Meiling and Sakuya quietly ran through the halls of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, attempting to locate Remilia, or anybody rather. After they had broken out of the small room they were in, they determined that they were closest to the library - and it was there that they started.
"Lady Patchouli? Are you here?"
Of course, Meiling got no answer from the deserted library. The musty air was stagnant and strange - but then again, this was normal for the library. However, knowing that Patchouli was not in the library was more than a bit concerning - the pair had no idea how long they had been passed out, and any number of things could have happened in their down time.
Leaving the ancient library, Meiling decided that it would be possibly a good idea to see if Flandre was still in her basement. She reasoned that having her on their side would be a definite plus if they were to get into any sort of battles, especially if Yumeko's master was more powerful than she was. However, just as with the library, they found the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion to be completely empty and devoid of life.
"This is strange...There's not even a single fairy maid about." Meiling noted. "You'd think that SOMEBODY would have gone into hiding, or been looking for us, or SOMETHING..."
Sakuya had no comment on this, nor had she on any part of Meiling's plans - she had been oddly quiet ever since they had left the small closet. The pair made their way up the stairs of the mansion nonetheless, heading toward Remilia's bedchamber and balcony. If the mistress were to be anywhere, it would be there, seeing how it was still day, and she would have been asleep no doubtedly when Shinki made her way to the mansion.
However, as Meiling and Sakuya neared the grandiose double doors leading to their mistress's room, a chilling fear spread over them both. This fear wasn't anything that could be explained, except for the fact that both ladies felt as if beyond those doors lied what could be only described as their ultimate destiny.
"Come on, Sakuya-san. We're gonna get this over with." Meiling affirmatively said.
She tried the door, and it was strangely open. Slowly opening the door, the gatekeeper peeked inside, and was set upon quite an awful scene.
"Ah, the gatekeeper. You and your maid, come, take a seat."
Sitting delightfully in the center of the room was a woman with long, white hair, wearing robes of red. Standing next to her was the blonde maid that Meiling and Sakuya had dueled earlier, looking over the two as they entered with extreme caution.
"My name is Shinki, but you probably already knew that~" Shinki said with a cheerful smile. "And I've heard that you met my maid, Yumeko."
As Meiling looked around, she saw that Remilia and Flandre were tied up on the balcony, sitting in the direct sun - something that couldn't be great for the vampires. Patchouli was bound as well next to them, and a fairy was standing next to her with what looked like a feather duster.
"It's funny," Shinki started, seeing the shock on Meiling's face, "how such powerful people can be taken care of with such simple solutions, like sunlight or dust." The demon goddess laughed heartily, and Yumeko let off a small smirk.
"Why are you doing this?" Meiling asked forcefully, clearly sick of Shinki's games. "We've done nothing to you, and what do you hope to gain from this savage assault!?"
"Mmm, it's none of your business. Now, you can be a good girl and cooperate with me, or you can end up like your mistress over there." Shinki smiled again, clearly not taking Meiling seriously at all.
Both Meiling and Sakuya looked at eachother, and Sakuya nodded at Meiling, confirming her thoughts.
"How about THIS plan, Shinki." Meiling barked, beginning to take an offensive stance. "You leave this place at once, and I WON'T break every bone in your body." Sakuya stood behind the gatekeeper, silently, but ready as ever.
"Mmm, somehow I knew it would come to this. Yumeko, put them back in their room. And make sure to double tie their ropes this time." Shinki casually said, picking up a cup of tea and beginning to sip from it.
Without a word, the blonde haired maid drew two short swords and flew at the pair extremely quickly. However, Meiling was ready for this move, and stepped out of the way swiftly. Sakuya jumped up into the air and out of the way, and attempted to drive a kick into Yumeko's back. This move was quickly dodged, but met with a powerful punch by Meiling, sending the blonde maid back several feet. Standing back up, Yumeko saw the two standing in front of her, ready for more.
With a smirk, Yumeko began to toss out her swords, and mysteriously draw more from seemingly nowhere. Dodging out of the way, Meiling and Sakuya parted in separate ways, but kept an eye out on purpose - Yumeko could not keep track of them both at the same time. Running to her enemy's left, Meiling attempted to flank Yumeko and drive her to the ground - a move that was met with a powerful kick to Meiling's center. However, while her back was turned, Sakuya grabbed the other maid from behind, putting her into a submission hold. When Meiling quickly sprung back up, she noticed what Sakuya was attempting, and quickly dashed over to the two to take advantage of the situation.
"You fight for real, huh? Well, how real is this?" Meiling ragefully said, before delivering an extremely powerful blow directly to Yumeko's stomach.
With all of the wind knocked out of her, the blonde maid fell to the ground as Sakuya let go of her. Picking up a sword, Sakuya pointed it at Yumeko and glared directly into her eyes, causing a fear that Yumeko had never felt before.
"You done?" Meiling asked rhetorically, ready to dish out more punishment to the blonde maid.
Yumeko looked at the gatekeeper, and then up the blade of her own sword to Sakuya.
"Oh come Yumeko, show some honor." Shinki casually said, beginning to stand up. "They're clearly sparing you your life, show gratitude to the ladies."
The blonde maid looked at her mistress, then closed her eyes and looked downward.
"I admit defeat. You've won." She grudgingly said.
"And quite quickly too, I might add." Shinki disappointingly added in. "You've lost your touch Yumeko, I'm not happy with you."
"I'm sorry, ojou-sama..." Yumeko groveled.
Sakuya lowered the blade, confident that Yumeko would not get up again - maids never disobey their mistresses. The pair turned their attention to Shinki, now standing above Yumeko, and did not know what to expect from this strange woman. To them, she could be anybody - she was from Makai, and somehow held power over the already powerful Yumeko. A scary thought.
"Now then, about your mistress..." Shinki began to spread her arms. "...I'm afraid I can't let you save her. You see, I need her as a bargaining chip of sorts."
"And it's my job to protect her." Meiling retorted, taking another powerful stance. "I'm afraid I can't let you stay here - the mistress would be most displeased."
"Oh, all this talk coming from a little China girl? How amusing." Shinki laughed as she began to rise up into the air. "Just because I need that vampire, doesn't mean I need a worthless gatekeeper like you."
--
Remilia, Flandre and Patchouli all watched the spectacle from outside. The vampire sisters felt extremely weak and devoid of power due to the sun, and Patchouli had her own personal fairy to aggrivate her athsma if she attempted to act up.
"Onee-chan...Is Meiling going to be ok?" Flandre innocently asked, having lost all hope of escaping her current situation long ago.
"I don't know, Flandre..." Remilia replied, currently suffering a break in her usually immense charisma. "That Shinki lady is really strong..."
"I think...th.." Patchouli paused to let off a large sneeze, to which the fairy laughed. "...I think that it really depends." She finally managed to say.
"On what?" Remilia asked back.
"Sakuya." The librarian simply replied.
All three of the girls knew that Patchouli was most likely right, and they all had their assorted thoughts about the direness of the situation. The three looked back into the room just in time to see Shinki sprout a pair of purple and red wings - clearly a sign of the start of a very powerful battle.
--
"Come, with all your might!!!" Shinki declared out before sending out an extremely large wave of powerful danmaku. Unlike most danmaku in Gensokyo, however, these bullets weren't made to simply tag an opponent out of a spellcard - they were made to deliver extreme pain to the target; made to deliver death.
Quickly reacting, Meiling and Sakuya dodged their separate ways as they had done with Yumeko - they hoped to double team Shinki in a like manner. However, Shinki was more skillful than her maid, and saw this move coming - she locked Sakuya in an extremely thick wave of danmaku, causing her to dodge and graze, which impeded her progress. Whilst Sakuya was busy with that, Shinki turned her attention to Meiling, and caught her off guard - causing the gatekeeper to fly backwards and hit a wall forcefully.
The three ladies battled fiercely for what seemed to be an eternity - Meiling and Sakuya fought their hardest, but it seemed that Shinki had no weak points, as they weren't able to land a single hit on her. They were also having their previous injuries take their tolls - Meiling, despite her qi training, was becoming wobbly on her feet, and Sakuya's arm was acting up immensely. Shinki saw this, and knew that the end of the battle must be near.
After deflecting yet another attack, Shinki used a wave of energy to push the pair back onto their knees, and ceased her attacks for but a moment.
"Come now ladies, as Yumeko had said before, this is not your fight!" Shinki smiled. "If you surrender now, I will not harm you any further."
Meiling and Sakuya stood kneeling, both breathing heavily, both wounded heavily. Meiling had taken the brunt of most attacks, however, and was only continuing to fight off of her qi - under normal circumstances, she would have collapsed long ago. As the gatekeeper kneeled, she stared at the ground and watched as her sweat and blood mixed together painfully and dripped to the floor. She looked to her side and saw Sakuya doing much the same, still looking somewhat pale.
"Well?" Shinki inquired after a moment of ceasefire.
The gatekeeper looked back at the ground for a moment, then looked up at Shinki.
"Lady...Lady Shinki. You are powerful, I do admit." She began. "However, I told you before..." Meiling stood up slowly, then took an offensive pose once again. "...It's my job to protect the mistress."
Behind her, Sakuya struggled to her feet as well, and then looked up at her nemesis with her tired, blue eyes.
"It's my duty to ensure her safety..." Meiling continued, then looked back at Sakuya. Meiling smiled weakly as she saw what she was starting to do. Looking back at Shinki, Meiling smirked.
"...And it's high time you left."
Sakuya continued to stare at Shinki, with her fiery, red eyes.
Before anybody could react, Sakuya was behind the Demon Goddess, and had one of Yumeko's short swords pointed at her back. Seeing this opportunity, Meiling pushed the limits of her body and flew up into the air, returning quickly with a colorful, qi-powered kick aimed directly at Shinki's stomach. Shinki, being confused at the extremely sudden movement of Sakuya and Meiling, hesitated for but a moment, ensuring Meiling to 100% accuracy.
Shinki flew to the side and crashed through a large shelf, landing on the ground in a resounding thud. She picked herself up after a moment, and looked at the pair who landed in front of her, taking fighting poses once again.
"...Fools." Shinki glared at first, but then she slowly bared an evil grin. The pair were confused at first, but at that moment, Meiling sharply screamed and fell to the ground as blood spurted to the ground. Sakuya quickly looked behind her, seeing Yumeko with a dark look in her eye holding a bloodied sword, and beginning to turn to the maid. Becoming equally as angry, Sakuya swung the sword she held and barely missed hitting her target, grazing a bit of Yumeko's sleeve.
As Shinki regained her senses, and as the two maids dueled with their blades, Meiling laid on the ground, holding her arm in pain. With two limbs harboring major wounds, things were not looking up for the gatekeeper. As she lay on the ground, slowly bleeding out, she closed her eyes tightly, and many thoughts went through her head. She wondered if she would ever get out of this situation alive, or if the mistress was going to be ok. She wondered if Shinki would take over the Mansion, or if she was even going to live to see any of these answers.
But then, one more question crossed her mind. Meiling decided that this was the most important question yet, and decided that she must ensure a good outcome in its favor.
Gathering what little strength she had left, Meiling got back to her feet just as Shinki began to re-cast her main spells. Seething through the pain, Meiling looked at Shinki with a dark look in her eye.
"Back for more, China girl?" Shinki smirked as she readied more danmaku to throw at her.
"My...name...isn't...China!!!" Meiling yelled out angrily. With one powerful move, Meiling dashed forward with all of her might, moving at speeds comparable to a tengu. Catching Shinki off guard, Meiling placed a powerful palm into her center, and passed right on by, stopping several feet behind the Goddess.
Shinki stopped and looked down slowly to her stomach, which was building more and more with an extremely powerful energy. A colorful aura began to glow out of her, and before she knew it, this energy exploded into a mass of qi energy, being fed upon from both hers and Meiling's. The resulting blast knocked Sakuya and Yumeko to the ground, and caused the glass on the large door to the balcony to shatter, as well as every window in the room. Shinki flew high into the air, straight through the ceiling, and fell back only after several seconds of sustained flight. The impact knocked the Goddess out cold immediately, and left a sizable crack in the floor.
Yumeko viewed this spectacle with shock and fear, and Sakuya took advantage of this pause to quickly take two swipes at both of her arms - causing Yumeko to drop the swords that she was holding and scream out in terrible pain. Dropping to her knees, Yumeko was met with a bloody sword tip in her face, as well as a less than happy glare. Without a word, Sakuya swiftly kicked the blonde maid with a sharp heel, causing her to black out, as well as leaving a sizable cut down her cheek.
Meiling, after hearing her target impact with the floor, fell to her knees harshly. Pain throbbed all throughout her body, and every bit of her existence simply hurt. She was completely out of strength, as that last blow had literally taken all of the energy out of her. The blood loss that she suffered from her open wounds caused her to feel light headed, and feeling the sweat she had worked up over the course of the battle mix into her cuts didn't help matters. However, despite all of her pain, only one thing was on her mind.
Meiling wondered whether or not Sakuya would be proud of her.
"Meiling!!!!" Flandre yelled after being untied by Sakuya. She ran as fast as she could over to the gatekeeper, and looked at Meiling's motionless figure lying on the ground, then quickly looked back. "Sakuya, do something!!!" She frantically yelled, her eyes tearing up immensely.
Remilia came quickly behind, and Patchouli walked slowly to the scene. Whilst Remilia attempted to calm Flandre, Patchouli looked back when she noticed that Sakuya was not following them.
"Sakuya-san?" Patchouli inquired, as if to ask why she was hesitating.
The silver haired maid looked down at the ground and clenched her fist. Being in much pain herself, Sakuya stood there as Patchouli, and eventually Remilia and Flandre, looked upon her. Her legs shook, her arms felt like jelly, and every muscle in her body was on fire. However, it was not these symptoms that were bothering the perfect and elegant maid.
With everybody watching, Sakuya walked slowly over to Meiling, and saw her lying on the ground. Face down, Meiling's clothes were torn, and blood was still slowly streaming out of her wounds. Sakuya saw her, Meiling, and having suffered through the same battle as her, felt an emotion that she had never felt toward the gatekeeper.
A small tear hit the ground.
