[center][h2]Kochiya Sanae[/h2][h3]Nieve — Red Light District[/h3][/center]

With the disgusting taste of that oil-like bile still lingering in her mouth and her knuckles bone-white from clutching onto her gohei, Sanae spit out what she remained of that black sludge in her mouth and attempted to right herself. She had been thrown into disorienting situations before, but something that attacked her like [i]this[/i] was a new experience—and not in a good way. With all of her training being focused towards the very-much nonlethal danmaku battles of Gensokyo, it was clear that she was still very much out of her element when it came to anything even marginally lethal.

But that didn't mean that she wouldn't at least go down without a fight.

Taking a deep breath, the green-haired girl continued to shoot and weave through the butterflies that bore down upon her, attempting to clear enough space for her to feel safe enough to try and return fire upon the ghost that sat so haughtily before them. The best she could do, though, was create a small space around herself to block the magic insects from lighting her aflame. It was a small solace, but there was little else to be done for the moment except pray that Rayne could find an opening to give her a little breathing room. Unfortunately, things seemed to not be in their favor, as the ghost seemed to shrug off Rayne's unrelenting barrage without so much as a scratch.

It was then, though, that the swarm of butterflies seemed to... [i]Stall[/i]. The reduced density of the familiars left the miko barely enough leeway to break away, leaving her to barrel through the small gap that she was able to make to see what it was that had given them this chance.

To see a certain blue-haired necromancer-slash-hermit helping them was... Not particularly [i]pleasant[/i], granted, but any help was better than no help at all. That went double given the current situation.

"You'd better explain yourself later, okay?!" Sanae shouted in response before pointing her gohei straight towards the ghost's prone body. In an instant, a howling gale seemed to envelop the entire room, blowing through everything present with a power far exceeding the wind that had initially staved off the curse before converging into a sphere. From within, a glowing green light began to shine through, and it took mere seconds for a [url=https://safebooru.org//images/3683/ac8a33134f63d376d072aefa1d4b5e97ec2e504a.jpg]woman[/url] to emerge from within.

The strikingly dark blue hair and bright red shirt would be far less noteworthy compared to the [i]massive[/i] shimenawa that was attached to her back, and the undeniable magical aura around her seemed to exude divinity—a far cry from the earth goddess that Sanae had accidentally summoned a few weeks back.

With a brief gaze towards the shrine maiden behind her, then towards the ghost being pinned to the ground on the ground below, though, the goddess took a moment to nod her head before raising her hand above her head.

"I think I understand the situation here, Sanae. We will talk after," she spoke, anger laden within her voice as multiple [i]massive[/i] pillars began to materialize overhead.

"For now, however? I believe one would call this 'divine retribution.'"

With that, the goddess lowered her hand and pointed directly towards the ghost—and the pillars, in turn, all pointed towards her target as well before [i]launching[/i] straight towards her.

[@DracoLunaris][@VitaVitaAR]

[hr][center][h3]Nieve — Odd Cemetery[/h3][/center]

"Immortality... Huh," the monk parroted as the white-haired swordswoman seemed to accept him as a tag-along, even if begrudgingly. The smaller girl seemed less than pleased at the idea of him tagging along—which [i]he[/i] saw as understandable, given the brief scuffle that had just transpired, but made the situation no less awkward.

"Well, that's unfortunate. We already stand out like a sore thumb, and in this Western fantasy-esque city, a Buddhist monk's going to draw more eyes to us," Carol complained before glancing towards the jiang-shi (who, at this point, seemed to be content still gnawing on one of the leftover cursed spirits that hadn't yet disappeared from the graveyard). "But... Hm..."

While the girl seemed to lose herself in thought for the moment, the monk chose now to be an opportune moment to at least try and introduce himself.

"Ah... It'd be a bit awkward just referring to me as 'the monk' or 'him' all the time. Geto Suguru. I suppose I'll be in your care for now," he chimed in, refusing to let his sly smile slip for even a second before looking back towards the pyromancer. "So how long [i]have[/i] you been alive, exactly? You mentioned Heijo-kyo, but that's over a thousand years ago..."

"...Hm. Spirits, cursed spirits, a half-ghost, two people who [i]should[/i] be dead..." Carol mused out loud before her gaze slowly panned towards the jiang-shi—or, more specifically, the mausoleum she seemed to be guarding. "Is there any chance that this 'acquaintance' of yours might know something? There seems to be a fair amount of death and death-adjacent people that have gathered here, and a necromancer—or, at least, I [i]assume[/i] that they're a necromancer—might have some clues as to why that might be the case."

Said jiang-shi, of course, simply returned her gaze with a curious tilt of her head, still gnawing on the spirit in her mouth all the while.

[@VitaVitaAR][@Raineh Daze]
[hr][center][h3]Nieve — Magic Shop[/h3][/center]

Given the ease with which the group dispatched the skeletons, it seemed somewhat obvious that whoever—or [i]what[/i]ever—had summoned them in the first place hadn't expected such powerful enemies to begin with. It made sense than a cluster of these would have been able to take out a shopkeeper without much issue, and if guards came sniffing around it was possible that even they wouldn't have been able to hold much of a candle to the undead...

Well, the normal guards, at least. None among those present would have much of a reference point beyond what little of the people they had seen back in Aventon, after all, and those certainly weren't anywhere near the level of dedicated militia.

Regardless of that purpose they [i]might[/i] have served, though, the skeletons were naught but dust by the time the group was done dispatching them. It seemed quite apparent now that their intent was to guard the passageway that stretched into the darkness in front of them, but it was another matter unto itself as to what was waiting for them deeper within.

The option to simply retreat and report the situation to Serena was on the table, of course, but whether or not that would be the [i]correct[/i] choice remained to be seen.

[@VitaVitaAR][@Drifting Pollen][@Rezod92][@Lugubrious]