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Remilia Scarlet     It's the middle of the night in Tokyo, on the fifteenth day of the local month, exactly the night of the full moon. It's just the right time of the year, with an oncoming eclipse, that the last, dying rays of the sun, well over the horizon, strike it in just the way to turn it a blood red in the sky, looming over the city skyline in a way that seems almost unnaturally large; the most archetypical of ill night omens.

    In the Chiyoda ward, it's especially vivid, as is the glittering blanket of stars that are normally invisible in the city, drowned out by light pollution. This is because, anywhere in the ward, almost no artificial lights work. Something has happened to the public electrical grid, and the civil maintenance backups don't work either. The streetlamps are out, the TV billboards are down, the glowing lights of shops and street signs and traffic lights lie dull and dead, and only a tiny handful of buildings dare display any warm glow from their empty windows, mostly having been abandoned without hitting the lights on the way out. The only vehicle headlamps are those of them scattered in the road left parked with their doors still open, where drivers abandoned their cars where gridlocked in mass traffic or backed up behind panic crashes.

    In this unnatural urban darkness, the normally too-weak light of the moon would bathe the streets pale white, but under the blood moon, everything is cast into hues of emergency red, stretching shadows especially long and stark, leading to all kinds of tricks of the eye whenever one looks around. It'd be the perfect tense ambiance to walk into the aftermath of a supernatural disaster, investigating the streets to be picked off one at the time, except that it isn't nearly quiet enough. Without any eerie silence, it's easy to track the source all the way to the Nagatacho district, where the sounds of yelling, smashing metal and glass, and rapid stacatto pops easily echo down the empty streets.

    Halfway there, it becomes even easier, as responders coming from the optimal warpgate quickly come across a trail of wanton carnage, seemingly aimed completely at random, more for spectacle than effect, where windows have been smashed, trucks totaled and overturned, lights blown out, the roads gouged out, and hundreds and hundreds of smoking holes have been put in everything, albeit there seem to be no dead bodies. It's coming up on a specific cross intersection of huge, main highways, where an overpass has collapsed, where one finds the current head of the trail, seemingly stopped for the time being, and having grown into a much larger disaster zone.

    The center of the intersection is completely swallowed by a mountain of overpass debris, torn up earth, collapsed building corners, twisted and uprooted lights and signs, crashed vehicles (some from collisions, some fallen from the overpass, others seemingly mangled and thrown on the pile), pulverized bollards, and even several crumpled transport containers.

    Surrounding it, the lights of cordons blink further down each road of the intersection, mingling with the hi-beams of armoured car barricades and woefully inadequate speed traps and wire fences set up by local response, clearly before they had any idea of what the emergency was. Ambulance, fire control, and police sirens flash and wail distantly behind them, but they seem to be kept well out of the way by now, busy with the further still sounds of continuing evacuation in all three potential paths of the trail. The trenches, literal and figurative, have been given over to more serious and heavyhanded response than just the ward police.
Remilia Scarlet     Armoured vans and trucks are clustered together behind concrete barriers and unfolded aluminium riot blockades. The sound of helicopters buzzes overhead, mostly of the news chopper kind, but with more than a few types belonging to police snipers. Dozens of armed emergency enforcement personnel crowd each of the three barricades, amounting to the step up from the Tokyo SWAT equivalent and a step below the JSDF, albeit the latter might not be far behind going by the faint sound of grinding machinery far off. To be heard over the shouting of various officers and police commanders, a man using a broadcast megaphone from an armoured vehicle is shouting stand down orders and the 'do not resist arrest' riot act, to essentially very little point, repeating the usual lines over and over again from lack of anything better to do while awaiting further instructions.

    This would all be very intimidating and cinematic, were there some hulking mutant, rampaging supervillain, slavering monster, or trudging warbot at the center of the mess, but sat atop the pile of wreckage and rubble, under helicopter spotlights, is some severely out of place west European pre-teen who could bravely claim five foot nothing if she stood on her tiptoes, chin in her hands and looking excessively unimpressed at it all. Given the sheer amount of red and white gothic lolita ruffles and ribbons and lace she's wearing in so much long skirt and short sleeves, it'd normally look like some tiny idol from Akihabara had wandered off and gotten lost, especially since she is accompanied by a literal maid, dressed slightly more professionally than for a maid cafe, roughly by her side, standing at attention as if waiting for a tea request.

    That is, it'd normally look that way if the random kid didn't have gigantic, pitch black wings, eyes that glow red in the dark, and an incredibly obvious aura of generalized evil.

    "Sakuya." she speaks up after a second.
    "Yes milady?" replies the maid, still seemingly oblivious to the seriousness of being surrounded by six dozen trained men with guns.
    "I'm bored." says the younger one.
    "Is that so? I recall you were very excited when we first found that odd portal. Didn't we come here so that you could, ah, 'remind the humans of the outside world of the terror of the Scarlet Devil'?" says the maid.
    "Yeah, but what's the point of terrorizing humans that are this weak?" replies the assumed 'Scarlet Devil'.
    "I wouldn't know, being human myself. Isn't it the same as terrorizing those humans back at the village?"
    "There's no point in terrorizing them either, since we can't lay a finger on them. They're already properly scared of youkai anyways. I knew the humans here had forgotten their fear of the night, but this is disgraceful."
    "You'd prefer that they run away more? Or perhaps that they run less effectively? If you'd like milady, I could retrieve some humans for you."
    "Don't be so simple minded! How long has it been since the last time we were in the outside world?"
    "Since we left in the year nineteen-"
    "You're not supposed to answer that question. My point is that the last time there weren't nearly this many humans, and they didn't have all these big buildings. They've had almost a century to prepare and get stronger, right? So why does it feel like they aren't any stronger at all."
    "Perhaps it's their lack of spiritual power. I've heard humans have ceased practising magic entirely, and rarely pray to the gods anymore."
    "Maybe, but it feels like they've gotten *weaker*. I got my hopes up that their special technology would make it more interesting to go on an old-fashioned rampage, but humans really are worthless, aren't they?"
    "Indeed milady."
Theurgus     Adding to the oddity of this particular night is a blue-haired woman wearing what looks like someone took a labcoat and turned it into a dress, mixing in some gothic styling to boot, and some steampunk for accenting. Her hat is black as pitch and has what look like cogs built into it. Blue eyes look from beneath the brim and a subtle little smirk croses her lips as she just walks straight past the barricades, summoning her staff in one hand, and a silvery spike in the other. She stabs the latter into one of the barricades, and says over her shoulder. "Look after this for me." as she passes. "I shall deal with this Organization pawn for you, fear not."

    She proceeds to continue walking toward Remilia and Sakuya, resting her staff over her shoulder and showing no signs of fear of the littlest vampire and her maid. "Hail and well met to you. Might I enquire as to why you are disturbing this humble city's peace at such a time? Children need their sleep before they go to school, after all." she says rather inanely, pushing her hat brim up with one finger, then striking a pose. "I am Theurgus, The Mad Magician."
Riku Just when Riku was hoping for a pleasant evening, something like this happens. In Tokyo. It's /always/ Tokyo. The worst crap happens in Tokyo. This seems to be some kind of multiversl law.

The arrival of the darkness on such a large, supernatural scale gets his attention, and he turns the darkness to his own ends, quickly travelling through the shadows to arrive on scene. The devastation that meets his gaze immediately causes the teen's eyes to narrow and his jaw to harden. His casual clothes roil with blackness as they are replaced with a purple suit. The darkness parts before him, and he steps through, vanishing...

The pair on the pile of rubble talk. But then they get an answer. "I don't think you have room to talk about worth." From behind the pair, the darkness opens as Riku lunges from the portal, the bat-winged blade in hand as he dispenses with formalities and immediately strikes at what is obviously the source of this problem. The Soul Eater carves through the air as he tries to simply assassinate the problem before it gets any worse.
Vergil     A figure strides up the devastated road. They did not arrive via the optimal warpgate in response to police chatter or anything of the sort. No, this one goes where power beyond human scope is strongest. And right now, in this little slice of Tokyo, it's thick enough to choke on. They step from a purple tear in space, a ragged brown hooded cloak covering the glimpses of blue finery underneath.

    The slow-walk to the intersection, paying the gun-toting police no mind, before rudely interjecting in the conversation between mistress and maid. "Humans," he says, his voice cutting through the air. "Are defined by their weakness. There is only so much entertainment you can wring out of them."

    A dramatic wind catches his cloak and seperates it from his body, revealing a lean man with slicked white hair and clad in a blue jacket underneath. In his hand is a sheathed katana, which he raises into the air. His thumb presses against the hilt, lifting it up and offering a glimpse of the steel within. "I however, can offer far more sport."
Raziel Calls for help and signs of devastation lead Raziel to quite the sight.  The devastation through the town and the lights on in the background would be the breadcrumbs needed to find the problem.  His hands move to either side of him, as he wills his body from the immaterial to the material, taking on shape again.  His blue hue and corpse-like features revealing he is anything but human.  On his right hand was a spiraling light, obvious to all to see.  

Thos magically inclined would see something far scarier.  

'Upon the glow of the crimson mood, I manifested myself from the Spirit world into the material.  Unlike the stark pale moon that should shine, leaving a cold feeling to all that is illuminated, this moon only covered the streets in a crimson color, one of blood.  This would be a sign of great misfortune in my world, a reminder that there are things darker behind every corner.'

Raziel continues, noting the lack of electricity.  It was definitely a modern city, Climbing up towards the highest point he can, claws digging into the sides of a building he looked around, finally getting the sight of lights and a group of humans surrounding a pair.  This was likely the source of the disturbance.

'In the baleful light of the crimson moon, I saw the flashing lights of red and blue, the emergency workers of the modern world.  I notice the lack of electricity, something had robbed this area of it's normal 'modern' advantages.  Taking a high vantage point, I looked around until I spotted a group of uniformed men surrounding a pair.  I decided that I was not going to learn anything from this vantage point, and leaped from it.'

Raziel leaps from his position, holding his broken wings out so he can take to slowly floating down from it and towards the altercation.  It was a long glide, but before too long he was overhead and releasing his wings he dropped to the ground in front of the uniformed men.  Hearing part of the conversation, he held a clawed hand out towards the people, motioning them to stand back.

He moved towards the pair, no eyes in his head, but a pair of illuminated orbs where they should be.  The lower half of his face covered by a battered standard.  Blue skin tinted by the red moon and the flashing lights, while his cloven hands and feet revealed that his heritage was not human, even if he was destroyed.

'Before me, I saw a very young girl and an older woman.  The one that was older was obviously subservient to the younger one.  While their appearance would make them seem unfrightening and tame...I knew better than to be deceived by appearances.  If that group of people was surrounding them, and the source of destruction came here...then I best be on my guard.'

"I am Raziel, of the Concord.  I am here because I saw the destruction sewed upon the land around here.  I am curious, was this your doing, and if so why?  It is typically not good form to randomly destroy things not belonging to you.  I ask for forgiveness if this seems out of line, but the Multiverse is a great deal bigger than it might seem."

Raziel is polite, and well spoken for being a walking corpse.  Though with the arrival of others, he muses to himself.

'With the arrival of other beings from the Multiverse, I felt conflict was only inevitable.  Hopefully, my words could open up dialogue before I would have to back them up with action.  While unafraid of fighting, it was not a good way to make a first impression.'
Arthur Lowell     Arthur Lowell appreciates the absence of corpses. Not that he's looking terribly hard as he rockets over the streets with his broom, but there's a boost to his spirits to not have to deal with the stress that always weighs on him when he sees them. When he arrives, it's with his own spotlights; red, black, and white are the colors of the day, as his thin cones of light sweep over the darkened streets. They may be a little informative, but they're certainly not making up for the absence of the moon's more generous bounty.

    "Fuckin' hell, gonna have to get out the ANIME MODES." Arthur mutters, the moment he sees the one in the center.

    "HEY!" He calls out, "skidding" to a stop and leaning in a rude sort of way on hid broom as he sits side-saddle on it. "HEY, SQUIRT! You make this MESS? Should I go tell ya MOM to GROUND YA? Get your BUTTERFLY-LOOKIN' ASS sent to your ROOM?" Arthur opens with his usual obnoxiousness. This is... the wrong approach, for Remilia, probably. For many reasons, not the least of which are Arthur's fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of her power.

    "KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF!" He gestures firmly around. "THIS SHIT! This HELLA WACK NOISE you got puttin' POTHOLES in things and BREAKING WINDOWS everywhere. Not everyone can FLY y'know! Peeps gotta USE THAT STREET, homie! You best KNOCK IT OFF or I'm 'boutta KNOCK YOU OFF, bitch, what up?" Great impression there. Real fantastic introduction to the modern era for a high-power late-19th-century vampire. It takes a bit of time for this bravado to suddenly take a really weird turn when he narrows his eyes at her. "Wait, aren't you that detective lady who tried to fuck up Christmas, like two eternities ago? What the fuck, you packin' all this heat?" What is Arthur Lowell even talking about? Even he seems confused by it, emphatically so. "What the /fuck/? Yo, knock that shit right the hell off, but like, legit for real actually."

    He'd attack, if she were active right now, but he's the kind of guy who waits for the boss subtitles and they haven't dropped yet.
Marisa Kirisame All Tokyos, no matter how different they seem on the surface, tend to be fundamentally the same in some very key categories. They're almost always crowded mazes of concrete and steel, overflowing with the teeming masses of humuanity, and they're almost all- to the last- magnets for various walking apocalypses of all shapes and sizes.

One person in particular, who has been ~curiously absent~ on the multiversal stage for a good long while was enjoying the peace of this particular Tokyo, however. How rude, to have a visit to your fifth-favorite ramen joint interrupted by some kind of super blackout that comes complete with a great big bright red moon. Seriously, what kind of manners do disasters get taught these days? "Fuckin' thing even can't even let me listen t' music in peace," the the foreign-looking teenager drawls, tugging a pair of ~glitter-encrusted~ air-pods out of her ears. "Oi Takeshi," she yells, slapping a couple hundred yen on the counter. "Gonna go for a walk. Thanks for the meal, don't skimp on the tempura the next time though, y'hear!? I pay good money for that tempura!"

"You pay /counterfeit/ money for that tempura, you damn vagrant," a portly, balding ramen master-chef grunts, thumbing at a stubborn grease-stain on an apron that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years. "Swear to me mum, all you multiversals. Can't even keep yer currency straight!"

"Pfft, well maybe if someone switched to actual credit like all the rest of the damn world, we wouldn't have this problem!" The blonde scoffs, hopping off her too-tall barstool. "I'm out, just slap it on my tab."

"Yeah, yeah," Takeshi huffs, knowing all too well that she'll never pay him back, and that it's fine since she's some of the only good conversation he gets out of his customers anymore. "Go do your thing, damn raggamuffin."

The blonde takes off with a grin and a wink. A star~* sparkles out of the corner of her eye like this was some kind of aidorutrash show. Time to see what's going on doooowntooooown.

                             MEANWHILE DOWNTOWN                            
                         EVERYTHING'S GONE TO SHIT                          

                "Humans really are worthless, aren't they?"                

"Heeeeeeeeey there," a voice that is quite possibly UNSETTLINGLY FAMILIAR comes drawling out from a distinctly upside-down head of bright golden hair. Said hair is attached... To...

Uh.

https://raikou2.donmai.us/b1/67/__kirisame_marisa_touhou_drawn_by_ekita_xuan__b167d16c045b61e4a3a83b41fd81bc75.jpg

"Come on now Remi-lemi, that's no way to talk to your favorite mealbags," Kirisame Marisa, CASUAL JOSHIKOI STYLE MODE, grins, her ankles locked around her broomstick. "I see you're doin' the whole blood moon thing again. Nice! Classic style, I like it. Roughin' up the locals, I see?"

There's a beat. Marisa glances around and frowns. Not necessarily just at the abundance of multiversal resistance, but rather at... someone's absence. "Huh. Didn't bring Flan along this time? Too bad, the rampant destruction thing would've really been her schtick."
Sarracenia      As various responders move in, through one of the gates comes a huge flying wooden ship. It looks much like a Spanish galleon, but even more overly decorated and with a golden figure of what looks like a princess on the bow of the ship. Propellers are attached to the masts where sails would usually go, and the crew seems to be dozens of plant creatures with root legs, a single huge leaf for each arm, and a big bulb- or tulip-like head full of what look like shark teeth. Each wears a man-o-war helm, and cannons are already being run out along the sides of the ship as it banks and heads toward the disaster zone.

     Riding on apex of the ship's bow is the very princess that the golden figure is based upon. Princess Sarracenia is in her battle dress and has her hammer resting over her shoulder, ready to help contain whatever this danger is. The airship follows the trail of destruction and she leans over the railing to see what is happening. She blinks at the sight of the two girls down there, then makes her way along the railing as the airship starts to circle much like the helicopters. She then pulls out a megaphone and clears her throat...before sighing softly as it seems people have already started the action. That Riku kid really doesn't like to wait, does he? Still, she holds up the megaphone and speaks. "This is Princess Sarracenia Sundew! You have exactly 30 seconds to stop this act of destruction and surrender, or face the wrath of both Princess Sarracenia and the flagship of the Sundew Royal Navy!"
Remilia Scarlet     "That's right, that's right." the tiny girl in white and red gothic lolita fashion says out loud in response to Vergil, before actually noticing he's there, basically on reflex. "Humans are weak and are supposed to fear youkai; especially devils." she sighs, staring off into the distance with her elbows to her knees. "Oh! Someone interesting has shown up." she then finally says, when she actually looks to see who's talking.

    The maid glances to Vergil's sword without altering her posture in the slightest, still clutching a silver tray to her waist. Her eyes flick over to Theurgus striking a pose, then to Raziel and Arthur's intrusions, taking them all in without leaving her mistress' side, seemingly acting as her eyes and ears while the young lady is sulking. "Oh? I'd thought there were no more magicians in the outside world. Is that why they call you mad? Or is it that you're mad and so you believe you're a magician?" she asks Theurgus, in an extremely roundabout fashion with no useful answer. "My, and I'd heard that swords were out of vogue as well. Or perhaps it's a resurgence of avant garde fashion? I'll need to have words with that shopkeeper." she concludes. "Who cares!" pipes up the young lady. "They have to be more interesting than the rest of these humans, right?" "Milady I doubt that one is human."

    The maid nods slightly towards Raziel, in favour of taking a hand off her tea tray to point at him. "That one especially appears to be dead." "Oh? Did I blow away a human without noticing and he came back to haunt me?" "No milady, I believe the sun would have to rise and then set again." "But it's a bloodmoon." "Isn't it the harvest moon when ghosts arise earliest?" The two keep chattering on exactly like a butler who's been in a family's service for a very long time would address the longstanding head of the household.

    After deciding that Raziel isn't a local ghost, the young one finally removes her hands from her chin, and puts them on her waist, standing up from her wrecked car for all the extra two feet of height it adds. "Isn't that obvious?! It's the role of a devil to terrorize humanity! Humans are supposed to fear the things that go bump in the night, and those things are supposed to attack humans! Without that balance, things get dull! It looks like it's true that without youkai, humans have gotten complacent! Overpopulated, boring and weak! Mine is a noble goal!" she insists, brandishing a pointed finger haughtily in his direction. She sounds about . . . eighty five percent serious. Enough to be worrying. "You're a ghost, aren't you! Where's your pride as one of the undead?! It's the dead's job especially to remind the living of their fear of the unknown!"

    Yet, despite all of Arthur's rude yelling, the very first thing the maid seems to fixate on is "If they can't fly, then shouldn't they learn to? After all, these roads seem very inconvenient. They must be terrible to keep clean. Besides, all these vehicles lead to poor air quality. I wouldn't be surprised if you became asthmatic from traveling like this every day." The thing the little one fixates on is instead "The night's still young, so I'm not going back home until morning. There's plenty of time!", possibly intentionally misinterpreting him. "By sunrise, I'll have stained the night a deep red that can't be scrubbed away by the sun!"
Remilia Scarlet     She seems to have gone from listlessly ignoring her environment, from all this talking, to starting to get excited. Fired up, even. This is probably a bad thing.

    "I believe the mistress played the part of a detective once." the maid replies to Arthur, tilting her head thoughtfully with her finger to her chin in recollection. "Come to think of it, I think she only interrogated the suspects I abducted. Also, it was summer. Well, I suppose it might have been the mistress if you were celebrating Christmas in summer." "Sakuya, who would celebrate Christmas in summer?" "Perhaps the type who hates the cold." "Then they would celebrate Christmas indoors."

    Marisa arrives, and there's just that single beat of recognition. The young girl looks at the magician, and simply says "Ah. Speaking of useless humans." The maid glances sidelong in her watchdog-esque way, and says "Yes, it appears to be the black white rat. Perhaps she's stealing from the locals today?" "Then it's not my problem is it?" "I suppose I shall let her go then?" "Don't let me stop you if you feel like punishing her." "I would rather she simply not sneak in unannounced."

    Then a giant frigging airship shows up and a gaudily dressed princess begins yelling out a megaphone. The tiny girl with wings cranes her head back to look at it, and says "Sakuya, look. That's the one on the bow of the ship." "So it is milady." "How do you think it stays afloat?" "Maybe it's full of helium." "Didn't the outside world fill their ships with hydrogen." "I believe that would cause them to combust and explode if they did." "That sounds about right for humans though, don't you think?"

    It's a whole lot of distracting and stimulating socialization for Riku to jump in and honestly just do the smart boy thing. The dialogue is usually the perfect time for the sneak attack that nobody ever seems to take advantage of. Surely, the little mistress seems to be pretty engrossed in her back and forth, and he easily takes her back via the ~dishonourable~ route, but it's the maid of all things that glances back out of the corner of her eye, dead into his, at the very last second, and then his weapon clashes on something metal, and as soon as he can see, the maid has shifted places and is already in his way, with greater watchfulness and responsiveness than any bodyguard. "My apologies, but would you mind lining up with the others? It looks like the mistress is only just beginning to enjoy herself, so it would be a shame if you spoiled her mood." says the maid, completely earnest and polite in meaning it.

    So many heavy reinforcements, unfortunately, seems to have spurred the emergency armed forces into action. Specifically, Riku jumping out for the surprise attack is met with with a signal to the effect of 'there's the cavalry! don't miss this opening!' and they take his assault to mean that the rest of the Elites had coordinated with him to open up for a surprise attack, and this is the signal to roll Join Battle. The picket line opens up with scores of tactical officers firing their weapons, suddenly filling the air at the apex of the rubble pile with hundreds and hundreds of bullets, underslung grenades fired in smoking arcs into the mix; they've dispensed with tear gas and rubber bullets a while back, it seems, and haven't recruited movie mooks to fire cosmetically into the space around the enemy for this one.
Remilia Scarlet     This immediately turns into an absolute disaster, as underqualified personnel escalating Elite situations usually does. The maid sighs as the first guns go off, and the young lady scowls in a way that is visibly supremely irritated, suddenly completely humourless. She unfurls her wings in a way that makes her short silhouette suddenly seem much more imposing for their size, essentially bat-like, though odd for an opaque black exterior and red interior. Crossing them over her front, the hail of bullets and handful of explosives hits what should be the the most fragile kind of limbs, and yet the barrage is completely stopped dead, rattling and bouncing off her casually folded wings like so much wadded paper against a brick wall. The strays that would be dangerous to the maid all just seem to miss on their own, veering off into the scenery, and accomplishing absolutely nothing. The winged girl lets them down.

    "You're annoying. So annoying. I'm busy here, so if you wouldn't mind, just disappear." she snaps, all of that entertained bluster gone from her voice.

    A gigantic magical circle of scarlet red unfolds from out behind her, covered top to bottom in judeo christian cult symbology and latin script, instantly taking up most of the intersection. She snaps her fingers, and each of the three cordons suddenly explodes into roaring, earth-shaking walls of blazing red light, filling up each steet and erupting into the sky, effortlessly turning armoured vehicles to slag and barricades to crumbling ash in the blink of an eye. The police officers are all going to be carbonized skeletons if nobody gets in the way.
Theurgus     Theurgus' eyes shift as the gunshots start ringing out... "Fools, all of them." she says. A flare of white light, and Theurgus is replaced by a figure in a tight bodysuit. She hovers off the ground on clockwork wings, twirling her staff as she applies a counterspell, domes of protective energy appearing over the barricades, and solidifying into open-backed domes of ice. "CAPTAIN. HAVE YOUR MEN DISENGAGE. WE SHALL HANDLE THIS." she bellows to the obviously in charge person nearby... there's always a captain. "This foe is too powerful for you."
Raziel Raziel turns his head just slightly towards the pair to indicate a slight bit of confusion at the subject of their conversation and what it had to do with him.  He had also noticed the lack of injuries or death.  While dangerous, they seemed not to be willing to cause harm beyond to scare people.  While odd, it wasn't hard that terrible given the various people in the multiverse.

"Hm, if you say so.  I did notice the lack of death and injuries, so I have come to the conclusion from all of this talking and your own words that you are simply trying to 'liven things up' and 'scare humans'.  Far be it from trying to question one's choices of entertainment, but these kinds of things tend to cause bigger problems.." he motions towards the other elites.  

Still, Raziel was caught a slight bit confused at his role as a ghost was.  "Yes, I am a ghost, however, I am not what you would could a normal spirit, nor would I consider myself something from your world.  I am the ghost of a Vampire, we tend to exist differently, but my...transformation into this repugnant form was not by my choice or consent.  However, I have used this second chance to track down and kill the one who did this to me."

"The only other function assigned to my life is one I am unwilling to play.  However, I will not continue such conversations in the current company." He motions around him.  It was rather nice having a pleasant conversation.  Until Riku attacks, underhandedly at that.  His eyes are narrowed as the blow as taken care of by the Maid.  

"I say that was a great deal unnecessary, as well as dishonorable," he comments, but the humans around them finding their bravery attacked.  "Fools, I waved you off to try and spare you..." he says, as he turns to stand in front of the scarlet devil.  His hand ignites in a flaming sword as he moves it with brilliant maneuvering to block the bullets.  

When the grenades come, he attempts to fling as many of the Grenades into the air, avoiding having to deal with the saturation from them.  His eyes narrow, as he speaks with a dangerous tone.  "Perhaps you should retreat and let your betters handle things from here.  While hurting you is the last thing on my mind right now, it is still there," he says with a subtle threat.  

"I ask that you calm yourself, my lady.  I believe the humans were simply misinformed of our meaning here.  I will not blame you for demanding revenge for this, but I would ask your forgiveness on not being more clear with them."
Vergil     Vergil sneers a little as the maid comments about swords being 'out of vogue.' "I could say the same about your manner of dress, servant. Is it your own choice? Or is your master out of touch?" He's not done bringing the bantz either, as others show up and make the nice blood moon battle stage louder and more irritable. "Mad indeed, to attempt to parley with a devil," he sneers at Theurgus. "Why should a demon care about 'good form?' Power is worthless if not utilised," he says to Raziel. "Silence, fool," he snarls at Arthur, because really, what else do you say to him? "Begone child. Your attempts at familiarity do not flatter you," he says to Marisa. "An army is already here, and done nothing. What would yours contribute?" he calls back to the airship.

    "I care not why each of you has come here. If you want her tos top, get out of my way, and I shall duel her. Do not interfere."When Riku does the smart thing of just trying to backstab Remilia, only to be intercepted by the greatest maid ever, Vergil just laughs harshly. "Stand aside boy. Leave murder to the strong, who do not need to rely on trickery to get it done." He cares not a jot for the humans Remilia tries to atomize, and simply continues his slow walk advance on the mound that the vampire has taken roost on. He draws his sword, and gives it a flourish before pointing it at Remilia. "Come on. Show me your /motivation./"
Sarracenia      That magic circle forms, and Sarracenia's eyes widen. "What are you doing?!" she demands over her megaphone. She signals her airship to circle away from the streets and all the cannons along one side focus on Remilia. "Leave them alone! If you must destroy someone, it should be that irresponsible kid!" she shouts through the megaphone even as she prepares to leap from her airship. She stands on the railing of the ship with superb balance, then with an arm motion signals her gunners. Dozens of cannons open fire, and cannonballs go screeching through the air in an attempt to hit her before she can finish the spell. It's really the only hope Sarracenia has of stopping the incoming slaughter.

     And unfortunately, anyone in melee with Remilia or the Maid is in the danger zone from the incoming explosive shells. While perhaps brutal, Sarracenia knows that anyone down there can handle a volley of cannon fire.
Arthur Lowell     "Hey hey HEY HEY!" Arthur shouts, equal parts panicked and indignant. "Don't you FUCKIN' DARE! HEY!!" If she wants them to disappear, Arthur Lowell intends to make that happen. While the spellcircle that opened up wide behind Remilia was pure scarlet, Arthur's is a deep, intense green, an elegant mathematical spirograph filled with fractal symbols instead of ancient biblical text. He's totally uninterested in the vehicles, but he nearly instantly flicks dozens of Gates under the assorted police officers at the nearest cordon to evacuate them ASAP.

    He doesn't focus on evacuation. He knows there's others here who can probably do it. Well, maybe he'll have to, but hopefully he won't. Instead, he focuses on doing what he does much better. He dismounts his broom, drifting, and twirls it dramatically. "You take one more goddamn shot at the MUNDANES, I'mma put you in the GRAVE you been so busy DIGGIN', BLUE-HAIR!" He takes a wide, offensive stance, and brandishes the broom in its casting mode. Mechanisms within shift, twist, and undulate, bristling with fresh bristles meant to conduct magical blasts.

    Vergil slinging the honestly entirely justifiable hostility his way seems to only unjustifiably rile Arthur up. "Hell yeah I'm a FOOL, asshole, you think I'mma SHUT THIS TRAP 'cause I KNOW BETTER? HELL NAW, motherfucker, this bitch gotta hear some WORDS for what she's doing. First one's STOP and second's some choice words about HER MOM." Arthur starts to open up the throttle; he pulls a ripcord in his broom and points it at Remilia and her maid.

    "And if you're gonna know the FOOL bit, know the REST OF IT!" He declares. "The name's ARTHUR LOWELL! INTERGALACTIC HOOLIGAN! ROCKET-POWERED JERK! BULL-HEADED GODDAMN FOOL! HOOOOYEAH!!" He unloads raw starlight in Remilia's direction, striking from above to minimize damage to undamaged or still-occupied areas of the surroundings, and also to get really cool shockwavey impact effects.
Riku Riku isn't really here for honor. He's here to get rid of the source of the problem. Riku strikes, and hits metal. The impact rings out, and the Soul Eater twists against the steel blocking his way. He looks up at the maid, and grimaces. "Sorry, I'm going to need to cut in line." He replies. He's about to strike again when everything goes to hell when the randos decide to get involved. "Those idiots!" He hisses, pulling back. He looks up at the magical light that forms into the circle. "Don't have time for this!" He says, leaping back into the portal he came from, which had remained open until he vanishes back through it.

The other end then opens up, and inky shadow lashes out from the hole in space, gripping several of the soldiers and pulling them back into the hole moments before the barricades go off. He can't save them all, but some of them are unceremoniously spit out nearby. Riku pops out and glares at them. "Get out of the way." He says, before turning back and walking back towards the fight,

Vergil gives him some static, and he sneers. "Whatever, tryhard. You're on my list for later." Backsass delivered, he stalks forward towards Remilia... and then jolts into higher speed as he leaps and bounces through and across rubble to close in fast with his blade.
Marisa Kirisame Oooooooooooh snapple, Remilia is actually being serious tonight. Not like, incident-causing, fooling-around, trying-to-get-Reimu-to-notice-me serious, but like 'you foolish mortals have trifled with the true lord of night for the last time' levels of serious. 'Gone full Dracula' levels of serious! 'Patchy might have no life, but I'm the No Life King' levels of serious...!

"Hoo boy, that's a spicy meatball!" Marisa squawks as the sudden explosion of crimson magic paints the world red. Honestly, that's so much more of a problem than the figurative wall of bullets that the local security forces pile on. Those are actually just fine. Marisa Kirisame isn't about to get herself caught by a stray bullet, not as a proud resident of Bullet Hell! The starry-eyed witch dodges this way and then that, reaching out with her fingertips to just barely graze the outer perimeter of one crimson pillar. She follows it up, up, up...!

"Attempts at familiarity? Nah fam, Remi and I go way back. Or at least, her librarian and I do! All those moonlit strolls through the gardens, the atmosphere so incendiary, the words between us so impassioned, just the thought of it makes me blush~"

By 'moonlit strolls' she means those times Patchouli Knowledge actually had the stamina to give chase. The atmosphere was incendiary because of literal fire magic, and the words were...

'Impassioned.'

For certain definitions.

BUT! That's not what's important here and now! What IS important! Is flying higher, higher, higher...!

Until finally, she's at that entirely arbitrary elevation called /high enough./ With a grin, a flick of the wrist, and a spell whispered tenderly to the mini-hakkero, the sky suddenly fills with stars...!

Falling stars.

Aimed right at Remi and her meido. "I don't suppose today's a spell card-y sort of day, eh Young Mistress? Looks like it's going to be a cold night!"
Remilia Scarlet     When Theurgus yells at the tactical police to get back, the captain yells back at her. "No can do ma'am! The SAT has honour to protect as well!" in that extremely traditional fashion. When flat out snap-finger nukes of demonic energy go off though, there's a lot of yelling and screaming in the moment it crashes against the mad magician's barriers, and the tactical squads all drop through holes in space and are snatched into dark portals, no doubt taken as part of some kind of DARK SORCERY as well, but when they're spit back out a few blocks down, they make the wise decision to regroup and retreat, and pretend they're letting the JSDF handle it. At this point, the clash of Elites is clearly out of their league.

    The winged girl barely seems to notice. The humans are gone, so that suits her just fine. "A vampire ghost? How does that work? If you're a vampire then you're already undead, right?" After Raziel actually jumps in the way and begins defending a ~fair maiden~ however, he is the recipient of an honest to god mid-level oujo laugh --that kind of especially anime 'fuhuhu'-- and a "Well whatever. You're clearly a true creature of the night. Even if you're a lesser breed, I will permit a fellow vampire to witness my grandiose, blood moon dance~" she says. At the precise second Marisa says 'Looks like it's going to be a cold night!', she overlaps it with "It looks like it'll be a heated night!", to a jinx level of precision.

    The entire rest of the squad takes the first strike. In response to Remilia attempt to vapourize the tactical police, a multitude of barrages come down from several aerial positions, falling stars, driving cannonballs, and cosmic light blasts all converge on the rubble pile. By the time they land, the maid has already gone, seemingly while nobody was looking. The mistress visibly grins, flashing fangs at the incoming fusillade.

    The combined explosion obliterates the pile of concrete, cars, and twisted steel altogether, sending pieces of debris shrapnel scattering into the storefronts and offices like grapeshot all around, thankfully evacuated for the speed and volume of pieces. The cloud of dust and smoke erupts upwards to a great height, but before its even done rising, it twists into a miniature tornado, and bursts apart as the winged girl leaps out from its top, snapping her wings wide and hovering in place. Despite the sheer density of the group alpha strike, she somehow seems to have emerged without having taken any direct hits. Portions of her fancy dress are ripped and burnt away, and shrapnel and burn wounds are scattered up and down her upper arms and even her neck, with one nasty starlight burn blasted into her waist. She doesn't seem perturbed

    Right in front of the group's eyes, the cuts begin closing, the cannonball pieces are forced out, and the burns fade away, shedding charred skin like dust. It's not a slow process; given a minute, the damage caused won't amount to jack. That might be the source of the girl's fanged grin, equally malicious as it is excitable. She presses her fingertips to her chest, hovering with her wings wide against the light of the blood moon behind her, responding to Vergil with immediate, enthusiastic theatrics. "Then I'll permit you to witness the overwhelming power and beauty of a *true* vampire! Direct descendent of Vlad Tepes himself! Remilia Scarlet! The Scarlet Devil that stains the night red with blood!"
Remilia Scarlet     The magical circle of before now opens up in the air behind her, consuming an appreciable portion of the sky as it spreads out with a cast of her arms to her sides. Multiple layers extend out from behind it, leaving a bright red array hovering even over the heads of the aerial fighters. "Stay out of the way Sakuya! It'd be no fun if you joined in too!" she remembers to say to the completely ordinary maid, now two blocks down. "As you say milady." she responds.

    The spell circle then becomes the origin of a block-shattering barrage of lasers, pouring out of the occultic array in a crushing rainstorm of hellish red energy, falling on airship, magicians, hooligans and demons alike, scarcely leaving space to breathe between them. Remilia brings her hands together and charges further energy between them, easily multitasking enough to them fire concentrated scattershots of bus-sized energy blasts whenever it looks like there is a gap, filling the sky with randomly fired lasers while also aiming manually at those dodging.
Raziel 'I should have known that conflict was inevitable the moment people from the other groups got involved.  Those with far too much power, and far less sense.  With a sigh, I resigned to fight alongside the strange vampire from another world.  The humans had signed their own death certificates when they attacked with deadly force.  However, there was the matter of the dishonor that was given earlier.'

Raziel holds his position, flinging the soul reaver down and removing the bullets that were deflected.  He turns his head slightly towards Remilia with a squint of his eyes.  "I tremble to witness it," he says sardonically, though he still is upstanding in his position to aid her in this endeavor.  "I have never heard of a vampire by that name.  As far as Vampires being alive, in my world, they are not the undead.  I was very much alive until I wasn't."

Towards Riku, however, his eyes shifted as he raises a clawed hand towards the boy, and then proceeds to attempt to launch him away from the main fighting.  His aim was to send him flying onto the nearest solid surface, allowing him to get close to the lad and keep him contained.  Vergil, however, gets his ire first.

"You know very little of power if you think like that.  If you do, then the only thing I presume you are is a child with too much, thinking they are far more powerful than they are.  Strength must be tempered with wisdom and charity.  It is the duty of the strong to guide the less fortunate."

To Riku, he speaks simply and to the point.  "Your dishonorable ambush will not go unanswered nor unpunished today, boy.  I am Raziel, now stand and face me."
Vergil     Riku actually taunts back, saying that Vergil's name is now on 'the list.' The half-demon merely sniffs dismissively and replies, "I have no interest in whatever juvenile 'revenge' lists you keep, boy." Arthur throws some words at him as well, causing Vergil to roll his eyes and wave dismissively at the godkid. "Keep your uncouth mouth to yourself, fool. You are unpleasant to listen to." Marisa daydreams, and Vergil snorts. "So you fraternise with her help, and have the gall to address your betters so casually? Scum."

    Remilia is in the mood now, grand theatrical introduction and all. What can Vergil do but return in kind? He draws his katana and holds it aloft so the blade can catch the light of the red moon. "I am Vergil, the son of Sparda. Heir to the power of the legendary dark knight." A bit more clipped than what the vampire lays out, but it gets the job done. An array of circles foretells the oncoming lasers, one of which catches Vergil square in the chest. He grunts, and goes sliding back on the road before finding his footing and standing straight once more. No evidence of charred flesh or even damaged clothes remains as he dusts himself off. "Not bad," he concedes. But then Raziel butts in, claiming that Vergil knows nothing of power.

    He looks at the ghost coldly, but shakes his head. "The one who claims to understand power uses it to threaten a child. I'll not hear it." He returns his eyes to Remilia and raises his free hand to snapping position. "I'll show you all the power of a son of Sparda." He snaps, and blue lightning seems to strike him. In an instant, there is not a man there, but a demon. He retains elements of his blue cloak, but it is grafted to his form. Great silver horns jut from his head, and four sets of black wings come from his back. The sheathe on his sword is now melded with his left arm, now sticking out of it with the blade encased within it.

    And then he's gone.

    In an instant, he is in the air above Remilia, drawing his sword from his organic sheath as he comes down on her in a vicious descending slash. "Die," he intones, his voice coming out harsher and more demonic.
Marisa Kirisame "Ha-haaaaah," Marisa siiiighs. Remi... Remi is making a dramatic speech, bathed in moonlight. "At least she's having a good time. Gotta love that au naturale vampiric bombast. It's practically a trademark by this point, ain't it?"

Also a patented vampire trademark: *~Weaponized religious symbology~*

The star of David disgorges a frankly unreasonable number of energy beams. With that many in the sky all at once, it's all Marisa can do to try and guide their aim. The streaming technique she's using, with jittery sideways steps moving bit by bit by bit, is only broken by the need to dodge massive clusters of random shots. But even with her patented speed, Marisa can only dodge so many bullets at once. Raw arcane heat scalds her skin and sets her ~fashionable cap~ alight. This isn't quite spellcard levels of fair, but then, this was never a spellcard duel.

"Crapbaskets, I liked that hat!" Marisa growls, flicking the ruined cap from the top of her head. She replaces it post-haste with a familiar, floppy and much more witchy variety. "I'm sending you the bill later! Hats are /important/, damnit!" Marisa sweeps a hand out in front of her, conjuring a series of colorful, orbiting spheres that each begin disgorging intense, prismatic rays. Truly, headwear is of paramount value to proper denizens of Gensokyo.

...Man, how long's it been since she's been in a proper bullet duel? Marisa grins, adrenaline surging through her veins. Way, WAY too long, clearly...!
Arthur Lowell     Arthur does his best to move. His best to move isn't remotely enough. He maneuvers hard around the hellish red energy, but too much of it is present, and he needs more than a fraction of a second to mount his broom. It's enough to suffer some of the strikes, and evade some of the others, but he has to take them head-on. Crunchy chunks are ripped out of his HEALTH VIAL with a conspicuous sound like meat striking and shattering glass.

    "FUCK!" He screams, zipping back and forth. "You little BITCH! I'mma break at least one of those GODDAMN TEETH of yours for THIS SHIT!" He blasts off, cranking his BATTLE BROOM up a few notches to a tremendous speed just to avoid the rest of the rain. "C'MON, you UNDEAD FUCKIN' FREAK, let's GO! Show me some of that DRAC! I beat that motherfucker in CARDS, and I'll BEAT YOU in BLASTS!" As he darts around, he works his best to build focus, to amp up his mental momentum, and to overall empower something big.

    The ragged tone in Arthur's voice is making it clear, though, that he's sort of realizing a /startling/ type of power-difference here. "You gimmie just one GODDAMN SECOND to get some GOOD SHIT READY, I'mma BLOW YOUR ASS OUT OF THE SKY, you COLD-BLOOD PULSELESS RAT-SUCKIN' DRACULA FUCK!" He darts around, whirling in circular motions, seeming to "bounce" about the area, pinballing in ways that make little sense. Almost as if tracing some kind of elaborate pattern as he blazes away with machine-gun fire of starlight.
Marisa Kirisame "Holy shit," Marisa says, "Language! Seriously guy, no need to get /TURBO VITALIST/ on her ass!"
Riku Riku gets intercepted before he reaches the vampire. "Tch." He looks up at the spectactular firepower being levied.... And the demonic transformation of the other guy on his To Do List. "Well that's gonna be a problem." He mutters to himself.

But there's the matter of the Soul Reaver in his way. With a yelp, he gets picked up into the air with the telekinetic attack. "Hey! You're gonna get in my way? Who died and put you in charge of how to fight?" He grunts, before he's hurled back at the wall. He flips, yelling as he is set on a collision course... But he throws out a hand, gesturing at the wall. A moment later, one of those swirling dark portals open, and he vanishes through it...

Just in time for the other side to open right in front of Raziel, Riku driving his Soul Eater foreward to impale the man. "Oh wait, you did."
Raziel The portal of the swordsman was surprisingly and catches Raziel's typically stalwart defense off guard.  The blade slashes through his body, causing blue blood to be spilled along the ground.  Calling it blood would be a misnomer, it is more like ectoplasm.  However, back on his feet, Raziel's eyes narrow as he speaks directly towards Riku.  

"I haven't heard that one before," Raziel says, with a touch of that same sardonic tone.  The Soul Reaver whips out in a long arc, aiming to try and make Riku jump away, but in that maneuver, he thrusts forward.  Not unlike a fencer, he attempts to repeatedly sink the weapon into Riku's body.  Those strikes that hit tend to draw energy away from the boy and Raziel's wounds seem to regenerate.

More than that, there is something that seems to TUG at his spirit.  

He does not spare Vergil a look, though he does spare him a comment, "Spoken like a child.  I was no older than he was when I drew a blade for the first time.  I was slightly older than him when I was serving a lord," Raziel for whatever reason doesn't remember much beyond that.  Something about being dead before.

Though towards Riku he spends his next comment, "Who taught you how to fight, boy?"
Sarracenia      Sarracenia doesn't know if anyone was saved from Remilia's attack, and she growls lightly. "That was uncalled for! They obviously could not harm you!" she yells at Remilia as the airships cannons track her through the sky. "And just because you have a famous ancestor doesn't grant you any right to cause such destruc-..." She pauses as that array appears above them. "...tion..." she murmurs in that 'oh crap' kind of way. "Brace for impact!" she exclaims!

     Just before those beams start perforating her airship. The deck is badly damaged, and a few beams even punch all the way through to the ground, but the airship remains aloft for now. With the ship's crew going through damage control procedures, all Sarracenia can manage is a bob-omb. She pulls one out of her satchel and palms it, gauging the distance, then throws the cute little explosive at the hovering Remilia. "And you are going to pay for the damage you've caused! It isn't like vampire disasters are covered on most insurance plans!"
Riku Riku hits the ground as the portal closes behind him and he dances back and forth, quickly bolting around Raziel to try to keep him off balance and press his advantage. The first strike was telling. His response, however, causes Riku to be a bit more wady. The energy blade of the Reaver clashes against the Eater, and they begin fencing back and forth, Riku twisting his blade to parry and riposte quickly.

But his defense is not perfect, and even his quick movements can't stop the ethereal blade as they slash back and forth, the weapon grazing into and past his essence. He jerks, grunting as he puts a hand over it, pulling back. "Well, that's new." He mutters, feeling the chill roll through him from even a graze from the deadly weapon. "Looks like I'm going to need to go all out. As to who taught me how to fight..."

He lashes his hand out, and his shadow streaks along the ground, ripping up to grapple at Raziel, ripping him up into the air. A moment later, dark power gathers in his hand, blasting out at the Reaver as he flies, and the swordsman leaps forward into an upwards slash to catch him on his descent. "I'm mostly self-taught."
Remilia Scarlet     Remilia hears Vergil introduce himself and *eats that shit up*. Even with most of her form cast into darkness by the red of the moon theatrically behind her, he can see the glow of her eyes and the upward twist of her fanged grin, only intensifying when he briefly shifts shape. "A battle between devils! Perfect!" she laughs. Then he disappears.

    Remilia glances around back and forth for just a critical moment, before realizing "Above-" when Vergil is cleaving on her. She throws both arms over her head and takes the slash of Yamato straight on them, cleaving down to the bone, and then coming sliding off, as Vergil chops into supernaturally hardy demon flesh. Blood splatters from the wounds, but quickly closes off as he crashes back down to the ground with his descending splitter. Remilia raises her head to glance over her wrists, sucking her lip as the deep wounds start to close again. "That was a close one." she says, looking intensely concentrated, yet almost purring. "Looks like there really was someone worth coming out for! Hahaha!"

    Then the aerial battle commences. Remilia flexes her wings experimentally, pounds them once, and just flat out *disappears* at a speed that leaves the tatters of a fuzzy white, red and black afterimage in her place, and a powerful sonic *thump*. Lasers and starlight darts fired at her starting position are much too slow to catch her right off the bat.

    She also doesn't come out of it flying in any particular direction, crossing a block of airspace with the downward motion that one flap and halting herself instantly with the backward motion of it, repositioning herself in the air so quickly and precisely that it's a matter of re-acquiring her every time she moves, rather than tracking and leading her like a normal aerial dogfight. She's just that fast. "Please! Do you really think you stand a chance when I'm playing serious?!" Remilia replies to Marisa. "I'll duel you in spellcards as many times as you like, but if you happen to get blown away by this, I won't be held responsible! Ahahaha!"

    Thus begins the process of Marisa and Arthur having to chase her around the air, spraying shots and lasers back and forth in an insanely difficult attempt to gun her down. Each time they catch her and swing their arc of fire towards her, she's gone again, flashing back and forth in zigzags that are so unfairly fast it's almost impossible to follow. The sheer strength in those wings is insane. "Over here!" she cries out. "No over here! Too slow!" she continues laughing, clearly enjoying it. She zigs and zags back and forth between their combined streams of fire, unfortunately having the talent of a danmaku veteran who's been dueling since the very first days of spellcards (which were, in fact, her fault, as Gensokyo responded to her initial rampage and attempts to conquer the place).

    It isn't a total wash, but it's an uphill battle. Raking lasers scrape across the edge of her wings and score her ankles in the skirmish, as do the luckier and faster targeted blasts of starlight, catching her at where she stops and starts again and bursting against her, but the combination of speed, durability, and regeneration is very difficult to deal solid damage to, and it's mostly the layers of her dress burning away that indicate where the damage is happening, leaving behind the burning shreds to visually confirm.
Remilia Scarlet     After a few laps to get the measure of their aim, she starts firing back too, letting fans of summoned blades erupt across the night sky at the both of them, leaving streaks of blood behind them which then veer off and chase them in the direction of their evasion, pelting them with steel-hard bullets of accelerated crimson. She aims to circle around behind them and blast the two with barrages of her own scarlet aura as well, condensing and shooting out of her palms like twin machine guns, taking almost spearpoint shapes that cut and burn where the twin trails make contact.

    Sarracenia had been out of the picture for a while, so it seems like Remilia has completely forgotten her until the bob-omb falls out of the air and neatly strikes her from above, blowing the cap off her head with a yelp of surprise, knocking her out of her firing stance and forcing her to aerially correct her tumble. The side of her neck and face are burnt black, but the scorch starts clearing away as her predatory gaze flicks upward to the airship that it came from.

    "You want to join in the fun too? You look pretty frail. Well, if you're a princess, then that must mean you have royal blood, so I'll make sure to leave you in one piece for a snack afterwards." she says. She thrusts her hands outwards, and a cluster of glowing red chains flies out of a spell circle in front, tipped with heavy, bladed points, which are guided with a mind of their own, circling around to stab into the airship all across its hull and start dragging it down for a crash course into the skyscrapers.

    Sensing Vergil is probably about to attack again, given this is the perfect opportunity for an experienced combatant, she then just disappears with another wingbeat *fwoom*, smashing the pavement to dust right behind Vergil, churning it up where she grips it with her nails for a tighter stop. She lashes out with her other arm, swinging her tiny girl hand up across his back in a clawing fashion, where massive streaks of bloody crimson flash into existence with her swipe. Either-or hits like a *fucking truck*, easily enough to blow one of those concrete pillars to smithereens and keep going. Most likely, it involves sending Vergil into the aerial fray to join the others, if he blocks it. A human would just turn to jelly no matter what.

    The maid remarks to Arthur from the sidelines "I believe it would be 'Draculina'. Dracul is a gendered name and all." she adds, academically, seemingly completely unconcerned. "That's especially foul language to be addressing the mistress with however. You're fortunate that she seems to be in a good mood." A pause. "Also, the mistress doesn't feed off of rats. That would be well beneath her dignity. We have no shortage of humans delivered to the mansion."
Raziel Raziel is once more on the receiving end of a nasty arial strike.  The blade cuts through his defense, though fortunate to not let the blade strike a critical area.  Despite the fact that he is a ghost, there are still important bits.  The Cadaver is blown back, forced to his hands and knees for a moment before he is back on his feet.  The attack would have destroyed a lesser man.

Fortunately, Raziel was not living.  This time, he attempts to rangle Riku with the telekinetic forces again, but this time instead of launching him away, he attempts to launch him TOWARDS himself.  The blade, at the last moment, would swing in a furious motion of swings, attempting to collect more of that energy from Riku himself.  

He was not done, immediately Raziel unleashes this energy in a massive burst of fire all around himself.  While Riku might feel fine now, the burn would persist, draining him of his vitality very quickly.  Raziel, drawing the blade back once more into a defensive stance speaks.

"For a self-taught student, you are surprisingly apt.  You did not even need to use the sneak attack, so I am curious as to why you even found it necessary?"
Riku Riku is about to come in for the kill when he gets stopped again by the telekinetic forces of Raziel. "Gggh!" He really needs to find a counter for that. He's suddenly yanked FORWARD this time, however, and finds himself fighting for his life against the soul-draining blows of the Soul Reaver. He deflects over and over, trying to keep himself intact, but the sheer power and violence begin to punch holes in his defenses... And then that last, cunning swing carves right under his guard and slashes across him... And the blast of flame sends him reeling back, his body and soul burned from the surge of power. He grunts, gritting his teeth as he tilts his head. "Shut up. I have this." He mutters to nothing in particular.

His head rises, then, and he looks to Raziel, wavering on his feet. "Too many people around." He says. "Look at how she's tearing everything up. The best way to stop something like that is to not let them do it in the first place." He says in a matter of fact tone. "I wasn't here to make nice or negotiate. I was here to eliminate a problem. If you don't want trouble, dont' bring it."

Behind him, then, rises a dark form, the shadow surging as it takes on a black, monsterous shape with glowing yellow eyes. White strips of cloth bind around it like bandages as heavy clawed hands spread. "Now get out of here." He says, pointing forward.

At that, the massive shade surges forward and brings down its arms in a hammerblow, releasing a huge shockwave of darkness that explodes into countless blades that shred anything caught in it. Riku plunges THROUGH it, striking directly for Raziel's chest before brutally carving repeatedly into the shade's positon... And then dropping down through another portal.

The shade follows up with twisting surge of glowing destructive dark power, violet spheres exploding all around him as Riku drops down from above, spinning with black power trailing off his blade into an explosive fountain of hellish force, only for the blade to flood crimson as he stabs forward with his blade, seeking to use its own enchanted powers to strike Raziel where it hurts most.
Vergil     Vergil grunts with satisfaction as he feels his blade hit home, cleaving to the bone. The fact that the vampire just licks the blood up as the cut heals doesn't dissuade him in the slightest. He's smiling even. Or baring his teeth? It's hard to tell in this form. But unfortunately, she has others to attend to, and takes speedy flight to avoid them. Vergil stands besides that mound, watching carefully as he produces a tiny blue phantasm sword on his finger and spins it like a basketball. "When you're done playing with the vermin, I'll be right here. Don't make me wait too long," he says, before crushing the sword in his grip.

    He was indeed about to attack. He was even about to say 'times up' and it would have been really cool. But Remilia teleports behind him, skidding to a hard stop in the concrete, and slashing at his back. His body is weirdly textured in this form, the skin almost chitinous and the wings in the way leathery. Blood is drawn though, but the wound almost closes around the vampires nails with how fast they regenerate. The half-demon is sent flying, uttering a "Blast!" as his form reverts to the human one.

    But in a flash of blue, he cancels his flight and lands atop a burning police carrier, taking a moment amidst the flames to slick his hair back into place. He is for sure smiling now. "Now I'm motivated!" he declares, moving in that flurry of blue again to appear right before Remilia. He swipes twice with his sword still in the sheath, before quickdrawing the blade in a punishing slash, enough to knock even a vampire flying. But right away, one of those blue ghost swords appears to stab her mid-flight to pin her to the ground. Vergil is already sheathing his blade, and the moment the hilt meets the lip of the sheath, the sword explodes into shards that bury deeper into Remilia's form.
Sarracenia      Truth be told...yes, Sarracenia isn't the most sturdy of combatants. She really just has strong weapons. And her airship is much the same. The princess's eyes widen as those supernatural towing chains come flying toward the ship. One hits almost right on top of her and with a yelp she goes flying across the deck. The ship itself starts to list to the port side as it is pulled downward, and the many propellers starts spinning faster in an attempt to avert the crash. But, the airship is barely operational.

     Sarracenia has little choice but to take to the sky herself. She gets up quickly and hops below deck. "Keep the ship flying! And withdraw when you can!" she commands the captain of the ship before a portion of the deck lifts upward and up comes...a cannon so big that a typical person could stand up inside it. With a loud *KA-THUNK* something slides forward. Something very large and with a shark-like face on the metallic black cone that seems to be the tip of a shell as big as a truck. Sarracenia is standing atop that cannon, arms crossed over her chest and the long strips of leather that make up the skirt of her battle dress fluttering in the wind. "That's right! I want to play, too! And I do have royal blood! But don't even think that you will ever get a taste!" she shouts, a determined frown on her face. "Because this Bonzai Bill will teach you a lesson about breaking other people's stuff!"

     Sarracenia stomps on the top of the cannon, and with a resounding *KABOOM!* the massive shell is fired. But, it does not go screaming through the air as one might expect. No, it is actually rather slow. Which is usually made up for by the fact that it follows its target like a gigantic seeker missile. This probably makes it pretty easy to dodge, but it should put some constant pressure on Remilia. And when it does finally get close...

     It explodes massively, almost like a nuke. Except it unleashes a steady series of blasts for the first few seconds, then finally ends in a much larger one that creates the characteristic mushroom cloud.

     If that doesn't at least cause some major damage to Remi...Sarracenia has no idea what she is going to do.
Arthur Lowell     Arthur gets her on his tail. Shit. He dives. He rolls. He banks. Nothing. Fuck. He eventually resolves to just take it. Magical knives of energy begin to lodge in his body, with videogame logic that would be comical if it wasn't so brutal. It may not be as bad for him as having true knives lodged within, but the metaphysical damage shocks his HEALTH VIAL regardless. He takes it in order to turn back, and jam his fist deep into the softly glowing exhaust trail he left behind. Glowing trail? Ah, yes, the weird circular bouncing-pattern he was tracing earlier. It would seem the great spirographic circle served a particular purpose.

    "You want me to see WHERE YOU ARE, ya RIGOR MORTIFIED FUCKIN' LEEEEECH?!" Arthur shouts. He does not seem to have precisely accommodated what the maid said to him. Whether that's because he can't get a moment to shout some refusal to her, or because he's just Arthur Lowell, remains to be seen. What doesn't remain to be seen is what he intends to do. "Here's where you are: DON'T FUCKIN' MATTER, you're in my SIGHTS! No matter how fast you run, I'MMA BLAST YOU, BLOODSUCKEEEEERRRRRR!!" The spirograph that he's crafted lights up.

    The spacewarp he produces out of the vast circle collects tremendous volumes of fusion energy, enough to fuel a small sun for far longer than ought to be safe. It's the scale that would probably annihilate multiple city blocks. Arthur does not annihilate multiple city blocks. No, instead, columns of starlight rise from the outermost sections of the spirograph. Fusion gives off waves of barely-contained plasma as more and more columns condense and begin to rotate, undulating around each other, twisting and warping each other but always ending up moving up, to the night sky. It's almost like danmaku, or at least the combat style of a fighter who spent well more than three solid years in a desperate danmaku battle gauntlet.

    If anything can dispell the darkness that gives Remilia some of her advantages, it's this sunlight. And if anything can get her a proper, solid hit from Arthur, it's gonna be this. He floods the whole spirograph with more energy than he ought to have, a visible ASPECT bar draining, but soon shimmering with pulsing light that boosts it and holds it high. "HaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" His scream rises, dramatically!
Raziel The demon rising from behind Riku was something even more unexpected.  Trying to defend himself now from two foes leaves himself unable to properly defend himself from either.  His movements become erratic, trying to throw both off, perhaps thinking they could be confused.  Unfortunately, not knowing it was more of an extension than a separate entity.  

The blade comes into him next, the Reaver attention to block, but the sheer amount of attacks and devastating blows from the shade break his guard.  The next thing he knows blasts of purple are raining down.  The Reaver falls silent, as Raziel's form slowly fades from the material realm to the immaterial.

Unable to hold his form anymore, he arrives in that ghostly plain again, always reminded of the spectre that hangs on his arm.  He is fortunate that there are ghosts, but he is out of this engagement.  Hopefully, he stalled long enough.  Though it does not feel like he was much help at all.
Marisa Kirisame Someone's clearly feeling pretty rusty. Random shot patterns are always absolute hell to dodge, but this is a bit much even for those. For all Marisa's speed, the fact is that she's still nowhere near as great at actually dodging this kind of thing as she should be. A careless weave to one side would see her riddled full of holes. A reckless dive might plow her into the skyline below! Left with no other alternatives, Marisa instead elects to dive straight on through the barrage of bloody bullets...!

It's around now that Marisa really wishes that she didn't have spare change to spend on ramen.

Seriously, if she was as emaciated as certain hobo-type shrine maidens, maybe her hitbox would be small enough to squeeze between the shots.

But she's not, and she isn't, and so there's a great big satisfying *PICHUUN~* of magical energy discharging at wild as Marisa abruptly sacrifices several of her orbiting spheres to take a potentially lethal hit. The blast knocks her off balance, shoves her off her broom, and sends her into free-fall......

No!

"My /shirt/!"

Her broom's catching up!

"I LIKED THAT SHIRT TOO!"

She pivots, sticking her dismount with both feet landing firm astride the shaft of her broom.

Indeed. Marisa's shirt... is gone! Underneath though, is YET ANOTHER SHIRT. It's just a much less fancy shirt. Really more of a tank top than anything else. Fancy layering is apparently in-style in this particular permutation of Tokyo. "Is this some kinda sick revenge fer takin' so much of your stuff! Come on! I only have so many of these!"

Witches don't exactly have MUCH OF A BUDGET it seems.

Marisa grabs hold of what's left of her tattered, ruined shirt-- and tears it free! (and jacket! The jacket's fucked too! Oh it's a fashion disaster...! And a budgetary disaster too...!!) "Alright! No more miss nice witch! Here--!" The broom suddenly accelerates. Marisa winds up...! "CATCH!"

MARISA PITCHES!

A load of dirty laundry...!

RIGHT AT REMILIA!

(And then the whole thing comes unfurled and reveals a whole bunch of ~magical explosives~ that promptly cook off with precise application of a thin blast of magical energy.)

                  *~And the explosion was full of stars~*                  
Riku There's no gloating or smugness in Riku as Raziel bails. His /soul/ hurts after that fight. He backs off, taking cover as he watches over the situation unfolding inthe battle against Remilia. He waits, not getting involved. He expended a lot of energy in that battle and he can't afford to engage the murderous vampire girl. Even if Raziel had to retreat, he did his job in keeping Riku from achieving his goals.
Remilia Scarlet     Vergil appears to be just as sturdy, and an even quicker regenerator than Remilia herself. When she sends him flying, he catches himself and zaps right back to her, taking his term to smash her back with what he's worth with the relentless and impetuous clash of two devils going at it. The first two sheathed swipes are smacked away from her with flashes of frankly stupid and unfitting strength and speed for her height, though now she hovers a good foot off the ground, batting his stikes away.

    Remilia winds back her hand for a counterattack, gathering a red nimbus in it, but then the archetypical superface iaijutsu slash catches her in the midsection and sends her tumbling away with a squeak that is far too startled and not nearly pained enough for someone who just got slashed open hard enough to smash into an abandoned car, crumple the side, leave the crater painted red, and then go rolling off into the air again. Before she rights herself, the summoned sword jabs down and pins her right to the ground, momentarily driving the air out of her.

    Just as it explodes though, Remilia explodes first. Explodes into bats. Her whole form turns black and shimmery, and then erupts into a cloud of fast-flying shrieking critters that may or may not actually be physical bats, slipping out from under the last hit. It seems like they take a minute to gather together and reform though, because the pause where the bats coalesce together again and resolve back into the vampire is just long enough for the banzai bill to have tracked them and ploughed right into Remilia at the end.

    That kind of KABOOM is the kind that not even an (alleged) descendent of Tepes just walks off. The whole highway block is even worse off than it was before. There's even one of those big dramatic smoke clouds where everyone has to wait a second to see if the villain is really dead (she isn't). Where the smog dissipates, Remilia picking herself back up out of the trench with some amount of tenderness, rubbing her head with both hands, fingers through her now hopelessly mussed and burnt-tipped hair. "Owww." is her response to that. An obviously broken knee crick-cracks back into place. A dislocated shoulder pops in on its own. The thick, durable membrane of both wings starts filling in the holes. "I got careless for a moment." she says.

    "Good thing I'm invincible on the night of the full moon~"
Remilia Scarlet tArthur uses an attack that, by all rights, should *completely* screw her. Not only is it sunlight, but it's waves and waves of combat (rather than spellcard) danmaku, and an elaborate trap attack of her elemental weakness that should be a surefire hit. That moment though, she flexes and stomps HARD on the ground, tilting up a huge slab of concrete that shields her from the solar rays and the first of the danmaku, and is just in time to soak up the barrage of surprise magical potion grenades from Marisa, only the searing backblast of multicoloured stars that had missed and scattered around her doing much damage.

    She strikes the giant slab of rock, blowing it into jagged concrete buckshot at Marisa, and in the same motion, fires a powerful, blinding ray of piercing demonic power, with all the energy of that previous laser barrage concentrated into one beam. It stabs directly into the heart of the artificial sun, and then explodes out in cruciform prongs of scarlet aura, ripping it apart from the inside and blowing Arthur's hard work to pieces. Maybe it was a given a vampire knows how to counter a summoned sun. The cross-shaped blast will catch him in it too.

    With the deadly sunlight out of the way, she returns to Vergil in the blink of an eye, blasting a trench through the ground on her way to him, head on, and crashes into him while engulfed in a crackling aura of bloody energy, adding an explosive level of disintegrating magic power to the heavy body blow, fighting a battle of throwing him away long enough to attack the others in the interim, knowing brawling with him while being shot at by the others is a bad, bad idea.

    Then she pounds her wings once, and a sonic boom rips through the air, The bow of Sarracenia's airship crunches and crumples in where she catches herself on it feet first, like a wall hop that just destroyed the wall it landed on. She vaults over in a perfect arc, quick as blinking, right next to Sarracenia, and flashes a fanged grin for just an instant before dive kicking her from above, angled to send her right off the deck and into the dirt; hard.
Arthur Lowell     Arthur's eyes are practically popping out of his head, boggling at Remilia not just managing to juke his attack, but promptly detonate it hard. He's so surprised, in fact, that the horizontal cross that emerges from the blast catches him dead-on. Luckily, he's on-guard a little. Unluckily, he's taking a considerably heavy beating from it regardless. He slams back, smashing into the rubble at the border of the arena of sorts. He stays there, for several seconds, panting and trying to catch his breath. A hand is pressed to his chest to ease pain, and it comes back bloody. Something blew a hole in him, even though the heat has cauterized it.

    "Bitch." He mutters. He sucks in air through his teeth, and strains his body further and further. He heavily kicks a chunk of stone out that collapsed in front of him, and stumbles out of the rubble, watching Remilia arc towards the airship. His eyes track her. Tracking, tracking... She's landed. She's doing something up there. Arthur moves.

    More accurately, Arthur doesn't move. Space moves. A Gate flickers. Another Gate. Another Gate. He blinks repeatedly, shifting quickly to reach the airship she's fighting atop. Flick, flick, flick, but the boy stays nearly motionless. He was using starlight, but somehow the vampire knows how to fight the sun. She must have learned to shore up her weaknesses. Maybe the only way to pursue this is to use what's a little more unfamiliar. He flicks to the deck, and this time he's refusing to engage her in ranged battle. No battle-danmaku, no laserblasts, no bolts of starlight. Just pure fray.

    The only noise that could give one a chance to react is the roaring engine of a blender as Arthur tries to smash into her flesh with a heavy strike. Flick, flick -- another strike, another angle. Flick, another strike. Flick, another brutal swing. His blender is on, and against someone who looks mostly human. He must have acknowledged her regenerative abilities as being far beyond what he can afford to hold this particular tactic back on. "What the fuck, a fucking VAMPIRE that can FIGHT THE SUN?! What the fuck ARE YOU?!" He calls out. "That's not VAMPIRISM, that's fuckin' UNREAL! Whatever, whatever, WHATEVER! If I have to TAKE YOU ON in the BULLSHIT WAYS that make NO GODDAMN SENSE, WHATEVER! I'll fuckin' DO IT! LET'S GO! LET'S GODDAMN DO IT, YOU UNDEAD FREEEEEAAAAAAAK!!"
Vergil     Vergil's brow furrows. Not only can she regenerate, but if things get too dicey, she can dissipate into bats? Before he can complain through, a mini-nuke impacts the area. But before the smoke can even clear, Vergil is standing on the railing of the offending airship and sending death glares at Sarracenia. "This is a duel. Do not interfere." And with that, he's back down on the ground, standing on the pile of scrap Remilia was sitting on, and having to quick step AGAIN to avoid Arthur's massive beam. "Foolishness! The likes of you use bombast to make up for your lack of precision, and look what it's wrought."

    But now she's rushing him, and catches him head on with a flurry of arcing crimson energies. He cries out, his body falling apart as he goes flying through the blasted police barricade with enough force to send cars and bodies flying. Remilia has certainly bought herself time to deal with everyone else. But far in the distance along that stretch of road, there is a flash of azure lightning.

    And that time has been shortened.

    Vergil speeds along that length of road even faster than he was shot along it before. Every footstep embeds itself into the asphalt before being smoothed out by the vortex he's leaving in his wake. Cars flip into the air, barriers disintegrate, and ashes corpses are scattered to the wind as he homes in on Remilia like a sharp missile.

    Once he's there, in all his demon blooded glory, his blade flashes in a quickdraw to slice at her. Then he sheaths and draws again, moving so fast that it almost looks like that maid is stopping and starting time. He slashes over and over, space itself distorting under the flurry so that sections of the visible spectrum seem to slide apart like broke glass. In face of such an onslaught, turning into bats would still be a very risky prospect.
Sarracenia      The royal airship rocks hard when Remilia uses it as a spring board, and then the ship finally just fractures. Much of the bow simply breaks off from the bulk of the ship, and there are explosions and all kinds of terrible wood grinding sounds as masts snap and propellers go flying off on their own. Sarracenia's perch on the cannon is not exactly stable, and she yelps as the ship starts to fall. She is just starting to slide down the barrel of the Bonzai Bill cannon when Remilia appears. Sarracenia barely has time for her eyes to go wide before that kick lands squarely against her midsection. The princess gets fired almost like a cannon shot herself, and she only manages a startled and pained squeak before she is sent flying. She hits the ground and causes a puff of dust to go up...and then just lies there. Her crown, almost never -not- atop her head, goes bouncing off the debris with the light sounds of a crown hitting solid surfaces.

     A moment later, the heavy DK Hammer she is always carrying during battle lands only a few feet away from her, causing another small crater and more dust and debris to go flying.

     Meanwhile, the airship is going down, and with more grating crunching of wood being destroyed crashes down atop the street. The piranha plant crew starts pouring out, but their only objective now is to recover the princess and get the heck out of here!
Marisa Kirisame The problem with spending so much time dodging bullets is that sometimes you get out of practice when it comes to dodging other things. Things like 'slabs of concrete hurled out of the ground.' Sure, there are things that DO THAT in Gensokyo, no less than its most famous drunkards casually hurl boulders around like it was nobody's business, but usually you don't expect that kind of behavior out of NOBLE PRINCESS TYPES.

Let this be a lesson.

Everyone in Gensokyo can get really fuckin drunk.

Everyone in Gensokyo is a giant fuckin' cheater.

EVERYONE.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

"What--" Marisa barely has time to finish her WITTY QUIP when a great big slab of concrete slams straight into her noggin. For the second time today, Marisa is knocked clean off her broom, but this time she's a little woozier to recover, a little more sluggish on the uptake. There's a clear trickle of blood leaking from her forehead where the concrete met her skull. But--

There's also /something else./

There's a furious grin on her face as she swings back into the sky. There's a glint of magical energy that begins to accumulate, building brighter and brighter with every moment, even as she launches bolt after bolt of withering emerald stardust at the vampire.

Each bolt drains just a little bit of power into that greedy little witch.

She's rising, though, moving to a position either to retreat, or--

To do...

...Something ill-advised.
Arthur Lowell     "BIG BLUE I fuckin' SWEAR TO GOD," Arthur calls out during the battle, between his rapid flick-smashes. "You keep takin' SHOTS at me, I'mma turn this MELEE O' BOYS into MELEE A TROIS! I know what I'm DOING, fuckin' LAY OFF ME and save the SASS for the LEECH!" He does know what he's doing: Dumb shit, worth criticizing. But weirdly, this is one of the few times anyone ever /has/ done that. Two space-warping barrages of melee strikes manage to overlap cleanly, though; with Arthur mostly teleporting and Vergil mostly slicing space itself, toes remain un-stepped-upon, at the very least. Small comforts.
Remilia Scarlet     When Sarracenia goes flying off like a soccer ball, Remilia responds with a nothing less than an enthusiastic giggle. It's not even sadistic, or at least anymore in the sense that children automatically are, and sound like, sociopaths. She's genuinely enjoying it, taking amusement in putting the princess through the concrete as normal girls her age do with amusement park rides or minigolf. The ship is now hers, which she stands atop dramatically until Arthur arrives. "And then there were three." she laughs to herself.

    "What am I? I've already told you. I am Remilia Scarlet; the Scarlet Devil herself. As if some measly thing like the sun could do me in." Remilia replies to Arthur, becoming extremely smug the further his vocabulary goes from yelling insults and into genuine 'what the fuck'. "Don't put me on the level of the common undead. Nothing rivals the power of a five hundred year old pure-blooded devil! Lesser vampires cower in the presence of the Eternally Young Scarlet Moon!"

    Such is the boast when Arthur gives up on the protoypical weakness. No doubt five centuries would be kind of a stupid amount of time to not learn some counters in. Despite being a theatrical, grossly irresponsible brat, it's become apparent that she has really has a head on her shoulders, given various degrees of actually using it.

    A goddamn razor blender broom of all things is less conventional, and it definitely seems like it's her first time fighting it. The devil's red slitted eyes remain focused on the grinding, ridiculous broom head, and she uses her wings as extra propulsion to leap over swings, weave back and forth to the side, and general zip back out of reach and skirt the bristles. After a few close shaves, she goes in for the kill with a sudden forwards rush, but critically mistakes the timing, causing half the broomhead to slam into her side and messily grind through the outer part of her midriff, driving the air out of her and causing her to stumble and fall on her face right before Arthur, leaving his bristles coated in blood (sure seems like she has some extra).

    Just after she makes the "Oof!" sound of hitting the floor though, her wings pound again, and launch her up off the deck, into the air, and fully flip her around to plant a big old superpowered axe kick on the back of his head with her red mary janes, a vermilion arc following the crescent motion of her heel just to add that extra explosion of demonic might. "Says someone using a broom as a weapon. You're supposed to ride on it, idiot!" says Remilia, with apparently staunch traditionalist views on the use of magic brooms.

    A pointed ear twitches. Her head turns fast enough to leave light trails from the reflection of the moon in her eyes. The danger instinct. The Vergil cometh.
Remilia Scarlet     There's no dialogue for a little while. The pause in the banter is necessary to concentrate all her focus on not being chopped to ribbons. Even the smile lessens on (though doesn't disappear from) her lips as her eyes go to tracking the Yamato at dizzying speed, having to stay rooted on the deck for the additional push-off force of solid ground under her feet to keep up with it all; taking to the air would get her wings and legs chopped up. The vampire flashes back and forth in streaks of white and red motion, crunching airship wood under her heels with the effort of trying to keep out of the way of a lethal blow, blood and tattered fabric flicked every which way, until she finally finds her opening to escape, hissing as the eastern sword slices across her wingtips in the process. Hitting the mast to change directions, she fires a dense double blast of crystallized blood bullets, like fifty magical flechettes at Vergil, and then rockets straight up while covered.

    As the airship crashes to the ground, Remilia goes up straight through Marisa's hail of pummeling stars, reeling back and shielding herself with a wing as her flesh knits back together in a dozen other places, concentrating it on her chest and legs, until she suddenly zips down and around and under the shots, spiraling in a tight corkscrew around the line of fire, and then just kicking Marisa in the face and leaping off of her, gaining extra, *extra* height, and turning about in the air to look down on the rest. The giant magic circle appears again, but starts contracting slowly inwards, building a veritable *inferno* of scarlet energies around her, writing like coils of smoke and flame. "Amusing, amusing! But it's about time you saw this devil's *true* power!"

    Sakuya walks up to Sarracenia plastered on the ground, then looks up. "It seems the mistress is enjoying herself very much tonight. You have my gratitude for keeping her entertained. She gets restless very easily." says the maid.
Arthur Lowell     Arthur tries to survive the crashing of the airship. There's too many pieces in motion, too many things moving and turning. Eventually, it overwhelms his ability to understand and recognize it all; his flicking about has too much of a gap, one that suffers a brutal axe-kick square to the back during all this. It sends him crashing into a chunk of the ship, shouting in pain, only for the rest of the ship to fall down on him.

    When he comes to, seconds after passing out on impact, it's pinned under the ship itself, and well out of ASPECT necessary to lift it off of his body or summon a Gate for escape. It's gonna take a while for him to regenerate enough ASPECT to clear himself of the wreckage. Until then, all he can do is watch and wait for the remainder of the battle to play out, and keep pressure on the chest wound he suffered during all of this mess. There's plenty of scowling.

    Five hundred years. Is she Expired? The thought is surging through his mind, and it carries magnitudes more weight than any of the banter they've exchanged thus far.
Sarracenia      Sarracenia lets out a heavy groan as she manages to lift herself up on her arms. Both arms and her face are bloodied, and she doesn't have the strength left to stand up. "C-could she not just...go to the Shrine of Adversity like other people?" she asks Sakuya, managing to shift her head enough to look at Sakuya with only one eye. "People would happily fight her all day there. There's always someone looking for a strong opponent."

     The princess tries to stand, but yelps as pain shoots through her body from basically being one big bruise at this point and possibly actual broken bones. The princess hasn't been in many fights of this type outside of protected conditions, so even she isn't sure how badly she might be hurt. "Besides, don't thank me. I didn't do it to entertain her." she adds as her plant soldiers make it to her and gather her up on a stretcher.

     And Arthur is somewhat lucky in that a much larger piranha plant with actual petals around its head and a chain chomp for a weapon noticed him crashing down. Smashing of wood can be heard above him, and if he calls out or can otherwise signal where he is, he might not be trapped for as long as he feared.
Marisa Kirisame It is, you know?

It /is/ kind of insulting.

It's the kind of insulting that only a boot to the face could possibly be. It's the kind of insulting that every vampire boot to every human face across the entire breadth and span of every timeline and every history. It is there, it is that pride, that sense of smug superiority over all the damn world.

Marisa takes it. In the great tradition of her species, she receives Boot To The Head without complaint. No. More than that.

Maybe Remilia might not be able to see it through the haze of crimson power surging around her as she prepares for the final, killing blow. Maybe she just sees the grin on Marisa's bloodied face and thinks that it's only the just and proper expression, that a human should be glad to have been her platform. Or maybe she does actually see it, the little octagonal box that, in the grand scheme of things, really isn't all that impressive. It's a magical furnace, sure! It's reinforced with legendary metal from the age of myth, why not!? But for Kirisame Marisa, it's so much more.

This little box is her trump card.

It's the thing that represents the first spell she stole. The first power she took from the creatures that others would call demons, monsters and gods. Promethius took the flame from Olympus and gave it to man, but this witch decided that it wasn't enough, busted down Heaven's door and stole more for herself.

"Whassis you're talkin' about true power, Remilia? 'Cause all I'm seein' is a whole lotta monochrome. Even Reimu's got some white to go along with all her red." The Hakkero shines. It blazes, a little prismatic ember that grows and overflows into a supernova of shining starlight. Marisa's grin widens as she channels everything-- everything-- into this one last shot. A ring opens concentric to that growing spark, engraved with runic words of power. Another. Then another still. A half-dozen, then a full dozen, then two. Marisa is responsible for maybe one of the full set, everything else has been stolen, borrowed or otherwise-- but SHE'S the one who figured out how to link it all together. All these contradictory, miscellaneous magical signs have somehow been made to work /together./ "I think you need a little more color in your life! Thanks for makin' this guilt free! Now, open wide!"

The Mini-Hakkero flashes!

"AND TASTE THE RAINBOW! LOVE SIGN! MASTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER---"

A thin line of light slams into the array, then doubles in size over and over and over again, growing exponentially in the span of an inch's distance beyond its source. "---SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!" The spell is unleashed. It's an enormous, cataclysmic wave of light that shines in every color of the rainbow-- A blast of magical power so massive that it /booms/ with its very own thunder. It's fired, straight up at that crimson target, at the clouds above her, and into the void of space beyond, rising like
Remilia Scarlet     "Mm?" Sakuya replies to Sarracenia, blinking and looking back down, clearly having completely spaced out for a moment. "Oh. Well, then I appreciate you being good entertainment nonetheless. It doesn't really matter whether you meant to be or not; milady has a way of not leaving others with much of a choice, you see." she says, with a warm tone that makes it sound as if she finds it endearing. "I think she prefers the Hakurei shrine, so it would be difficult to convince her to go somewhere else I think." says Sakuya, completely missing the context of the phrase and only picking up on the word 'shrine'. Then she goes looking back up again, staring at the scarlet circle.

    "Oh, it looks as if the mistress is wrapping up. With any luck, she'll have burned off all that excess energy from being cooped up indoors recently. You've all been wonderful. I'll see that some of the cost of your airship is covered for being such good sport for milady." Sakuya bows politely, tray to her lap, as Sarracenia is carried off in a stretcher.
Vergil     It's a terribly satisfying clash atop a burning airship as Vergil and Remilia ride it down, vampiric agility and mist-like properties versus demonic speed and masterful swordplay. But eventually, she does manage to find an opening and fly away, leaving him with a flurry of bloody projectiles to deal with. Yamato whirls, catching a majority of the shrapnel, but the sheer quantity means several slip through and pierce his form. And then the airship crashes, with him on it. Is he down for the count?

    No. A bloom in the rising smoke resolves into Vergil leaping from the wreckage and landing atop a street light. He slicks his hair back once more and exhales. "Things are much quieter now," he comments, more to himself than anyone. That witch is still flying about though, and seems to be setting up somethi-oh. Vergil just stares as the Master Spark cleaves across the sky. He's had some Words about how certain parties in this battle have fought, relying on making their attacks big instead of lethal. But somehow, he gets the feeling that this giant laser is as precise as it could possibly be. Did that do it? No, the vampire yet lives.

    He gestures with his hands, and he is instantly surrounded by those summoned swords. They begin orbiting him, almost lazily as he flash steps over to Remilia and spikes her to the ground with a downward slash. Here, the danger of the swords become clear. While they are rotating slowly, the amount of demonic power channelled into the blades means that they still slice cleanly, and they're not moving so fast as to push anyone within the range of Vergil's sword away from him.

    So while Remilia contends with the rotating swords, Vergil lashes out again with his sword in the sheathe, smacking at her before quickdrawing. But after the draw, he keeps the sword out, grips it with both hands, and pours energy into the blade, making it glow blue as he yells out, slashing with such force that the world seems to tremble as the air is painted with his power. This is enough to knock her back, but he instantly sheathe his sword again, and in a blink, drew and sheathed it again. A flurry of dimensional slashes encase the vampire's form, and then the swords around Vergil launch themselves in all directions, one aiming to skewer her just as an added insult.
Arthur Lowell     Arthur has to shout for help, and signal with flashing lights -- just about all he can manage with his ASPECT drained like this. Thank goodness for Sarracenia's rescue team. Honestly, Arthur bets they're pretty much top-tier rescue workers, considering Sarracenia's profession of princess and her lack of heroic prince. He's getting off track. It seems what's most important to him here is that he get a good look at how this ends. While he may not be combat-capable, at the very least he can press himself upwards on both hands, shifting just enough to get a good look at the flurry from both remaining combatants...
Remilia Scarlet     "Hahaha! Don't confuse the number of colours for its power! It's the purity that matters! Scarlet is the strongest and most beautiful of all colours; accepting anything else would only muddle its perfection, like your half-baked power!" Remilia banters back to Marisa, clearly loving every second of trash talk and villainous monologue, oozing all the enthusiasm of being the lead role on stage at the senior year play. "You seven colours are one seventh as strong as mine at best!"

    The master spark finally goes off. Remilia has seen it before, but she has at least learned to respect it. Rows of bloodred barriers ripple into being ahead of her, staggered in sequence between her and Marisa's Annihilation of Love. The tremendous beam crashes through the first, then the second, then the third without a hitch, then slams against the fourth, slowing for a moment before cracking and piercing through it, and smashing into the fifth. Cracks spread throughout it, holding out for a moment, and then the beam leaks into the sixth, furiously boring a rainbow hole through the last, where a piercing ray slips loose through the final safeguard and burns neatly through Remilia's left wing, leaving a scorched, briefly spreading hole that looks as if it were burnt through paper, black and smouldering and ugly. The barriers shatter, and take the Master Spark with it, sending backlash through to Marisa and the Mini-Hakkero.

    The nimbus of red fire continues to grow around Remilia as she holds her position, tolerating the burn wound and sweeping her arms together, gathering the scarlet mists about her person, and collapsing the vermilion circles of magic back into her hands. It looks as if she's just about ready, but then Vergil has his opening, his moment, to really go at it, and the Yamato slams down into her shoulder with a genuine cry of surprise and stifled pain, where it bites down all the way to the collarbone and causes a palpable fracture. Remilia streaks like a red meteorite back down into the ground, then lands on both feet, breaking her surprisingly tough shoes where she puts all her weight on both legs stomping into the ruined asphalt.

    "Ghhhh . . ." Remilia hisses, ignoring her lesser injuries for to the time to concentrate her regenerative power on her shoulder, the borders of the wound blackening and hissing as they fill in like the way her body had when reconstituting from myriad bats. Vergil is back down on her already before she can finish, absolutely in serious mode and unleashing his peerless skill on her without interference. The revolving summoned swords cut into her several times before she unfurls her wings and leaps away from them, only for him to catch right up to her and slam the butt of the sword into her gut, and the iaijutsu slash sends her spinning away, sprinkling blood from another deep cut into her side, where it'd normally bisect the guts of a human. She still finds it within herself to beat her wings and arrest her momentum with a powerful blast of wind, spreading her arms and legs to a steady hover away from Vergil, staring him down as the last of the scarlet demon power condenses down to a singular point.

    Remilia throws her arms out ahead of her, spreading her fingers to summon a full array of interlocking barrier circles around her, tanking the multitude of dimensional cuts with raw magical force, each one flashing and keening with loud, ringing rebukes, bleeding away devil aura with each powerful slash. They begin to crack and splinter, breaking and then having their positions filled in with the remaining barriers. Remilia laughs behind their dwindling number. "I guess blue is a pretty strong colour too." she says. "Not as strong as scarlet, but it's refined in its own way!"
Remilia Scarlet     The last of the barriers suddenly collapse inwards, then thrust outwards as a column, striking Vergil's sword hand with enough force to disrupt his flurry of Judgement cuts, giving Remilia just the time she needs to *FWOOMPH* to a new angle. It isn't an advantageous one, outside of his arc of vision, but Vergil will notice in just a moment that it lines him up *exactly* with Marisa up above him.

    "Now have a small taste of the devil's own spear of the gods!" she cries, raising her voice, bringing her arm back, sliding forth her foot, outstretching her wings, and letting the scarlet power explode into a blinding vortex of spiral energies in her palm. It unravels into a quaking helix of malevolent power, and then suddenly implodes back in on itself, forming a lance of scarlet energy so concentrated that it *vibrates*, splitting into a norse knot at its last third, and terminating in a huge, arrow-shaped spearhead.

    "The Divine Lance! [Spear Gungnir]!"

    She hurls it. It doesn't fly from her hand like a spear, but instead the moment it leaves her hand, the lance accelerates into a hypervelocity streak of red that splits and ignites the air in its wake, streaking into the sky like an orbital strike in reverse. Even its wake is deadly, as the thunderous air vacuum and rippling circles of demonic aura that bleed off of it are enough to pulverize and melt the scenery within meaningful reach.
Vergil     The column of magical circles strikes Vergil's hand and disrupts his Judgment Cut, turning it from 'a vortex of cuts' to like, a 'gentle breeze of gusts.' His stance is blown open, and he needs a moment to catch his breath. It's the most tired he's looked the whole fight. As Remilia begins boasting of her next attack, a devil wielding a god's power. No lie, he would like to see that, but perhaps not used on him.

    As the spear is made manifest, every hair on his gelled head stands on end from the sight of it. "Where did you get that?" he asks, more to himself than anything. When it is hurled, he crosses his arms over his chest, doing the best he can to blunt the assault, but it pierces right through him, severing his arm and pushing right through his torso from shoulder to hip. He shouts out in pain, his body burning from the incandescent power.

    When he falls, he's whole again, but exhausted. With a grunt, he pushes himself up on his sword and finds his feet. Taking several deep breaths, he finds his voice and speaks. "I suppose that scarlet is a better shade of red than what I am used to," he says cryptically. It's praise, at least. He draws his sword, but does not attack. Rather, he slashes at the air, creating cuts that bleed open into a portal. Looking over his shoulder, he speaks again. "I won't lose next time, Remilia Scarlet. But I am glad to know the Multiverse contains the likes of you, and not just the likes of them." 'Them' is left vague, as he strides through the portal that collapses behind him.
Marisa Kirisame Well, Marisa thinks as she stares up into the great red falling star about to instant hell murder both her and that smug silver-haired blue guy. This isn't all bad.

For one, it's not like this is a spellcard duel, so technically her title is still intact and Reimu can't fuckin' complain when she wasn't even around to do her job this time.

Two: Marisa actually made Remillia block one of her spells. And it didn't even block it completely! That's like, super high tier ultra props as far as she's concerned.

Three: She outlasted that other broom guy, thus proving now and forever that original recipe always wins over extra salty.

And last but not least...

Marisa has a front row seat to watch and see exactly how this vampire weaves together her ultimate spell.

Why is that a good thing, you might ask, as Marisa is viciously blasted into the pavement? (She'll be okay you guys, she has enough points for a continue, and she lost consciousness way before she could feel (too much) of the pain!) Because...

Well!

STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT NEXT EPISODE, KIDS!!
Remilia Scarlet     The Gungnir thrown, Remilia finally lets out her breath, and a big poof of steam comes out with her breath, so that it even looks like a big anime relief puff. Her gothloli dress is pretty shredded, and she's missing her hat now. The wounds from the beginning of the fight are already gone, but the most recent are healing visibly slower now, and those are the deepest. Panting to catch her breath, she checks her red nails, then grows back the cracked ones, and dusts off her scorched and ragged skirts.

    "I told you, I'm invincible on the night of the full moon!" she grins as if for her standing ovation, crossing her arms over her chest and floating up off the ground so she can fold one leg over the other as well, taking a fake seated position. "So don't feel too bad about the obvious outcome. It's been a really long time since I've gotten to stretch my legs like that, so you're all forgiven!" says Remilia, completely unironically.

    "Sakuya! I'm hungry now."
    "Ah, are we heading home then milady? There are still some hours in the night."
    "No, I already did for what I came for, so now I want breakfast."
    "Weren't we here so that you could terrorize the humans and drink the princess' blood?"
    "What? That was *boring*. There's no way I'd want to do that."
    "I agree. It looks like you enjoyed yourself quite a great deal tonight. I'll have to prepare something special in commemoration of your victory."
    "That's Sakuya for you! Make it something I've never tried before."
    "Well, there *is* a recipe I've been meaning to try . . ."

    That's it. She just . . . leaves. Floats off with the maid. All that about putting FEAR into the heart of MANKIND and blowing up a bunch of police for being annoying, solved with a big stupid head to head fight. It's like she'd come here just to try and find one, solely for the novelty. Now she's fixated on food, having already forgotten about Tokyo.

    Also, Arthur finds that there is a cheque in his pocket. He can't really tell when it got there, but it's written out in English for a substantial amount in stupendously elegant cursive. The back says "Thank you for entertaining milady."