3349/Touhou Kakudai Stage 6 - Alchemical After You

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Touhou Kakudai Stage 6 - Alchemical After You
Date of Scene: 07 November 2015
Location: Afterus - City of Home - City Center
Synopsis: The Boss makes herself known along with her faithful daughter. Stressful to be in a strange land, the final confrontation draws to an end!
Cast of Characters: Arthur Lowell, Rebecca Chambers, 385, 619, Tomoyo Daidouji, 807, 829, 847, 882
Tinyplot: Touhou Kakudai


Shinki (882) has posed:
    When none of your minions can do something right, you just have to do it yourself.

    Above the bustle of Home's citizens and traffic, a crimson line of glowng light stretches out vertically, then horizontally into an elongated almond shape, black and shot through with violet magic. This then fans out into a total of six sickle-like shapes, spreading the opening into a large, perfect circle that shows rust-colored walls beyond.

    From this portal, a woman in red emerges, floating effortlessly. Pausing scant meters from the still-open portal, she raises her hands over her own head and breathes in deeply, eyes closed. A faint breeze kicks up from the portal behind her disturbing the ruffles of her scarlet dress and her silver side-ponytail.

    "Hmm~... What a great world for our project, isn't it?" Crimson eyes opening, the Demon God of Makai turns where she floats, peering back through the portal opening, "Given the other attempts have all but failed-" (good work, Louise!) "-we shall start fresh here. A world very close to Makai's own, and yet so different and fantastic. This will suit my purposes perfectly."

    Now-glowing eyes fix on the next party to arrive through the same opening she had carved across the Multiverse, "Don't you think so? Let's get set up right here." There's a smile, but in the eccentric lighting of Afterus' capital city and her own crimson and violet hues, it can't help but take on a sinister appearance.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Fortunately, this one isn't one of the minions.

    Alice follows through with her mother, grimoire in hand and twenty five koakuma behind her. Raising her hand to stop them from moving, she gives a bit of a nod. "I think so, I picked this one out specifically for you." a smile is given, half hearted but still there, the breeze from the still-open portal causes the dollmaker to crouch down in mid air and smooth out her dress.

    "I'm sure the others, save Louise, are apologietic in failing but we don't have a need for them right now if they can't do a simple thing correctly. I doubt we need them..." she gestures lightly to the koakuma behind her, "But I brought them in case you wanted to use them." Alice soon floats over to Shinki's side, her smile becoming more genuine next to the crimson robed lady, it doesn't look as sinister as Shinki's own.

    "Prepare for resistance, though, Mom. I know a few who may come to run us out."

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
    One of those that may come to stop them, was already in the area, thanks to an earlier clue. 'If you want to know, come to Afterus,' had been the something of a cliff-hanger, the last time Sanae had met Alice, back in Yuna Kagurazaka's world. The priestess has never actually been there, but she has certainly heard it talked about, as a card-carrying member of the Syndicate, and it proves an easy enough place to find. Navigation might be a slightly different matter, which is why she's drifting through the air instead of pacing on the ground. This is a good deal more urgent than one of her friendly tourist visits, the smelling of the roses she typically partakes in when first visiting a new world.

    That is because Alice's behavior has been...strange. Why was she with those devils before? Was this related to that favor she had asked of her before? If what she had done ends up used for something bad, she would likely be grounded by Lady Kanako, a teenager's worst nightmare. Just as she's about to get lost in that inner world of worry, and possibly drift right out of the air and land somewhere, a figurative electric jolt strikes through her head. It is the kind of sense when something is not right somewhere, and the exact kind she had felt when the devils started to emerge on that version of Earth. As before, when it is time to truly begin the show, the invaders make no real secret of their arrival, either.

    Nonetheless, it is a bit of distance to close, at least by how well distance can be gauged in this landscape, and she's no Tengu. She wills the air wafting about her to increase her speed, as she goes full Superman pose, but it will take a few moments. Plenty of advance warning for Shinki and Alice as to her presence, and a flying girl isn't exactly subtle.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
'If you want to know more, meet me at Afterus next week ...'

It's not the reason Yuna would have chosen to visit Afterus; she has plenty of friends to catch up with there, and she keeps meaning to make the time to swing by and visit them. Various factors make it harder for her to plan effectively - being a full-time idol singer and part-time magical paladin tends to dispense a generous supply of monkey wrenches where scheduling is concerned.

But she's here now, whatever her reasons. She didn't come alone: Elner is with her, as are Jiina of the Earth, Marina of the Sea, and Erina of the Sky, all three of the latter sporting their human guises for now. With Yuna at the head of the group, the Matrix of Light makes their way through the City of Home - and the pillar of crimson light spears skywards.

"There's the portal," Elner observes. "New life signs detected emerging from it."

Yuna's black sweater and the red jumper over it are replaced, in a swirl of wind and light, by the white and blue and gold of her Light Suit. "Stay alert, Elner. And you three -"

She looks over her shoulder, smiling ruefully at Erina, Jiina, and Marina. "Showtime, I think. Erina,,combine with me; Jiina, Marina, you're my wingmates."

The three girls nod, switching into their armored combat forms; Erina wastes no time in combining with Yuna's Light Suit. With the transformation ot Flight Form complete, Yuna takes to the air, the remainder of the Matrix of Light following close behind, ready to lend their firepower. Yuna spots Sanae easily enough, and spares a brief wave to her, but doesn't try to form up with her - just keeping track of each others' positions will do.

Friendly fire really hurts, after all.

Yuna refrains from opening fire at first - she's letting the 'bad guys' fire the first shot. Or at least, that's her initial plan. How long that plan holds up has yet to be seen ...

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur isn't quite here, at least not yet. As someone who isn't a Seer of Space, he can't detect a portal like this on his own. But he will, soon, as soon as it brings more disruption. Arthur is quite a known quantity on Afterus, and among the Multiverse. Unless alerted, the portal will go un-responded to by him. That's not going to last long though; the moment there's disruption on the surface -- the use of danmaku, the strange terror of magic -- you know Arthur will be there in seconds. He's linked to this space in an intrinsic way, so wherever he is, he'll be on-site within half a minute. Likely screaming his way out of a portal of his own, riding a rocket broom, and already burning with brilliant white magic energy.

    But, not yet. As soon as actual fighting starts, that's when people will be treated to the wild, shouting mageling and his angry broom-swats. Until then, there is a palpable Arthur-shaped hole in the soundscape, a place where shouting lacks.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Something's going on in this area and Rebecca Chambers has been asked by her superiors in S.T.A.R.S. to look into it, since that's one of the things S.T.A.R.S. operatives are trained to do. Not to mention, Rebecca has a knack for spotting strange things going on ever since her dealings with the Umbrella Corporation. So like the other elites arriving, Rebecca is also here in Afterus, although unlike those who might have already arrived in the air, Rebecca is down on the ground on foot. The only thing that might give her away is the fact she's wearing her uniform from S.T.A.R.S., but other than that she seems to be keeping a low profile and sticking to herself.

    That is, untill she gets a message over her radio that something is going down nearby, and Rebecca picks up the pace. Her casual walking turns into a bit of speedwalking, then she picks up the pace into a jog, before she's running quickly on her feet towards the area where she was directed to. She doesn't have her weapon drawn yet, but she's got it loaded and has extra clips available if the need for shooting should arise.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     'If you want to know, come to Afterus.'

     Well that was all well and good, but Konoe was terrible with directions. Plus her reading was even worse. But after a bit of a bumpy misadventure even getting here, the fake priestess somehow found her way to her destination. Not here to sight see, rather, here to find Alice, Konoe floats through the air, uncaring of how she may be percieved on the ground.

     "Sanae-san." The cat greets her fellow (legitimate) priestess in the air, after catching sight of her and flying alongside. "So you came too. That's good." Better to see familiar faces on her side than not after all. Her gaze focused on ahead, locking onto Alice, Shinki, and the koakuma.

     "...Is that 'Shinki'?" She muttered, a frown forming on her face. "....Hmn." Not content to just stand by and wait for something to happen, Konoe instead bursts forward through the air, going right for Shinki. "So you're the one behind all of this! Take your devils and go back to Makai!" She yelled, taking out several ofuda and throwing them straight at the God of Makai.

     Said ofuda burst into flame and curved through the air, homing in on the red cloaked figure.

     Yes, this is a fantastic idea. Attack a god.

     Very smart.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Alice had said to everyone to come to Afterus next week during Halloween. And thus, Tomoyo is here, drifting gently through the air on the blanket Alice gifted her. She's just watching, waiting...

    Ah, there's the portal now.

    She wills her blanket to drift towards it, catching mother and daughter's words about the koakuma. "Oh, I think those koakuma are more clever than you think. They gave me quite the runaround..." she says, smiling ruefully at the two. "Hello Miss Shinki, Alice."

    Upon closer inspection, she... doesn't look so good. Normally clad in some immaculate outfit, she's still wearing her school uniform right now, and it looks rumpled and dirty, like she's been running around in it. Her hair is a mess too, and her eyes look like she's been crying a little bit.

    "I thought I had something to use against you... but I think your koakuma were just playing a prank on me. So, I'll just ask... don't do thi-" And then suddenly, catmiko! Tomoyo eeps, her blanket losing a little altitude as she loses focus!

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
This isn't Marisa's first rodeo.

    The witch appears in Afterus' now hellish sky, the purple light of Home casting long shadows across her face. She comes in Konoe's wake, the witch wasting very little time in zooming right on over to where the Goddess of Makai has set up shop.

Her broom comes to an abrupt halt as it passes the Snake-Frog Miko. "You know," she chimes, swinging in close to offer a bit of space on her broom, "I'd'a thought that wind priestesses would be faster. Hop on, we'll get there faster like this."

    Whether or not Sanae takes her up on her offer, Marisa takes off like a shot. No time to waste- the sooner they deal with this, the sooner everything gets to go back to normal. "Shinki," Marisa says as she closes, less a greeting and more of an acknowledgment. "You know, I was kind of hoping that this one was one of your flunkies' ideas. Guess Alice wouldn't have gone along with it if it was just Yumeko or something."

And then Konoe starts shit.

That's fine, Marisa isn't far behind.

    Four globes materialize in the air around her, winking to life in flashes of light. "You know how this goes. Put up your dukes, 'cause I'm gonna paint that pretty face of yours black and blue!"

She just hopes this doesn't end up blowing up ANOTHER world.

Shinki is even worse at holding back than she is.

And then there are lasers.

Shinki (882) has posed:
    Turning back to the city proper, Shinki raises her hands once more to gesture the great, curiously constructed buildings, "You've chosen well~! This shall be the location of the latest-- Oh?" Hands lower slightly when confronted by a familiar face floating up on an equally familiar blanket, "Alice, is that your friend?" Eyes close and she bobs her head from side to side, murmuring, "...Tomako, Tomano..." Fingers snap, and she points, "Tomato!" Hand lowering, "No, wait." That same hand bops into her open palm, "Tomoyo, that's right~!" Hands lowering to her sides, the demon queen pipes up, "What brings you here?"

    At the mention of a prank, some of the devilish girls in the portal start snickering and elbowing each other. Shinki ignores them. Mostly because one of several ofuda charms has just smacked into her face, others striking her outfit and many more sailing wide around her. Face lowering, Shinki reaches up and slowly removes the charm with a sticker-like peeling sound, "Oh my~... You," her gaze turns towards the freshly arrived neko miko, though her bangs cast her pleased-looking closed eyes in a menacing shadow, "must be the priestess my subordinates mentioned." Glowing, crimson eyes open and sweep up the street, then down the other, "And some other familiar faces-- and new ones, too~! -- all converging on little ol' me."

    Her fingers close around the ofuda charm, crinkling it, and then she raises that hand overhead. Gathering magic incinerates the charm, forming a sphere clutched in her fingers, "I suppose~... this will come down to force after all!" A bright laser slices across the street and through her, leaving a singed trail across her outfit while she spreads her fingers. The sphere erupts, sending out a pinwheel shape of white orbs in all directions, spiralling outward in all directions, "Why don't you join in, Alice~?" Head turning, she grins, displaying fangs that she doesn't display often, "It'll be fun, we haven't fought together in a long time~!"

    The magic Shinki uses, while visually similar, is notably different from widely-used Danmaku barrage magic. Most notably, there's a lot more punch per bullet. This stuff isn't non-lethal. Marisa's assumption is right: Shinki is pretty bad at holding back.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Tomoyo." Alice replies, "And she's innocent, try not to hurt her. The rest, fair game." Alice points her hand forward, the koakuma moving to intercept some of the interlopers like Sanae and Yuna, stopping a ways in front of them and showering them with random danmaku patterns, "It's Marisa and Konoe, they shoot first ask questions later. But this is fine, I'm okay with joining you, Mom." a sigh, mother and daughter bonding time with a danmaku battle.

    "I wish it didn't have to go this way but, when in Makai." she steels her face and her eyes go from the normally sweet to not so happy and with a pair of fairy-dolls appearing upon her shoulders, she starts off herself. A set of dolls, all wielding shields burst forth from a magic circle to intercept the Orreries Lasers before Alice herself bursts out with a random spread of white, round bullets, following up with aimed spreads of red bullets towards Konoe and Marisa.

    "You have a chance to turn back, you know." she calls out towards the two, but a ping of something unsettling comes through, "That's a familiar magic..." four of the twenty five koakuma drop down towards Tomoyo and Rebecca, smirking. "YOu really thought buddhism would actually turn us? It's kind of silly to even try, you don't have any faith backing it, do you? Maybe you should try Shinto instead later, you might be able to sling around ofuda like they do... but, you're with us now, shall we dance?" the koakuma's hands lift up and white balls start floating up from them, "The boss said avoid the girl on the blanket. Focus on the one with a weapon.".

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
    Thankfully, Sanae isn't so focused that she's dead to the world around her. It does take a few moments after Konoe first speaks, but eventually she snaps out of it. Probably a good thing she isn't the one with an itchy trigger finger, among them. "Ah, Miss Konoe," she blinks, then gives a smile. "So you were responding, as well. I have a strange feeling about all of this, please take care." After that, they drift apart in the air, with Konoe seeming intent to surge ahead, shoot first and ask the questions later. "Ah, w-wait," she manages to get out, but it's already too late. It looks like the talking and getting answers part might have to wait, or at least happen in between spell cards and formations.

    In some ways, Konoe reminds her of how she was when she first got the bulk of her powers. It's kind of nostalgic, really. With the cat girl taking up as the vanguard, it leaves her some precious moments for her eyes to dart around the vicinity, for both friends and foe. At least that sword maid from before doesn't seem to be here. There is Yuna, that she still needs to get an autograph from, that gets a return wave. And a slightly frumpled Tomoyo -- is she okay? Her analysis is cut short by the appearance of a witch on a broom, prompting her to blurt, "Miss Marisa!" Normally it would be slightly disgraceful to accept such an offer, but with this uneasy feeling about this situation, there really is no time to lose. For different reasons!

    That is why, if only for a short time, she will climb on and ride along. She doesn't let all of those criticisms slide, though, even if they were made partially in jest: "Controlling wind is a nuanced kind of thing. It can be gentle or terrifying, and if you try to force too much out of it, you're more likely to get the latter. It's more of a spirit partnership." She would explain more, but this is hardly the time, with the god of the demon world right there in front of them. Hopping back off, Sanae lets her altitude drop a bit, but remains alert, as she withdraws several talismans from within her battle-ready robes. "So this is Shinki." Gasp, not even any honorifics! "I've heard the stories. I won't let you brain wash Miss Alice any more!" She's gone and made her own conclusion again.

    Enough talk, have at you! Or, she would, but Shinki is already well-prepared for this manner of discourse, it appears. Being this close, she immediately has to enter into evasive maneuvers, and the devil minions' emergence adds to the bullet clutter, with even more to be dazzled by. Even as Shinki's magical orbs waft by, she can sense the energy density packed into them: Makai is well famed as a place of magic, for good reason. "She's not playing around, huh," she figures out, quickly, but doesn't get unnerved, beginning to sling her talismans that quickly transform into magical serpents, several return volleys of them. They're not that versatile, or nearly as powerful, as some other things available to her, but they do slightly track the winged girl minions while Sanae herself moves, diving down into the streets to try and take advantage of the cover. Hopefully any civilians will clear out.

    Unfortunately, it seems likely that Shinki's brand of magic is more apt to cut through the local buildings than be blocked by them. She wasn't around for those ancient battles, she'll figure it out.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    And now Arthur Lowell is here. He is, as predicted, screaming. "EVERYONE OUT OF THE GODDAMN WAY!" He shouts. "I'VE GOT A BROOM FULL OF ROCKETS, A PLANET FULL OF DUDES, AND A HEAD FULL OF HEROISM!" He blasts out of a man-sized spirographic glowing green portal. When he blasts down into the fight, he winds up right in front of Tomoyo! The first bolts of Danmaku impact him head-on, provoking snapping bruises, but after the first slam into him -- and thankfully not Tomoyo -- he manages to dodge by some and force the rest away from Tomoyo using GRAVITY MAGIC FIELDS!

    "HEYA, Tomo'!" He calls out, already bleeding a little near the edge of her carpet. "WOW you look like CRAP. How about I help you have a LESS SHITTY DAY, huh?" He dismounts from his broom, swiping away further incoming bolts of magic and taking a dramatic stance. "You EQUIPPED for a FIGHT LIKE THIS, or you NEED SOME GEAR?"

    If she needs it, he's going to yank a DANMAKU TOMMYGUN from his Sylladex and toss it at her. Point and shoot! It's a genuine Sburb artifact, so it's a little old and handles a little weird, but it'll be better than nothing for a budding Bullet Hell protag like herself! Arthur himself is going to turn his attention elsewhere...

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    As the koakuma appear down on the street, Rebecca is taken aback at first by their sudden appearance. But then one of them mentions that they're focusing on the 'one with a weapon.' Rebecca doesn't have her weapon drawn just yet, but apparently it's visible enough to whoever sent the koakuma down to the street level. "I'll have you know that my service weapon is only to be used as a last resort. I'm not coming here to cause trouble!" A slight scowl forms on her face. "But it seems you're one intent on causing trouble," She adds as she draws her service weapon, loaded with a clip, and levels it at the koakuma.

    However, when the white balls form, Rebecca's eyes widen. She's not sure what they're supposed to be, but she has a hunch that they're dangerous. Not wanting to try out that hunch, Rebecca looks around and spots a nearby alleyway. Thinking quickly, she dashes towards the alley, intending to press her back against the wall for cover while keeping an eye on things in the street. That is, assuming she's not hit by the white balls en route.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Whatever Tomoyo chooses -- weapon or no -- Arthur's not gonna be here long. Shinki? Shinki is... He doesn't know what's going on with her. But he DOES know that Alice is here. Rocketing off, he strafes to the side, mostly intending to focus on engaging Alice! At this distance, he can definitely be intercepted by some stage enemies, but his shouting sure can't. "Seein' a lotta FAMILIAR FACES here, but I wasn't expecting YOURS. YO, ALICE, I'm not the GRUDGE HOLDIN' KINDA GUY, you know, I can deal with a couple INVASIONS or whatever, but you know I ain't BACKIN' OFF, right? I /MADE/ this world, and I'm hearin' somethin' about, WHAT, an INVASION?" He's not mounting the broom, but rather using it as a booster. The reason for this will be obvious as soon as he gets into engaging range of either Alice or whatever Alice orders to intercept him.

    With a dramatic, in fact possibly over-dramatic, flourish, he flips the broom around in his hand multiple times like a baton twirler showing off, before he levels the bristles at the invading force and begins rapidly firing a shotgun stream of brilliant white star-magic bolts, already dodging back and forth in preparation! The magic is modulated, the best approximation of Danmaku that Arthur himself is capable of, nonlethal kinetic fusion bolts. Others may be going more than non-lethal, but he's sticking to his guns, poor kid. "COME CLEAN on THIS THING, I'm not hear for HOLDIN' A GRUDGE. WHAT're you guys DOIN' HERE? Who the hell's the LADY settin' her magic to KILL OUT OF TEN?"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    When the danmaku starts it's too fast for Tomoyo to react to. She just tries to curl up to avoid the worst, and hopes the fall isn't too painful. But thankfully, the MANGRIT GOD appears to tank the shots! "Oh, hello Arthur. Thank you very much," she says, offering a wan smile to him.

    At the offer of gear, she just shakes her head. "I'm not here to fight. Just to make sure no one gets seriously hurt." She looks all around, spotting Rebecca on the ground engaging the koakuma... and a thought occurs to her. "Good luck," she says to the godboy, before descending to join the medic.

    "Miss Chambers?" she asks, giving her a tired smile. "They're under orders not to hurt me... so feel free to use me as cover." She hops off the carpet and nods to her.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
A set of koakuma descend towards Sanae and Yuna, showering them with danmaku. Yuna responds by breaking formation from her partners; Elner blinks away, vanishing from the immediate battlefield, and rematerializes far enough away to be discounted as a threat - if the little robo-faerie can even be detected by anyone involved in the fight, that is.

Jiina and Marina pull back as well; they have their own weapons, but their staying power depends heavily upon Yuna herself, and Yuna hasn't learned how to keep them fighting safely when she isn't merged with one or more of them. They can still provide cover fire - but for the moment, they don't.

Yuna weaves through the koakuma bombardment, and returns fire with sprays from her arm-mounted pulse-blasters - and then follows THAT up with focused shots from the Matrix Divider, trying to smack the koakuma out of consciousness (or at least out of the fight) while they're dodging the sprays of coherent energy pulses.

All of Yuna's attacks have one thing in common: the Holy/Light element that comes with the source of her powers. She's banking on that to be anathema to the devil girls ... and while a piece of her doesn't really WANT to hurt them, she can't ignore the facts that her own world was invaded, and now they're invading her friends' homeworld that so many people helped to create. She can't let that go unanswered, and sweet reason doesn't seem like it's going to work very well on the minions.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "Tch-!" Konoe didn't expect that her ofuda would do much to Shinki. She didn't have a god's faith backing her. Just some vague spiritual power from who knows where. But it was still disappointing to see the god crumple and then burn it up like it was nothing. She didn't have time to be disappointed for long though, as a furious spray of danmaku from Shinki came firing in return.

     "Whoa!"

     She tried to dodge aside, but the speed and ferocity of that barrage caught her by surprise. Danmaku was typically non-lethal, so it was quite a surprise to find that when a stray bullet impacted with her side, that she literally went barreling aside through the air as if she were just swatted like a fly.

     "Agh! Ow!" The priestess cried, momentarily losing control of her flight from the force. But she righted herself in time to find Alice setting upon her and Marisa right after. She turned her body, slowly veered through the spread of bullets more carefully than she usually would have. "Turn back? What would happen if we turn back? You and your mom take over this world? Why would we let that happen?"

     Taking a deep breath as she slowed to a stop by Marisa, Konoe glared at Alice. "I'm not going to just leave you to this until I know why this is happening! What in the world are you doing going to different worlds like this?" She shook her head, clenching a fist by her side.

     "No, nevermind. You don't listen. I'll just get the reason after I put you into a crater!" That said, she produced a set of persuasion needles in both hands, crossing them over. "This isn't a friendly duel this time, Alice-san! I'm going to use everything I have!" And then she dove forward in flight, tossing out several waves of flaming needles aimed to home in on Alice from the front and sides.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "That so?" Marisa asks over her shoulder. "I've been tryin' out some wind-control lately, too. Though I guess my results ain't exactly ordinary." Most sorceresses don't have access to sapient grimoires who specialize in the particular brand of magic that they, themselves are pursuing. Most wizards have to scribe all those spells on their own! Marisa kind of... cheats. "Well, we can talk about that stuff later. Got a god to punch in the face."

Metaphorically.

Because it's not like Shinki is pulling any punches.

    Blasts of magical power that are MAYBE A BIT TOO STRONG for this kind of thing fill the sky. It's easy for Marisa to differentiate between those Alice is firing and the ones her mother wields- the former are far less likely to kill her if she makes contact. The witch draws back as her lasers rake over the goddess and her daughter, allowing Sanae the opportunity to dismount.

    Bullets sweep up at her. Marisa makes a point of weaving around the Much Too Lethal shots, leaving her open to some less-than-deadly blasts from the Puppetteer. A handful of shots smash painfully into her arms and shoulders, but the oters are blasted away by a halo of gale-force wind. "That woman in red," Marisa calls down to Arthur, "Is the goddess of Makai! A dimension full of demons and magic and all kinds of things."

    Marisa sweeps back, the air around her rapidly filling with sparks of green light. "The last time I fought her, she accidentally blew up her whole world. I'm guessin' she got tired of tryin' to rebuild, and has just decided to cut to the chase!" Marisa gestures. The green stars twinkle, then unwind into twisting, emerald arrows. The magic missiles join her laser barrage, closing tight in on the puppetteer.

Where they explode, they drain away magical power, transfering it back to the witch at their source!

Shinki (882) has posed:
    Serpent-shaped bullets prompt Shinki to move from where she hovers, distorting the bullet pattern as the source continues to float above her hand. The snake shots disappear into the portal that had loomed behind the Goddess. There's an explosion, a great deal of shrieking, and a swarm of bat-winged demon girls pour out and scatter amidst the smoke. These devils join the fight properly once provoked, naturally, pushing out brief sprays and fans of magical bullets. A handful are quickly silenced by Yuna's laser fire, spiraling down to street level-- where a new class of enemy reveals itself: Koakuma in white outfits, wearing nurse caps between the wings on their heads. Flitting back and forth amidst the bombardment, these 'nasukuma' collect their fallen comrades and scurry back to the portal.

    In the air, Shinki closes her eyes for a moment, then tilts her head back to look up at the magic spraying from her hand. Her fingers close around the sphere, changing the pattern from a spiral into dense cones, which begin to spin--

    And just like that the Goddess of Makai is engulfed in blue, magical explosions. The sphere in her grasp is crushed, extinguished, and the bullets still in the air quite suddenly disappear. Marisa's own power reserve spikes at the same time-- a clear result of the missile spell she'd used.

    As the smoke and spell-dust clears, Shinki's outfit smokes. A hand raises, waving back and forth, "Oh, my~! They're quite serious about this, aren't they?" Eyes open, tracing the battle. Rebecca attacking some of the koakuma, Yuna in a dogfight with more, Arthur and Kanno going after Alice. And Sanae and Marisa knocking on her own bells. One hand raises, resting a finger alongside her chin, "That's okay~. But you're somewhat wrong, Ma~ri~sa~..."

    Hands lowering, Shinki's back erupts with magical power. This forms into black, sickle-shaped wings shot through with violet light and fold downward, splitting off into three distinct pairs. Her hands spread out to either side, while the violet light pulses, "Shall I make all of your dances more entertaining?" Magic darts up each set of wings, gathering at the pointed tips. The lines tracing through each one begin spewing out fans of dagger-shaped magical shots, while the gathering energy at the tips, upon becoming large enough, disconnect and launch one by one towards each of the fighters gathered in the streets around her.

    Conspicuously, Shinki's spells completely avoid Tomoyo, but wasn't it Alice who gave that order? It may be that the Demon Queen is honoring her daughter's request, after all.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice gasps as Shinki's hit with that blue magical explosion, "MOM!" she shouts, her eyes flitting across the battlefield only to land on the single person who could produce such. Marisa. The pair of fairy-dolls spread out in front of her and with a sound of a glass shattering, a barrier appears in front of the dollmaker, shimmering and clear. She gets ready to pour out some of her own danmaku but suddenly, an Arthur.

    "Oh.. Hi Arthur, meet my MOTHER!" she shouts back at the LORD OF HOT BLOOD, shaking her head some, "I expected you to come here, I kind of wished it was on better terms than this but, Mother had a few ideas of her own and I'm not one to deny my own MOM anything." Alice lets loose some ball shaped danmaku towards Konoe, Marisa, Yuna and even Arthur, those that crash against the barrier pass through and many smaller balls of white ball bullets speed across the battlefield, unaimed unlike the bigger portions and, just like a certain silver haired woman, these will hurt.

    The green bullets from Marisa hit home and crash in, some of her own power drained slightly before returning to the magician, but her danmaku spread continues to fire, peppering the area more and more, providing some cover for Shinki's own magic, eyes turning towards Konoe, "You'll find out. Maybe." she smirks, "Fake Miko." Those persuasion needles hit home as well, some passing through the barrier but not splitting like Alice's own. They embed themselves into Alice's arms, exploding like danmaku does causing the Dollmaker to wince, "I'm not going to tell you anything right now! Try to put me into a crater!"

    Meanwhile about six koakuma move to encircle Arthur, each giving a weird smile at him, "I see you have a bit of danmaku of your own. Say, do you have any spellcards? I bet not... a human from the outside world with one.." they laugh a bit at Arthur before starting a red danmaku circle around him, "Ring around the danmaku, pockets full of magic... Ashes, ashes, it all comes to close~." comes singsong voices as the circle explodes inwards, sending those red shards towards him.

    The ones near Yuna start putting up even more of a fight, sending faster waves of kunai-shaped danmaku towards the light-suit wearing flying lady. "Hey, I remember you!" comes one of them, "You are friends with that old hag who has a golf club!" so glad she's not here right now "Hopefully you brought your A-game today as we're not going to gi...." the light blasts from Yuna's blasters impact the talking Koakuma who promptly starts falling towards the ground, only to be caught by those 'Nasukuma'. Another one close by shakes her head, "She talks too much!"

    The white balls from the ones chasing Tomoyo and Becky are launched but crash into the building that Becky ducks behind, creating shards of brick or whatever other material they're made out of, the four moving to chase but upon hearing Tomoyo's plans, "Lady Alice won't forgive us if you're hurt, so please, move away...."

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
    It turns out that maybe using the buildings for cover wasn't a great plan. And provoking the koakuma that were lingering around, while trying to deal with the ones closer by, had its own strategic benefits and pitfalls. The wind priestess darts around one of the plant-based towers to avoid one of Shinki's shots that strayed a bit too close: The result is getting showered with woody splinters, instead of having it be absorbed by the structure harmlessly. "Ah!" Not expecting it, Sanae doesn't have time to fully materialize a barrier. Her robes, reinforced with divine energy, still get a bit roughed up, and there are some visible cuts on the arm she used to brace against it. "Would you really destroy the world you're invading!?" She obviously wasn't paying attention to those certain parts of the old stories.

    She has to quickly recompose herself, though, as it is not like Shinki is going to let up. The one part she does vaguely remember is when the wings appear, she's getting serious! They would almost be pretty, if they weren't suffused with demonic energy, and they weren't forming sharp projectiles all the while. Thinking quickly, she apologizes to the residents of that building before, even though they hopefully have fled to a basement or something, "Sorry, I'll be borrowing this!" Withdrawing her wand, she focuses her wind power around the 'blade' of it, aiming to quickly sever a large vine, which if successful, she hefts with alarming ease. Then she would seek to hold that in front of her as she advances again, hopefully absorbing the bulk of those darts, as she begins readying a more potent spell, judging by the magical circle forming at her hand.

    Sometimes, you have to wreck a place a little bit to save it from being wrecked even worse. Hopefully Arthur and the residents of Afterus would understand. Regardless, when and if she finally maneuvers close enough, she momentarily releases her shield into the air -- right at another approaching Koakuma if she isn't careful! -- and releases that magic she had stored up. It's not quite as flashy as the beam Shinki herself opened up with, but it is precise: The corners of the magic seal she traced converging, before blasting forward with divine light at the Demon God, Shinki. It takes concentration to hold the beam, enough to open her up to attacks from elsewhere.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    "A shield?" Rebecca replies, seeming quite surprised that Tomoyo wants to offer herself as a shield. She doesn't know who Tomoyo is personally, which is why she's confused about this whole thing, and doesn't realize that she's not being targeted. "Are you crazy? We don't know what we're dealing with here!" She peers out and tries to assess the situation before firing a shot.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "A shield," Tomoyo confirms, gesturing around her. "Notice how Miss Shinki's shots seem to be going wide of me? Alice asked that I be left alone, but I'm not very good at fighting." She gives a rather forced smile, and brushes a stray strand of hair from her face.

    At Rebecca's statement, she firmly shakes her head. "I know exactly what we're dealing with here. I've been at several of these attacks." And then, the koakuma come along, just to prove her point. "There, see? They won't hurt me."

    She turns and faces the demon girls, defiantly putting herself between they and Rebecca. "Sorry, but I won't. You'll have to consider it payback for that little prank." Peeking over her shoulder at Rebecca, she adds, "Try not to kill them please. They don't mean harm."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"I'll do you a favor," Yuna remarks to the now-unconscious koakuma, "and won't let her know you said that."

More danmaku. Yuna continues evading as well as she can, lettign the Matrix Divider disappear once again and focusing on saturating the koakumas' airspace with her own sprays of focused energy bolts. The additional balls coming from Alice are factored into the situation, and Yuna evades them as well as she's able. And she IS going evasive rather than trying to tank through.

Apparently, she DID bring her A-game. Yuna isn't exactly calm and happy right now, but her focus is a lot better than when Yumeko led the invasion of Shiraokadai; more to the point, Yuna knows there are people whom she needs to talk to - namely Alice and Shinki - and that gives her a reason to stay focused. Survive the onslaught; that comes first. Returning fire is slightly behind it.

And she can cheat a little, too.

As if in place of the Matrix Divider, Yuna focuses on one koakuma whose evasion is a little more laggy, and thinks at one of her partners. Within a fraction of a second, Jiina of the Earth has drawn a bead on the chosen target - and a massive blast from her beam cannon rips through the air, trying to punch the fight out of said target. It's nonfatal, even if it hurts - and if none of the others catch this one, Yuna will dive in to catch the koakuma herself.

Yuna is fighting seriously - but STILL is focused enough to avoid killing; this time, she's not even allowing for accidental deaths if she can help it.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "I will then!" Konoe shouted back at Alice, weaving through the next spread of bullets. The differing intensity to them than usual caused her to slip up, taking impact in several places and roughing up her robes. "Ugh...! So this is what it's like for real..." Those spellcard rules existed for a good reason now, she could tell. Youkai would slaughter humans without them, not to mention beat each other to a pulp.

     ...Not that it didn't still happen occasionally.

     She took a deep breath, pausing in the air for a moment to gather herself. She grasped her side with a hand gently, feeling a warm wetness gradually soaking through her robes. Gah, Alice was hitting hard right now. And she wasn't in a position to stop and use healing magic. No time to hesitate! Konoe shook her head and let go of her side, spreading her arms. Four gray ying yang orbs blinked into existence, revolving around her. She then produced two sets of ofuda, deploying them outwards. They formed two separate rings that also proceeded to revolved around her diagonally in a cross pattern.

     Then she clapped her hands together, focusing and closing her eyes. The seals revolving around her began to spin faster and faster, bursting into flame in the process. And then they began spewing waves of intense fireball danmaku that spiraled outwards in a dense formation.

     If they weren't going to follow the rules, then she'd stop holding back herself!

     Those four inert ying yang orbs revolved around her slowly, doing nothing just yet...

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Watching as the attacks literally go around her 'shield,' Rebecca shrugs a little, still scowling. "All right, fine, but don't come looking to me for a Green Herb if you get hit by stray fire! Now step aside a little at least!" Rebecca aims at the koakuma with her Beretta ready to go. "And you girls can go right back to hell where you belong!" Maybe they're not from hell, but in Rebecca's opinion, that's where they belong!

    "Opening fire!" Rebecca instinctively calls out, although there's really no need to. Sometimes when Rebecca's trying to keep focused, she shifts her focus a little too much.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur seems like he's a normal danmaku fighter. He seems like he's going to dodge around the bullets and suchlike. Arthur Lowell is not a normal danmaku fighter. Instead, when that ball heads his way, he doesn't even move to the side a little bit. He SWIPES at it with his broom, blasting it apart dramatically, cutting the damage it does to him to a fraction. "CHRIST, this is like the BIGGEST and WORST SETUP for a YOUR MOM JOKE. ALRIGHT!" He pops his neck. "Sounds like some OBLIGATIONS, huh? Well, I've got some DEBTS, I know what THAT'S LIKE. NO GRUDGES, huh? But NO BACKING DOWN. Can't settle this the TALKY WAY, not even gonna TRY. Let's settle this OLD-SCHOOL, ALI'!"

    And then, Arthur's beset on all sides! Surrounded by devils! "OH CHRIST, and now HERE COME THE BITCHES. HEYA! SPELLCARDS? Naaaahhhh..." Though there's a bit of a grin there as he says that. Is he hiding something? "Aw FUCK, that's some OMINOUS CHANTING." He whips his shotgun spray of 'danmaku' around to try to keep up, but even his high-level dexterity can't keep up all the way. He thinks they're enclosing him in a barrier of danmaku, but only a moment into it does he understand what they're actually doing. The shards streak in, burying in him progressively. "WOW, OKAY, OW!" The strain is heavy on his voice, but so is the laughter. "Real INSISTANT on that QUESTION, huh? TOO BAD, the ANSWER is for someone WAY BIGGER THAN YOU!"

    Arthur blasts out of the ring of danmaku, smashing through the wall of bullets like some kind of weird magical kool-aid man. "YEAH! GET OUTTA THE WAY! I got BIG FISH TO FRY, I don't got the time for LITTLE BATS." Arthur is bleeding -- this is the nonlethal stuff, but shards cut! -- and he's a flurry of entirely unexpected violence. Where he was using danmaku before, now he's using club-like bashing with his BATTLE BROOM! Still mostly nonlethal, but Arthur has NO issue with gravity-magic-enhanced strikes strong enough to break bones, and he intends to respond as such. Of course, he may be underestimating these minions; with enough determination and power, they might yet draw out Arthur's slyly hinted secret. Mostly, though, right now, they're drawing out a violent bludgeoning, since they got so close.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Power (items) floods Marisa's body. The devil's might- and that of her prodigal daughter- burns through her veins. But there's plenty more where that came from. Shinki's shots pour up into the sky, filling it with magical darts. Marisa curses softly, guiding her broom in wide, sweeping paths through the miniscule gaps in the storm. Fortunately, she's not exactly in the streets- the larger, more dangerous shots pass her by.

Doesn't exactly help against the smaller bolts, though.

    For that, she has her INCREDIBLE SPEED. Marisa keeps a wide berth, giving the bullets plenty of time to spread out. "You've gone crazy in your old age," Marisa yells, darting between bolts of lethal magic. "Or maybe senile? Whatever! You can't just come rolling up on other people's houses to try and take over! You're a goddess, not some kind of super-squatter!"

    Marisa's mind draws into sharp focus. The magic surging through her veins draws out of her body, pouring into the four orbs dancing around her. Two of them flash-- and then divide! Two have become six! Six crystalline spheres, bristling with power.

That is, laser power.

    Cerulean lances sizzle through the sky, causing the air to ripple and roil in their wake. "I don't know what your deal is. You stay quiet for years, and now, all of a sudden, you try to invade the multiverse! It's like..." Marisa extends her hands, bolts of magic power blasting from her fingertips. "It's like, are you just lonely or something!? There are easier ways to get people's attention, you know!"

Shinki (882) has posed:
    "Destroy it?" The question actually catches Shinki off guard, and she whirls towards Sanae with a sweep of one arm, scattering daggers with the motion, "What makes you think I would do such a thing?" Behind her, a battle-worn Koa girl leans in to whisper something, and the Demon Queen of Makai straightens her posture, "Oh, right~. That did happen, didn't it?" Her eyes close with a pleasent smile, "But this is a totally different thing, you see!" She points, her pattern growing more dense, chipping away at the miko's makeshift shield. Eyes still closed in that pleasent, eyes-shaded-so-its-kinda-scary smile, she draws back a hand, gathering golden light of her own to meet Sanae's approach.

    Blue lasers cleave through, suddenly, scattering outbound magical projectiles and slicing across Shinki directly. Dispersing the gathered energy, she raises an arm to shield her face, one eye cracking open towards that persistent witch. Defenses cleaved and counterattack disrupted, she's caught full on by Sanae's Punch of Justice. Shoved back by the condensed light, Shinki tips backward after several seconds and drops, trailing smoke and rustling wings.

    Some distance below, the wings snap out and she rights herself, glancing upward. Crimson eyes flit from Sanae to Marisa. Posture straightens and hands are raised, "Reimu's gotten a bit weird and I can't place the blue one, but I remember you, now." The smile returns, the eyes closing again, "Mima's girl, that's right~. You like stars." Magic pulses down the lengths of her wings, sizzling from the tips into large, golden spheres. Pushing herself backwards with a wingbeat, those spheres erupt forward into golden lasers. Another wingbeat hurls Shinki forward and upward to where those beams converge, striking her wings in a dazzling display of refracted light that transforms the Demon God of Makai into a golden comet streaking through the skies of Afterus-- Straight at Marisa. And every inch of her flight plan involves throwing off concentric rings of crimson 'dagger' projectiles in every direction.

    "Take a look at Makai's Murderous Shooting Star~! I came up with it myself!"

    It's becoming increasingly clear that while she's focusing on Sanae and Marisa, Shinki's presence on the battlefield is a hazard for everyone present. This girl really doesn't control herself at all.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Mom, watch out for the fake miko, the one in Reimu's clothing. Those orbs are dangerous!" she warns her mom as she continues her danmaku setup, if she switched to an actual spellcard, she'd have to dial down the pressure of the dangerous danmaku, but... Alice takes a look behind her, to the open portal to Makai. With a nod, she sets up a few dolls with shields in front of it, "There, that should prevent that idea... for now."

    She turns to Konoe, "Welcome to the life before Spellcard Rules. Bring your best and maybe I might sew up your robes again." a taunt is given, the clutch to the side was noticed and Alice bites her lip.. she's really causing harm. This wasn't like her at all but... She shakes her head and takes flight forward, sending shards of rainbow-colored danmaku towards the kittymiko only to reel back for a danmaku powered punch. "No, not this time. I won't let you get Mom with that spellcard!"

    Alice finishes her swing and bolts off in another direction, leaving behind a ring of kunai-danmaku aimed towards Konoe, diving for Arthur this time. Mother has the Witch and the Other Miko busy at the time, thankfully. "I'm sorry, Arthur, no hard feelings or grudges but... Mom comes first, you know." Alice pulls up just a bit as Arthur starts beating the koakuma with that broom... okay, Alice backs off just a bit, "Spell card... Mi... no not that yet..." she shakes her head and pulls out a doll from thin air and pours out a massive, doll sized laser from it, firing it towards Arthur!

    Meanwhile, the koakuma harrasing Yuna fall one by one to her onslaught, even some being saved by her.. The nurse koakuma dive in to take a few of those saved and whisk them away to Makai's entrance, one even tipping their nurse cap towards Yuna. "Fight well, sisters! We'll be back!" while the danmaku spread has thinned some with the lack of Koakuma there, the remaining ones try to pick up the pace with it, some being as bold as to graze some of Yuna's shots!

    Down near Rebecca and Tomoyo, a single doll, blue dressed and wearing a frown floats around, approaching the two from behind. "Hi..." comes the soft voice before the bang of the gun resounds and sends that poor doll cowering behind something. The koakuma that was aimed at gets hit and... laughs... but the wound is open and it does bleed. Some of the others stare at Rebecca, "She.. she's not using danmaku..." red eyes flash and the three uninjured ones quickly dive bomb the S.T.A.R.S. member with kicks, punches and even more danmaku, this time not even worried if Tomoyo's in the area!

    Shanghai peeks her face from behind that trash can, looking at Tomoyo, "To...mo...yo?"

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
    "You can't fool me by playing stupid, demon," Sanae continues, though eventually the miracles she had invested into forming the beam lose the energy she had invested, and it flickers out of existence like the flickering of an expiring fluorescent light. "I've heard all the old stories!" How heart-warming it must be for Shinki to know that she has not been forgotten, even even after all of this time. Even to one that she doesn't recognize, but almost certainly is a shrine maiden of some kind -- she is dressed as one, after all. Shortly after her beam is extinguished, Sanae draws the plant shield (Leaf Shield?) back to her. Already frayed from the beating it took coming in, she tries to reinforce it with a magical barrier, but it only slows the inevitable disintegration, and she is forced to discard it completely and withdraw as the magical knives begin carving through, and cutting her up with uncomfortable closeness. One errant golden laser finally vaporizes what was left of it.

    Even though Marisa is the primary target for Shinki's abrupt transformation into a hurtling ball of glowing death, the density and ferocity leaves little room to try and take advantage of it. Lacking the degree of speed that Marisa has, she has to concentrate on avoiding the bursts of knives, the slices and tears to her billowy robes showing both the near misses and the actual strikes. Is that a bit of blood trickling from the deeper cuts to her arms and legs? You would seldom see that in a spell card battle. "Kuh...," she mutters, a bit annoyed despite her usual demeanor, before she realizes something. She shakes her head shortly after, though, slipping around and under as reinforcing Koakuma shots try to further pin her in place, "It doesn't matter if you're Miss Alice's mother! We need our answers!"

    Though she has been trying to rely on her own power more, lately, she is still able to call upon that of her patron goddess'. This is one such moment, to deal with some of the other threats that continue to buzz around the battlefield. Taking advantage of a (short) break in the patterns, Sanae clasps her hands around her wand and focuses. The brief image of a serpent appears superimposed on the air above her head. Faint ripples appear in the air overhead of several nearby koakuma, their purpose soon revealed as wooden logs -- Kanako's onbashira -- emerge from them and try to flatten them. It's okay, isn't it? They have their medical teams here and everything. As this happens, something else belatedly tickles the back of her brain, and she calls, "...and don't call me the blue one, my name is Sanae Kochiya!"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    As Tomoyo starts to serve as a shield for Rebecca, ducking down as needed so the S.T.A.R.S member has clearance for her shots, Tomoyo begins to realize an issue with this plan. She's right next to the gun every time it goes off, and guns are LOUD. Even after only a few shots, her ears are ringing.

    But she keeps standing and moving between Becky and the koakuma... until one of them goes down, trailing blood. Her hands come up to her mouth in horror. And now the other ones don't care about their orders. Tomoyo does her best to stand with Rebecca as they divebomb the pair, trying to toss them to the ground... but aikido was not designed with airborne opponents in mind, so she's at an absolute loss.

    All she can do is get low and crawl out from that mess, hoping to try and do more from outside. But then, a small voice. "... Shanghai?" Tomoyo says, having to speak louder than usual to hear her own voice. She staggers over and kneels down to greet the doll properly. "I'm kind of in the middle of something... what is it?"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Laugh all you want, that just makes Rebecca even more confused. But that confusion makes way to shock and then terror as she tries to avoid the other koakuma, but it's no use, as it's three against one. And her shield doesn't seem to be helping much against them. Rebecca struggles to knock them away, but they quickly overpower her, laying into her with swift punches and kicks and whatever else they can. The S.T.A.R.S. medic curls up in an attempt to make herself a smaller target, but it's no use once they're already in there. As the blows land, Rebecca begins to silently pray to the divine beings above that there is hope for her.

    Then she remembers her stun baton. She reaches for it with one hand, clicking it on, and then attempts to swing it around in an attempt to get some freedom and space. The electric shock is small, but should be enough to drive the koakuma off of her. Apparently Tomoyo broke free soemhow, but Rebecca won't be so lucky unless her stun baton does the trick.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Grazing is just part of the 'game,' isn't it? Yuna tries to take it in stride - she's been similarly slippery as a target, and she's not so fixated on her own righteousness as to claim that the bad guys shouldn't be able to do that. However, that doesn't mean she's going to go easy on them - much.

She still gets Marina to hold back from lending firepower; beams seem to be okay, but explosions from microtorpedoes might do more harm than Yuna's willing to risk. The increased firepower from Lady Shinki gets some of Yuna's attention, though, and she spares a worried glance at the launch of the Murderous Shooting Star.

... right. Time to see if her opponents will LISTEN.

"Why are you all invading so many worlds?" Yuna calls out to the koakuma, trying to nail one of them with a Matrix Divider shot in the midst of a pulse-blaster barrage. "I don't know how many worlds you've tried to invade like this, but - appearing and trying to terrify people into leaving isn't going to make you any friends! Why go to so much trouble? Why scare so many people and risk making so many enemies? I came here because you attacked my world - but that doesn't mean I have to chase you or your boss all the way back to YOUR world, does it?!"

... not exactly her best attempt at diplomacy. Maybe it'll get a useful answer, although she's not too confident of a serious answer from the koakuma. She might have to blast through them and go after Alice or Shinki to get a worthwhile reply ...

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "Who's a fake miko, you doll creep!" Konoe yelled, her eyes snapping open after her danmaku spread finished. "Stop talking to me like I'm some kind of newbie! too!" She went on to say, weaving through Alice's rainbow shards before moving forward to try and close the distance. Alice usually played keepaway, so Konoe was caught off guard completely when she dove forward instead.

     A fist connected with the side of her face, snapping her head aside as she cried out. "Agh!" Her flight was thrown off course, allowing both Alice kunai danmaku and Shinki's errant crimson daggers to rip into her robes and body. Even more blood was spilled as the priestess was forced back, crashing into a nearby building. Glass shatters and the gray ying yang orbs dissipate, her focus lost.

     "....." With eyes half lidded, Konoe stared up at the battle going on above. "...This is just like what happened with Yuki and Mai..." She grit her teeth, angry at Alice and Shinki, but more than that, angry at herself. Clenching hard enough to draw a stream of blood from the corner of her mouth, she willed herself to stay conscious and rise back into the air.

     The spellcard she was preparing was interrupted, but she could still do something. "Alice!" The miko yelled up at the dollmaker. Interestingly, she forewent honorifics. Discarding the idea of danmaku and spellcards, Konoe just burst upwards, sailing through the air at high speed to close in on Alice. Shaking her head to clear her vision, she forged on ahead, weaving through any errant danmaku in a rush to make it to her opponent. "Two..." She started, tucking forward into a mid air flip.

     "...CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME!" And on the turn, she lashed out with a swift overhead axe kick, wreathed in flame and aimed at whatever point she could land a hit on. Head, neck, shoulder, she didn't care. She wasn't in a position to be precise.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur looks really eager as Alice comes close. He has that manic battle energy in his eyes, excited to continue the conflict simply because of its own nature. He's all bloodied, but, thankfully, it's all his blood!

    Well that was some weird text to write.

    Arthur has successfully fought off at least some of the koakuma from the look of it! Now it's time for a laser! Arthur doesn't have the same 'capacitor' style magical discharge that Alice does, so when he whips his hands together and tries to fire off a beam of his own at the doll, Alice is completely outpacing him. The beam slams into his, pushing the beam-o-war impact point back towards him. Danmaku damage leaks through, bolts slipping off to the side that slam into his body roughly. "HA HA HA HA! C'mon, ALICE! We're doin' this the OLDSCHOOL WAY! I'm goin' NONLETHAL, it's still LEGIT! COME ON, it's no FUN if you WALK AWAY with ALL YOUR BONES TOGETHER! See? LOOK AT ME, I'm havin' the TIME OF MY LIFE!!"

    He is, in fact. Laughing, he starts pushing the beam back with his own 'danmaku' beam, now that it's accelerated intensely enough. He's not in the least deterred by the fact that now several crimson daggers from Shinki are embedded in his back. In fact, the spray of blood and the embedded magical constructs give him an incredibly intimidating look, though for a moment they make him falter and suffer more beam damage. "If you wanna do this OLDSCHOOL, you gotta be LIKE ME! I need RED ON ME, ALICE, you BLEED WHAT I MEAN? Let's see how it GOES! We got MOMMY FIRST for YOU, we got AFTERUS FIRST for ME, let's see which one DROPS THE RED FIRST! HaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" Having suffered under the impact of the beam so far, he finally revs up enough to blast out a tremendous burst of his own, trying to blast the doll, and then Alice, with the massive kinetic beam of magic, aiming to slam them around in a disorienting, bruising, but ultimately non-fatal way.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Yeah, that's right," Marisa smirks. Even from so far out, she can hear the Goddess of Makai quite clearly. Is it magic!? Probably. Likewise, her words have no trouble reaching across the gulf of space between them. "She was my teacher. She's gone now--" But in Marisa's heart, and in her LASERS, she still lives on! "--Somewhere, I don't know. But that doesn't matter. I'm the one standing in your way today. And--"

"And..." Marisa's eyes tighten.

'...Makai's Murderous Shooting Star.'

The corner of her mouth twitches.

'I came up with it myself!'

    "Bull and shit!" Marisa suddenly roars. She darts away as Shinki's spell builds. Her Hakkero flashes briefly between her fingers, before DISAPPEARING-- No, wait. A plume of magical fire erupts from the bristly end of her broom! A halo of BLUE AND GOLD ignites the air around her! Marisa turns herself not merely into a comet, not just a shooting star, but a--

BLAAAAZIIIING STAAAAAAAAR!

    "You're just copyin' me, you senile old bat!" Marisa spits. Despite her speed, Shinki has a head start. The two sparks give chase through the sky, Marisa's orreries swivel around to return fire as Shinki's shots tear through the air around her. One nearly smashes into her face-- but instead slams into one of her orbs, causing it to explode in a burst of magical energy.

Down to five, now.

Still.

"But, fine," Marisa hisses. She flicks her wrist, fingers twisting into an eldritch gesture. A powerful crosswind blows her to one side, the witch's eyes swim briefly in their sockets as her momentum is suddenly turned in on itself. "You wanna play chicken!?"

She charges.

With all her momentum and all her speed...

Right for Shinki.

    "WE'LL PLAY CHICKEN!" Marisa screams, her voice cracking in her throat. There's... A spellcard in her palm. She waits-- one moment, two, until Shinki is right on top of her. Marisa closes her hand into a fist.

The halo of light turns into a roiling, hungry sphere.

That's no star.

That's a MAGICAL BLACK HOLE.

A POINT BLANK MAGIC ABSORBER

Shinki (882) has posed:
    With her target weaving, at such a high speed, Shinki has a harder time correcting and does slam into a building or two during the initial flight from her modified spell. When her target comes about and returns the charge, the golden silhouette within shows the ghost of a grin.

    This grin becomes surprise when the trap is sprung. The comet-like halo of light surrounding Shinki tears itself from her and disappears into the orb, leaving her floating there with a surprised look on her face. After a few moments, she rights herself, "Well! You've got yourself a few new tricks, I see. Credit where credit is due, you surprised me~."

    Reaching up, she rubs at the base of her sidetail, "Truth of it is I saw you do it and thought it looked fun~."

    Wings shifting, she floats up and back, gaining distance on the magical black hole before it can eat any more of her attack spells, "But~... That's far from the only spell I've got. You girls are putting up a good fight. Looks like my minions and my daughter are still throwing down in the streets, too." She holds out a hand, her robe smoking and singed in places. The grin on her face betrays her status: Wounded but raring to go, "Shall we continue?"

    Floating back further, Shinki pushes her hands forward. Her wings flicker, magic coursing through the violet lines from base to tip. Before her outstretched hands, a crimson orb develops.

    From each of the Demon God's wings an orb is fired one at a time. These orbs hover for a moment, then lance forward as lasers, curving towards their chosen targets. She continues to fly backwards, dispensing these lasers, aimed at Yuna, then Marisa, than Sanae, than Marisa again. One arcs upward and then down, streaking towards Konoe. Another darts sidelong for Arthur. And the pattern repeats. The orb floating between her hands pulses as well, then starts firing off streams of round magic bullets in a spiral form, swirling through at various angles.

    "Watch your mother, Alice. Don't get caught, now~!"

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
... 'Watch your mother, Alice...' "I"m not a child anymore, Mother! I can do great danmaku just like you!" Alice replies back from that, focusing her attention th... then Konoe decides to go at her in melee. The flame wreathed kick slams into the Dollmaker's shoulder, distracting her enough that Arthur's Shounen Laser(TM)(C)(R) gets a direct impact on the laser spewing doll, breaking it and then it impacts Alice herself! While it's not lethal, it still hurt like hell, sending the dollmaker reeling back with a cry of pain. "Arthur, your words confuse me most of the time but if you're wanting me to hurt you more..." a pause, "You have issues like Tenshi... masochist..." Alice follows a bit with her mom in terms of spells, using curving lasers of her own, thick yellow beams that fire off from her body every direction, curving towards Marisa, Yuna, Konoe and Arthur! "If you want blood, you'll have to know, it'll take a lot more to get it out of me, I don't wound easily." she does, being a magician, but no one has to know, right?

    Meanwhile, the Koakuma around Yuna blink as one does actually get nailed by the Matrix Divider and a couple others take pulse blaster shots into the chest, singing the clothing. "H..hey, that was my best outfit!" comes one of them. The danmaku barrage stops just a moment from those four as the question is levied. "Because Lady Shinki ordered it." they replied, a smile, "And we tried doing this with Gensokyo about ten years ago, it didn't work out... so we're trying again! With Lady Alice's help too! She's grown into a fine magician youkai, hasn't she?!" they pause a moment, "She makes for a poor koakuma though..." they shake their head and then the other one, "Acutually, I think that would be more fun! Coming to Gensokyo to play and chasing after Lady Shinki and Lady Alice. Wouldn't you think?"

    The stun baton that Becky wields manages to hit home on a couple of them, shocking them with a good jolt of electricity, and the last koakuma getting tossed to the ground by the Aikido move from Tomoyo who, upon landing, makes a whistling noise as one of the Nurse Koakuma dive bombs in... to see the gunshot on one of them. In a look mimicing ToOmoyo, another whisle is given and a flock of them come shooting down to drag the four away, removing them from the fight, "What in Makai did they have... that wasn't danmaku... that... she had intent..."

    Some of the ones around Sanae duck and dodge "You'll get your answers later." they reply in harmony only for that onbashira to come and flatten a couple of them into the ground, to which more of the nurse koa's dive in to rescue them. The koakuma squad in general are thinning out, not too many left over. Some of them even breaking off from the crazy SHOUNEN to try and back Alice up from the Miko Kitty.

    Shanghai peeks her head out a bit more, looking towards Tomoyo who clings to her arm. "Oh good, you're safe. I... I'd like to stay with you for a bit. It's been lonely without Ali...ce?" Shanghai looks up from her position, watching the Dollmaker only to turn back to Tomoyo, "I'll.. even help defend you."

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
    More aerial acrobatics proves necessary. On the plus side, there is a break from the magic knives, and it looked for a moment like Marisa's black hole sun had caught the god of Makai off guard, so there was that moment for Sanae to somewhat catch her breath. Then Shinki retreats a bit, but only to get a more advantageous position to launch her next attack from. Those orbs are a bit conspicuous, and their true nature is soon revealed, forming thick, dense lasers! To Sanae's eyes, it's almost like someone used a clone tool in a paint program of reality, to draw out the original orb. Naturally, she adjusts her own flight path to correct for this, but that very peculiar nature gives it another property: It bends! Adjusting to her position, it ends up thoroughly scorching her left side, as she yelps in surprise. A bit closer and she would have taken the hit more directly, and probably would be flying into the pavement below at her full speed.

    It's becoming hard to concentrate, now, with the stinging of several cuts and, thankfully minor, burns adding up. She remains aloft, though, and more wary of further ribbons of light; more urgently shifting her position once she senses them begin to lock on to her position mid-flight. In between periods of focus on her, she uses the more usual fine course adjustments to twist and turn through the more minute and numerous motes of magic, and adding more snake charms (hah) in response, so that she can focus more on defense. Several more talismans glide through the air, aiming to slip between the curtain of fire, transforming mid-way into paper serpents, before becoming snakes composed of spiritual power. Much like Shinki's own lasers, though a good deal less blinding to stare at, they track her position. She had scarcely any time to even appreciate the pummeling the onbashira had given to the uncooperative koakuma, with everything that is going on.

    She is briefly distracted, though, by one thought: Lady Kanako is going to give her quite a stern talking to with what a mess she looks like. Burnt, cut, and even her green hair is becoming little more than a tuft of unruly emerald by now. At this rate, it might not even matter what Alice intends to do with her seals.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Oh, right, they still think of all this as 'play'. Yuna grimaces faintly, but she has to admit the Koakuma AREN'T entirely wrong; Gensokyo danmaku dueling is a lot more like --

"EEEEEEP!!"

The sudden curving of a magical laser sends Yuna dodging right *AT* a nearby Koakuma to get away with it; the blonde magical paladin doesn't even realize she's practically body-checking a devil girl until her arms are halfway around a Koakuma's shoulders. That armor Yuna's wearing probably isn't the most comfortable thing to get pressed against one's body, either.

The abrupt bendy laser also interrupted Yuna's thought that Gensokyo duels are more like a 'game' or 'sport' than SOME varieties of high-flying firefights. "Um ... sorry about that," Yuna apologizes to the Koakuma she just latched onto. "Tell you what, can you get me up there to talk to Alice? Or better yet, to her mother? I know you girls are just doing what you're told, but I really want to try and stop the fight, so I have to get to them. If you could just let me go intercept one of them instead of blocking me ... you're good girls, right? I mean, you're devils, but ... devils can be good girls too, y'know?"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo is actually a little surprised she managed to bring down one of the koakuma. Maybe all that training is starting to give her a sense of 'lines of motion' and how best to direct them? That would be nice...

    But right now, she has a sad doll to tend too. She gently pets Shanghai with the hand that is not being hugged, listening as she makes her request. "Of course you can stay with me... but are you saying that Alice just left you behind when she started all this?"

    Tomoyo's face gains a cold expression. After what happened today, hearing that Alice had even left behind the dolls that lived with her... well, that will not stand. "Come along Shanghai. We're going to talk to Alice," the tailor says, her words sounding curiously clipped and dull.

    But first, she checks on Rebecca. "Miss Chambers, I'm going to go talk to one of them," she says, gesturing towards Alice and Shinki. "You can come along if you want." Laying out that blanket once more, she sits at the front, leaving room at the back if Rebecca decides to come along. With Shanghai sitting in Tomoyo's lap, the tailor's arms wrapped around her, the blanket is willed into the sky.

    With all the stray magic leaking in from Makai, Tomoyo's ride has a bit more pep to it than usual, allowing it to dodge stray shots and curving beams a bit more easily. This recent revelation has also sharpened Tomoyo's will from the dull mess it was earlier.

    Once she's close enough, she yells "Alice!" and fixes the dollmaker with a /look./ "Shanghai is here, and she said she was feeling lonely... did you really leave them behind when you went off to do all this?"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Even though the koakuma are off of her and Rebecca has breathing space, she's still badly injured from the beating. In fact, Rebecca looks like she's had a run in with a couple of T-00 model Tyrants from the bruises on her body and the blood on her face. She's seriously injured and definitely needs medical attention. A first aid spray isn't going to cut it here. She needs serious assistance at once. "I'm sorry," Rebecca says to Tomoyo, "But I need to get out of here. Those things just nearly killed me!" She struggles to keep herself standing as she tries to find a way out of here.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "HAHAHA! /MASOCHIST/? HELL NO!" Arthur says, eyes flaring a brilliant white. "I'm not some PERVERT. It's the way things ARE! Part'a bein' HUMAN, ALICE! You do enough FIGHTING without enough BLEEDING, you lose the HUMAN SPARK! The HEAT in the BLOOD! The FIRE in the SPIRIT!" His right hand shoots out, catching the curving beam from Shinki in one hand. It's non-Danmaku; it burns away at his skin, tearing at his body from the right side. "And if there's ONE THING I'm not gonna lose a BIT OF..." His left hand lashes out, catching Alice's beam. Grunting and straining in pain with the stress of staying up. "Ghhhhh... Haaaahahhhhhhh... It's BURNING SPIRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

    And then he once more begins his rising shout, screaming more and more energetically. His body is on fire with bright white magic, even as the beams are tearing past his hands and ripping into his body. "YOU READY, ALICE? Momma SURE DON'T KNOW BEST if she thought comin' to MY NEIGHBORHOOD was the RIGHT WAY to GO! And I'mma SHOW YOU WHY! Get your shit BRACED!" And then, one assumes, he does show Alice why. Because, after all, the thing about a curvy laser is that it sacrifices one of the critical advantages of a laser: The fact that approaching the shooter no longer means further pain! Arthur turns himself into what seems to be some kind of shooting star, rushing at Alice on a rocket-boost, intending to slam head-on into her!

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Konoe didn't have time to feel satisfied with her landed kick. She quickly floated backwards, out of the range of Arthur's laser...just in time to get hit in the back with a curving laser courtesy of Demon Mom! "Augh!" She cried, as the magical force punched a hole through her shoulder. Konoe grasped it quickly and doubled back, working to avoid Alice's similar array of lasers. "So...that's what hit me..." She heaved a deep breath and pulled out a large ofuda, deploying it outwards as a barrier.

     Lasers and danmaku battered against it, chipping it down to nothing, but giving the priestess time to perform some quick healing. It's enough to keep her shoulder straight and stop the bleeding for now. Her robes are positively torn up and stained with blood in multiple places. But she doesn't give up. Once the barrier is finally broken through, she's already prepared.

     A special ofuda held ready, Konoe rose higher into the air as Arthur shot headfirst at Alice. "Hah....hah...." She panted, the exertion of this battle weighing on her. "Alice...you're tough...really tough...but I'm not going to just let you win!" She raised the charm up high and declared.

     "Divine Arts - Dragon Flame Blossom"

     The charm suddenly multiplied, becoming two sets of revolving rings that sped up, becoming to a flaming blur. Those two rings then broke, growing and turning into flaming oriental dragons. While Arthur became a SHOOTING STAR, those flaming dragons curved, veering around to either side of Alice to sink their burning jaws into her from both sides.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
SPELL BREAK.

    Marisa tears away at tremendous speeds. It'd almost be enough to make her eyes water if she wasn't especially good at moving this fast. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," Marisa screams as the Magic Absorber whirls hungrily away, the remnants of Shinki's spell draining away like a sun being swallowed by a singularity.

This may possibly be why Marisa's Blazing Star hasn't actually terminated yet.

    Which is good! Because when Shinki starts using EXTRA LARGE CURVY LASERS, it's what gets smashed instead of the squishy witch inside. Marisa clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she swings back around-- Only to find ANOTHER curvy laser RIGHT THERE in front of her! "Shi--"

CRACK.

    Marisa screams as she's knocked from her broom. Glass from a half-dozen broken orreries glitter all around her. That... That was a pretty good shot, she considers. A couple of her ribs feel like they might be broken, and that's probably a second degree burn on her shoulder there.

Is this the end!?

HELL NO.

    "HRAAAAAH," Marisa roars, grabbing hold of her tumbling broom. She twists, wincing as something shifts uncomfortably in her midsection. The broom tumbles head-over-tail, and then settles, finally, underneath her.

"That... was pretty good," Marisa mutters. She flips a familiar wooden block like it were a coin. Flip. Flip. "But I'm done playing around," the block lands in her waiting hand.

    It begins from nothing. It starts from barely a sound. That little octagon of wood and red metal shines like a distant star, full of promise, at the far end of the city. Marisa levels her arm at the Goddess of Makai, her will capturing the shattered remnants of magic still filling the broken shards of her orreries. It sweeps up into her, mingling with the power she's stolen from Shinki and from Alice, gathering in the palm of her hands.

It started as barely a sound.

But now, its roar fills the city.

    "Hey Shinki! What's not red--" Marisa says from behind layer after layer of arcane inscription. Magic circles, etched into space itself, burn before her. "--Not blue--" One spirals out after the next, building more and more with each passing moment. "But still shines all the colors of the rainbow!?"

"ANSWER--" Marisa's will leans into the spell, it presses against enormous arcane array.

Her magic responds.

LOVE SIGN - MASTER SPARK!

    The world fills with light that shines all across the visible spectrum. It glows with brilliance beyond even that. Colors that don't even exist are conjured into being as the metaphysical incarnation of LASER is summoned by a witch not even as tall as a tenth of this thing's full radius.

Fortunately it's nonlethal.

Unfortunately that might still not be good for this particular stretch of road.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "The thing is, Arthur." Alice pauses, "I'm not Human... well, I am but I'm not. It's confusing for some." she nods, eyes going wide as those lasers are caught. "A... are you SURE you're human?!" she quips, backing up just slightly as they seem to burn into his hands. She watches and starts flying backwards even more, trying to avoid the sudden ROCKET ARTHUR that comes on his way, then the spellcard declaration from Konoe... Alice is already in a tight spot and with the spellcard turning into oriental dragons, those burning jaws hit home and latch onto her, just as Arthur crashes into the Magician, letting out a scream, and with the MASTER SPARK crashing into her, her body suddenly taking a nosedive down into the ground, ending up in a crater full of possibly broken dollmaker. o O (So she did put me in a crater... with help...)

    Meanwhile, the koakuma near Yuna gets smashed with the laser instead of the Paladin, shaking her head from the impact, coughing just a bit, "Nngh, ow... Lady Shinki, watch where you're aiming!" a turn to Yuna, "it's okay, she ... well, she doesn't do restraint well. Ah... but you want to see Lady Shinki? I don't think she would want to see you in this state... but we do try to be good, but the Lady's orders are the Lady's orders."

    Shanghai gives a bit of a nod, "Sort of. We're supposed to be watching the house...." she shakes her head following along with Tomoyo.. "She... she's falling! I don't think she'll be able to talk much....":

Shinki (882) has posed:
    "All of my devils are good girls~," Shinki responds, somehow catching on to Yuna's question even when surrounded by the cacophony of her barrage magic. Arthur's very loud commentary about her parenting might earn him an extra Curvy Laser or two, but the Demon God's main focus thus far has been on the people right in front of her. She's trusted Alice to handle herself in this insane melee of magic, explosions, and demons in office lady outfits.

    With Sanae turning her attention to closer issues, though, Shinki turns her full fury (barring the aformentioned additional taps at Arthur) on Marisa. With Shinki, fury is a relative term.

    "It's a cute riddle, but, the answer doesn't really make--" Carving through her bullet barrage and overpowering the curved lasers, a blinding beam of rainbow light engulfs Shinki completely. It has little trouble keeping up with her, and eventually even sweeps past her and down the street. Even the portal that Shinki had created is annihilated by the power of Love (and lasers).

    As the beam moves on and even winds down, a floating black shape can be seen in its wake. It's the Demon God of Makai, singed so severely that her red dress is nearly black, the white trim unrecognizable and her face sooty with smoke. Those distinctive wings are completely gone, though she still floats. Eyes blinking open, she mutters a soft, "Oh, my."

    With a cracking sound, her wings reappear, fanning out, "I'll have to get serious, then~..."

    Eyes suddenly snap sidelong at a blast of debris from something else unrelated to Magical Rainbow Lasers. For the first time all night, those crimson eyes narrow with unbridled hostility. Quickly returning to normal, she glances up towards Marisa and closes her eyes, hands clapping together, "Excuse me~."

    Wings snap together, propelling Shinki the distance from where she'd just been barbecued to the street crater formed by Alice's rough landing. Shinki's arrival only makes the crater larger--slamming into the side to brake herself, then hopping down to the epicenter. "Tut, tut... I should've paid more attention to your troubles."

    With a sigh, she stoops down to collect Alice in her arms, rising to her full height. Turning towards Arthur and Konoe, no doubt responsible for the battered Magician, she only grins, "You guys win this time~. I'll give up on starting an office here, too. We'll try another location~!"

    Her wings raise up, the upper pair clapping together. When she sweeps them down, she disappears in a circle created by those very same wings. The portal cracks almost immediately, showing a crimson-walled mansion on a lakefront before it collapses.

    Leaving behind all the Koakuma that hadn't already retreated. Maybe Shinki trusts them to find their own ways home. But without the Demon God of Makai present, the great majority lose their will to fight and start clustering together, chattering amongst themselves.

    "She left us behind?"
    "Should we go back the long way, then?"
    "I kind of like it here, though. Would she be mad if I just stayed?"
    "Let's go to Gensokyo!"

    And other such chatter and tending of injuries.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur barely escapes a Master Spark, bouncing off of Alice and just out of range as it sears past him. The shooting star bashes off of her and takes the form of a heavily wounded little mageling, laughing and coughing as he puts pressure on innumerable wounds. As he careens off and slams into the ground, kicking up a crater, bloodied and bruised, he's still laughing. "Fuckin' WHAT? An OFFICE? 'EY, Mrs. MAGATROID. Got some WAY BETTER WAYS to set up an OFFICE on AFTERUS. Hey, NO HARD FEELINGS, right? But SERIOUSLY." He looks a lot more stern for a moment. "No HARD FEELINGS, but we're gonna FIGHT THIS OUT before we TALK IT OUT. That's the WAY IT GOES." And he stays as she retreats, because honestly, he'd rather Alice get outta here than get captured or something.

    Then he wanders on over to the Koakuma, still grinning. "LADIES." He declares. Then he flexes, ejecting bits of danmaku/non-danmaku out of his body. There's a fair bit of blood, that wasn't smart, but good lord it looked cool. "You wanna STAY, that's FINE BY ME, long as it's not TRASHING THE PLACE." He'll help them get this worked out.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Could you guys lead us to her headquarters?" Yuna asks the Koakuma. "If we don't stop her from invading somewhere else, all of this is going to just keep going ..."

Hey, it's worth asking. Right?

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
    Just as quickly, with Alice's resounding defeat -- which leaves Sanae staring a bit blankly at that, honestly, the demon-mom seems intent on retreat. Perhaps it helped that, while she remained in the air, she was completely blackened in the wake of Marisa's Master Spark. Whatever the case, Sanae isn't about to question the reasons why Shinki decided to leave so quickly, even if she would have preferred to get Alice back. A fact reinforced as she calls out after, "H-hey! Don't just run off with Miss Alice!" It's a bit too late, though. She's too battered, herself, to reasonably give chase.

    Then she floats over to Marisa, and quietly offers her a bit of help down to the ground, if she needs it. She even gives a rare bit of praise to her, "You overdid it again, Miss Marisa. ...but I guess, this time, it was for the best." Regardless of whether the supportive combined floating is accepted, she'll move to float closer to the ground, settling there. And simply, find a piece of architecture to rest against to catch her breath, and hopefully let some of the open wounds close up. "Hah...haha," she laughs, half-heartedly, "I'm going to be in so much trouble." Just give her a while to process everything and to stop aching all over.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "......."

     Konoe didn't have any smart remarks to make. ...Shinki's 'mom is pissed' look kind of scared her. But she wasn't going to say that. Her unconsciously freezing up did all the talking for her. Once the demon god had left with her daughter, Konoe let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding, having watched them retreat into the portal.

     "...Office?" She pondered aloud through heavy breaths. She could have sworn she saw some kind of mansion through the portal, but it was gone before she got a good look. Oh well. "....." Whoops. Adrenaline was wearing off. She could see her vision blurring, and suddenly everything was hurting again. "...I'm...gonna take...a quick na-"

     And unceremoniously, Konoe just crashed to the ground, flat on her stomach.

     Cleanup in aisle eight.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Unfortunately, Tomoyo's interrogation is interrupted by a timely MASTER SPARK! She can only watch in horror as Alice is planted in the ground below... but Shanghai seems to be unconcerned. Maybe she'll be okay? At the very least, Shinki will be looking after her...

    She looks down at the doll in her lap and gently pets her. "Alright Shanghai, let's go home. We can stop by Alice's house and pick up Hourai too." She sounds so, so tired, and looks even more frazzled.

    "Thank you for the help Arthur. I hope this damage isn't too much to clean," she says to the boygod, and nods her head to Yuna and Sanae, smiling gently. As for Konoe, she sighs and descends, moving the girl onto her blanket with no small amount of effort.

    "I'll drop her off somewhere on the way home. Goodbye everyone." And then, she's off.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
The light clears. Marisa lowers the Hakkero to find... Shinki, still there. Well, that's not exactly a surprise- she wasn't aiming to EVAPORATE anyone, though she probably could if she wanted to. Still, it's a little irksome that the Goddess of Makai is STILL GOING after all that.

And then she decides to go and try to... to start an 'office' elsewhere?

Marisa's eye twitches. An old memory burns across the surface of her mind.

"I swear to SANAE'S GODS," Marisa spits, "If all this is to open up more travel agencies, I am going to STEAL ALL YOUR RIBBONS."

Shinki (882) has posed:
    "That's Lady Shinki," one of the white-clad 'Nasukuma' states to Yuna while treating one of the demons that Rebecca had shot, "The Demon God of Makai-- If you missed the introduction." She licks her thumb and pushes down on a bandage with it, while using her other hand to unwrap an adhesive strip, "Of course she lives in Makai, the Demon World." The band-aid is applied, covered in yellow smiley-faces with bat wings. That done, she turns towards the idol, jerking a thumb over her shoulder, "And we're going there because we live there. If you follow us, that's your business."

    "The gate to the Demon World isn't easy to find, you know," the bandaged Koa comments, lifting up her arm. As she looks over the bandage, her headwings flap excitedly. Aww.

    "You girls go on ahead," a third comments. Leaning aside, she jerks a thumb towards Arthur while speaking behind her hand, "There's a god of raw-hide leather I'd like to learn more about." Glancing back towards Arthur, she bats eyelashes, "Oh, no more trouble from me~!"

    When Tomoyo starts to take off with Konoe, the entire group of devils raises their arms in waves, shouting, "Goodbye, Miss Tomoyo!"

    More than a few of them reach for their various hair accessories upon hearing Marisa's threat.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
Marisa pauses when the Koakuma Swarm start groping their own heads in various places. She groaaaaans into her hands, "Oh. It really is travel agencies, isn't it?"

Why, one might ask, would a creator goddess of great and terrible power go around to try and start travel agencies?

Because WELCOME TO GENSOKYO.