimu simply scoffed in response. "I was able to beat you too, you know! I'm sure I can take him… He actually seems to be a novice at Spell Card Battles."

"It was a Spell Card Battle that he beat me in, Reimu." Said Youmu with a concerned frown, "But yeah, you have a point. Just, don't underestimate him, OK?"

"Don't worry, I won't!"

The group eventually reached the dueling arena. Reimu and Leroy take their positions and fly into the air. Leroy drew a mostly dark green sword that shimmers with violet ethereal energy and a moderate sapphire blue tower shield with a light rose Southern Cross on the front.

"Ready, BEGIN!"

To start off, Leroy lunged at Reimu with his sword, but Reimu was able to dodge quickly. They both fired off a series of danmaku at each other that canceled out in midair followed by multiple cutting drafts from Leroy's sword. It seemed as if they were evenly matched in this regard.

"Hmph, not bad," Leroy smiled gently at her as he swiped his sword at her sending waves of ghostly fire at her, "Looks like this is already appearing to be a stalemate, young lady."

"Yeah! So why not call this off, already?!" she shouted as she blocked his sword with her gohei and fired an explosion to knock him backwards. "This is a waste of everyone's time!"

"I have my honor to protect," Leroy insisted and immediately thrusted his sword into the ground, causing rays of ethereal light to erupt from the ground, causing Reimu to bob and weave and retaliated with a few Spell Cards, forcing Leroy to resort to activating his first Spell Card, Royalty "Prince of the Hunt".

He called upon the Winds of the Dead that took the form of a raging hurricane that covered the entire battlefield in a torrential hurricane that was flung towards Reimu. The shrine maiden had to fly and dodger blades of wind, flying debris, and angry spirits in order to avoid being swept up in the winds. Reimu counterattacked by sending more explosions his way that got absorbed by the winds and imploded which shocked it out of existence.

"Well, not bad," Leroy complimented her skill. "I suppose we should move this fight right along then. Charge!"

"Huh?!"

Pointing his sword at her, and a series of ghostly arrows flew at her. She avoided them all, but he just activated his second Spell Card: Royalty "Prince of Midnight". He raised his sword and summoned tens of thousands of ghost warriors that formed his armies. He then pointed his sword at Reimu making them charge her en masse, only for her to dodge them all.

However, she just landed into a rain of small lasers fired from Eiburinferuton, followed by Leroy spinning himself into a literal tornado that flew around the arena that Reimu had to dodge.

Leroy and Eiburinferuton fired some more Danmaku at Reimu, but she retaliated with one of her stronger Spell Cards. But Leroy was simply… Impressed.

"You are a fine warrior, Reimu. Are you absolutely sure this is your first duel?"

"It is! But believe you me, Leroy, I've had more Spell Card Battles than I can count!"

"...I see. Let's see how you handle this, then!"

Leroy then activated his third Spell Card, Royalty "Prince of Awakening": He transformed the battlefield into a massive thicket of thorny vines out of nowhere. The series of thorns and vines that appeared on all sides tried to stab and impale her. Her leg was grabbed by one of the vines, but she quickly zapped it with an explosion before her arm was ensnared too, barely being able to avoid big dark purple vortexes that chased her around while Leroy released thorny beams at her.

Panicked, Reimu tried her best to blast it away with a shield, but eventually found herself overwhelmed. But the vines withered away into nothing, and Reimu breathed a sigh of relief, only to avoid yet more cutting drafts from Leroy and balls of light from Eirubinferuton who followed this up with a multi-hit strike with his sword, sending ghostly balls of explosive ectoplasm that covered her in a gooey substance as she was flung backwards. Leroy then used yet another Spell Card.

This time it was Royalty "Prince of the Sea". He planted his sword into the ground, transforming the field into a gigantic whirlpool of souls and stagnant water. The Whirlpool releases blasts of water and lost souls at Reimu while also sucking her in. Reimu had to blast her way out in order to escape, but she did.

"Ready to give up yet?" he asked respectfully, "Or are you still looking for more punishment? I have all day. Take your time."

Determined, Reimu would pound her fist into the ground and stand up once more. "Oh-ho! I'm not done yet!"

Leroy just shrugged. "Suit yourself, milady."

Reimu balked at this, not being used to such chivalry. "Uh… OK? Sorry, I'm not used to fighting people who are so, uh, um…"

"...What? Did you expect me to act like a boorish oaf? Mayhaps an spoiled brat with a huge ego to go with his royal status?"

"...Yes, actually. Yes, I did."

"...Oh. My word, the living world certainly has stagnated if that's how they see royalty these days… Ah well! Have at thee!"

Leroy then used his fifth Spell Card, Royalty "Prince of Beasts". He put two fingers to his mouth and whistled, causing an white, ghostly stallion to shimmer into existence that he mounted and rode at her while swinging his sword around. As he did this, a stampede of ghostly warhorses followed him from the opposite direction he's riding from. But Reimu flew up and over the horses and blasted Leroy right off his horse that let out an loud neigh and charged Reimu.

It came too fast to dodge, but it just exploded into green smoke when it impacted her body. When the green haze cleared, she found that Leroy was about to use his penultimate Spell Card: Royalty "Prince of True Love".

Holding up his hand, he created one of the most massive orbs of spectral energy that Reimu had ever seen. And it just got bigger and bigger as Leroy hid behind his shield. Reimu's eyes widened in horror when she realized that it was set to explode after a short time. Reimu fired everything she had at it in order to destroy the orb before it could detonate, but nothing seemed to work. Thinking quickly, Reimu flew behind Leroy, and the blast washed over them both harmlessly.

Reimu tried to hit him with another blast of Danmaku, but Leroy dodged, only to be hit with a second wave. But the prince wasn't bothered in the least, and in fact seemed to genuinely applaud her efforts.

"Fighting you has been an honor, Lady Reimu! I only have one Spell Card left. With your skills, the people of Gensokyo must sing songs of your amazing deeds!"

"...Uh, YEAH! Sure, let's go with that. Just show me your final Spell Card already!"

Leroy paused at this, as it almost seemed as if this Reimu girl was unused to people saying nice things about her. But in the end, he just shrugged.

"If you insist! Eiburinferuton?"

"Oh! So it's THAT Spell Card! Don't worry, Leroy! Your godmother is right here!"

"That" Spell Card turned out to be Royalty "Prince of Happy Endings": Eburinferuton created dark blue energy balls and threw them at Leroy, who swung his sword to deflect them at Reimu. Eburinferuton then made a massive ball, which Leroy deflected. It bounced up and down, hitting the ceiling and floor as it made its way across the arena, creating shockwaves of blue lightning to radiate outward. The ball then bounced right at Leroy and Leroy deflected it once more causing it to explode when it hit the ground. But once more, Reimu dodged them all!

"Tch! Not bad! But I'm not done yet!" Cried Reimu!

Indeed she wasn't. The two continued to lob projectiles and explosions at each other with reckless abandon. Reimu knew that she was outmatched here but had to endure for as long as she possibly could.

Eventually, through all odds, she managed to pull through and with one final blast, struck down Leroy!

Prince Leroy floated down to the ground and dropped to one knee, leaning heavily on his sword. Eburinferuton floated down next to him.

"Very well. You fought well, Reimu. I give up," Leroy replied with a grunt of pain.

"You weren't half bad, yourself!" Reimu smirked and folded her arms. "I'm glad you aren't a sore loser… I hate those. Now then, I take it you'll keep your word."

Leroy sheathed his sword and shield and adjusted his coat. "But of course. I would not deserve to be a prince if I did not keep my word. Just ladies, please…" he looked away from them, "Promise me you'll figure a way out of this mess. If not for me, then for Yuko."

Reimu would smile, "We will, don't worry! Now then, the lamp?"

"Yes," Leroy looked up at the fairy godmother, "Eburinferuton, if you don't mind?"

"Yes, yes." Eburinferuton grumbled, "…I told Synder we should've just done this in the… …Oh for the love of-I knew she was stubborn, but this is too much even for her!"

Leroy tilted his head with a concerned expression on his face. "Eburinferuton? What's wrong?"

"It's Synder! She took the lamp!"

Reimu threw her hands into the air. "Oh you have got to be kidding me! Marisa! Tracking spell! NOW!"

"On it, ze!"

"Yeah, I got her! This way!"

"Good!" Reimu pumped her fist and looked at the group, "Come on, everybody! We'll put a stop to Synder, her plans and this wedding, once and for all!"

With that, Marisa flew away. Reimu and Youmu plus Leroy and Eburinferuton took off after her.