FujiwaraPhoenix

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Upon hearing Rayne's response, Kanako crossed her arms and gave a slight nod in reply. There were a few things that the goddess could have attempted to pry into, but it seemed quite evident that this was neither the time nor the place to do so.

"Well, she does have a habit of getting a bit overzealous at the best of times, so if she's showing a bit more prudence with her actions then all the better," the goddess responded in turn as the halfling moved to try and help Sanae up.

Sanae herself had obviously not recovered since her initial loss of strength, and the half-hearted attempts at trying to even push herself back to her feet made it quite obvious that getting back to the inn they had planned to regroup at wasn't going to be in the cards on her own. This, of course, made Rayne's offer of help greatly appreciated.

"Ah, well... I certainly don't think I'll be walking any time soon, so some assistance would certainly help," the green-haired girl replied as she steadily dragged herself back to her feet. There was a sheepish smile on her face as she addressed her companion at first before her attention, inevitably enough, returned towards Kanako. The goddess' attention mirrored her own in turn, and the two faced each other with somewhat mixed emotions about the whole affair.

"I assume you're starting to run a bit low on faith after this miracle, aren't you?" the goddess spoke first as her eyes scanned over the shrine maiden's disheveled form. "You should try and set up a branch shrine here, at the very least. Even something small should suffice in getting enough to contact us, and given the current state of things here..."

"This was a bit more terrifying than the enemies we've seen in this world so far, Kanako-sama, but I understand. I'll get to that as soon as I get the chance," Sanae responded with a light nod.

"Mm. Unfortunately, I used a fair bit of what you provided for the summoning to make sure that the problem here was handled swiftly, so I can't provide you with any particularly helpful abilities like Suwako did. For now, make sure you go rest somewhere safe... And don't get yourself involved in incidents like this unprepared again."

With that, though, the telltale signs of the divinity's disappearance began to show themselves, and with that came the goddess' final words; these, of course, were pointed straight towards the hermit who had chosen to stay out of the situation as their conversation finished.

"As for you... You have a penchant for scheming, so let us hope—for both our sakes—that your decisions won't lead to any regrets further into the future."

With that, the goddess disappeared, leaving the three girls behind with the onbashira that had since left their scars upon the battlefield even now.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

Hearing Mokou's and Youmu's brief explanations caused the two others with them to fall into though, and the pair briefly paused as they considered the implications of what was just stated. Carol, of course, was the first to speak.

"A pocket dimension, then? I didn't think it was possible to warp space in such a way... And I can't say I'm not intrigued," she began to say as the group finally reached the end of the stairwell leading to the floor. "Your world doesn't really dabble with technology, I assume, so creating and maintaining something like this... You don't suppose it might be possible to replicate if the principles behind it were made clear, perhaps?"

"It's not quite like a Domain, but I think that there are some fundamental similarities in my eyes as well," Suguru spoke on his own as he knelt down near one of the island-like structures and slowly dipped his hand into the water. "Something more like a barrier enclosing a space, maybe?"

As the group continued to walk through the underground garden, though, the distinct lack of any anti-intruder system would feel a bit disconcerting. That feeling would only grow as they finally reached the house whose owner was quite evidently missing at the moment.

"I don't suppose you plan on entering?" Carol asked with a slight frown. "Technically, we've already broken in, but the lack of any defenses leaves me at least somewhat concerned..."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Magic Shop

Once the brief clash with the armored undead had subsided, the fae child seemed to regard Anne with the faintest of nods. A brief glance towards the remnants of the battle, however, would do little more than cause her attention to linger on them for a brief moment before a return to passivity.

Compared to her practically nonexistent responses to the world around her up until this point, whether or not this was an improvement was a different question entirely.

Regardless of her thoughts, though, the group's intention to push forward into the cavern was made quite clear, and one by one the travelers began to move forward. For what little it was worth, the mouth through which they passed through was uncannily wide to begin with. That width did not seem to diminish my any means as the group continued to push forward, which might have been a concern all it's own. Examination of the cave walls—if anyone thought to try and do so in the hollow darkness—would at least reveal that the wall had not been chiseled through so much as it had been carved and hollowed out by something, though.

As to whether or not that had any influence on the matter was a different question entirely.

The stifled atmosphere of the path leading forward coupled with naught but the sounds of the group's own footsteps for the next few minutes. Supposing the group had found some means by which to light the way forward, however, it would be at this point that they would encounter a pair of uncannily large humanoid beasts blocking the way forward. Their size easily seemed to double Anne's, and the massive halberds that they held in their grasp seemed no less imposing. Coupled with the bovine face masks and the cloven, hooved feet that might have been visible between the armor that they wore, however, and it would be clear that they were some sort of minotaur-esque creature.

The fact that no breathing could be heard from them as they wordlessly turned to the group before striking out, however, probably did not bode well in general.

As the probably-undead minotaurs began their assault, though, an uncanny chill would run down the necks of those closer to the rear. A brief glance behind them would reveal nothing more than what might have been a red gleam, visible for a fraction of a second before disappearing.

Would that have been all, though. A blob of malformed, tar-black magical energy seemed to come out of the darkness past where the group would have been able to see much of anything and barreled straight towards Anne and the child she was carrying.

Needless to say, the fae child's immediate response to seeing such a sight was to tense up and grip onto Anne as tight as she could, and with an expression of wordless fright that barely belied what might have been running through her head in the moment.

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Though she had seldom seen Kanako fight in earnest, Sanae felt no real awe as she watched the deity casually fire out multiple massive pillars in complete and utter defiance of the laws of physics in her attempt to crush the spirit standing against them in earnest. It was more of an expected standard to her, really; though Suwako could have been argued to have been the stronger of the two, she was still a god...

Regardless, though, it seemed that the onbashira were enough to completely rout their opponent—though that Sanae would be able to see as much in the moment, given how the few seconds after summoning the deity had left her weak enough to vomit once more. The butterflies, at least, were no immediate threat as she fell victim to her body's inability to stave off the magic threatening her, but at the very least they—and the oil that seemed to be the source of all her ills—were quickly disappearing in turn.

Once she had finished recovering from her brief bout of illness, though, the shrine maiden took a deep breath and finally managed to properly right herself. She still felt lethargic after the fact, but compared to how she had been mere moments before, this was a marked improvement that she would happily take. Steadily, Sanae flew over to what remained of the oiran and, with a brief shake of her head, once again pointed her gohei towards her face...

Or, well, just her eye at this point.

"I can't say that you weren't strong, but you really should learn to fight with less vulgar tactics," she quipped with a half-smile as a five-pointed star formed beneath the spirit's remains. "Not that I'd let you stick around to try again, though; once was more than enough for me."

With that matter settled, Sanae finally felt her legs give out from under her and fell to her knees. The ordeal had left her drained physically, for sure, but she hadn't exactly felt that while flying. It was at this moment, though, that the goddess who had answered her call chose to descend towards the shrine maiden.

"Ah, Kanako-sa-ack!"

Where she had been expecting a bit more of a "warm" reunion, Sanae instead found herself receiving a light chop to the head as Kanako looked at her. She seemed no less pleased with the shrine maiden as she had been when she had arrived, though, which usually didn't bode well.

"I had heard from Suwako that you had been kidnapped—and by another deity, no less—but you are still the shrine maiden for the Moriya Shrine. Please consider your own well-being as you go traipsing about in this fantasy realm, especially if battles here are to the death. Honestly, maybe I should have you train in actual combat instead of danmaku when you return from this venture..." she complained before her stern expression began to soften. "But it's good to see you haven't encountered worse misfortunes since you were first brought here. I'll save the lectures for another time."

With that, though, Kanako briefly glanced around the area, noticing the rather infamous blue-haired hermit and giving her a disapproving glare before finally turning to notice the other person among them who was actually distinctly unfamiliar to the goddess.

"I suppose you're one of those new 'friends' Sanae found when she was brought here. I certainly hope she hasn't caused you too much trouble with her antics," she spoke with a somewhat haughty smile on her face. "I am Yasaka Kanako, the main god of the Moriya Shrine... Though I suppose such a place would matter little to someone plucked from another world. You can just think of me as Sanae's protector for now, then. We may be seeing each other in the future again... Provided this one here actually manages to gather some faith to do so."

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

"Fujiwara, Fujiwara... Huh. Never heard of the surname before, but would I be off the mark in guessing that you were nobility, then?" Suguru replied as he brought one hand to his chin. "Well, I suppose lying about your lineage would also be possible, but I don't think there's any real merit to lying about being both unaging while having perfect physical recovery... I don't suppose that you wouldn't be able to teach someone how you do that, would you?"

The monk's musings were quickly pushed to the wayside, however, once Youmu made the decision to break into the mausoleum proper. Given how lax the jiangshi's guard seemed to have become ever since the fight against Suguru had concluded (especially considering how she was continuing to gnaw on one of his spirits even now), it was no surprise at all that Youmu's motion to simply disarm the undead and leave her lying on the ground would have went off without a hitch. There was a brief pause as the pair that wasn't native to Gensokyo—Carol in particular—seemed to regard the girl with a bit of pity as she tried (and failed) to jostle herself into a position where she wasn't just lying face-down on the paved stone pathway, but that feeling quickly faded once the monk took the opportunity to simply push the doors of the mausoleum open.

With their intended guard out of the way, it didn't seem like there was much in the way of distractions to stall them any longer, at least.

Once the group began to explore the mausoleum in earnest it wouldn't take long to reveal a spiraling stairwell that led into the depths of the underground. Whether or not this was here already or if it was something that the hermit who (presumably) resided here was a question they would have to ask her themselves...

But that didn't exactly change how claustrophobic the place felt or how many spirits were floating around and trying to keep the group from getting further within. Carol, understandably enough, was less than pleased with the fact; Suguru, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed by them to begin with.

"Eugh. I suppose this is better than those ugly creatures from earlier," the smaller girl complained, shooing at one of the spirits that drew closest to her. "but that chill running through my spine every time they get close is a feeling I could very well live without. I'd rather not try and dissect these things if I could help it, but..."

"Well, I don't sense any cursed energy from them," the monk replied with a shrug, "so it's out of my jurisdiction. There are quite a few negative emotions mixed through a few, though, so I suppose there are a few analogues to my own world."

The musings of the pair continued as the group continued to travel downwards, though the former seemed to be lost in her own thoughts more than actually saying anything meaningful to the group. Eventually, though, the stairwell led into what seemed to be an oddly lavish Chinese-style garden of sorts, complete with flowing water and stone bridges crossing over the artificial ponds and streams as they converged towards a similarly-styled house at their center.

"Is there any chance this 'acquaintance' of yours was brought here well before you were? I cannot fathom anyone being able to construct something like this within a few weeks..." Carol asked with a look of mild bewilderment on her face. "Never mind her thoughts in hiding such a place within a mausoleum and beneath a city, no less...!"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

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 this 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... Stall. 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 pleasant, 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 woman to emerge from within.

The strikingly dark blue hair and bright red shirt would be far less noteworthy compared to the massive 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 massive 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 launching straight towards her.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

"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 he 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 have 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 should 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 assume 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

---

Nieve — Magic Shop

Given the ease with which the group dispatched the skeletons, it seemed somewhat obvious that whoever—or whatever—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 might 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 correct choice remained to be seen.

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Filled with renewed confidence as Rayne remained evenly matched with the enemy in front of them as she was, Sanae felt no fear as she maintained the divine wind coursing through the battlefield from behind her. Given the apparent tricks she had seen from the oiran thus far, it made sense to focus on making sure that Rayne would be able to continue her barrage of attacks unimpeded.

If only things would remain that simple.

The sudden crippling wave of heat that bore down upon them quickly drowned out her own spell; though the illness that bore down upon them continued to be kept at bay, the heat was still sweltering enough to make the young woman sweat. Coupled with the disconcerting illusory noises echoing from around them (or, at least Sanae hoped they were illusory), the green-haired girl was forced to reconsider if she needed to join the fray or not.

The answer to that question quickly turned into a resounding "absolutely" as the inky-black pool of oil that spread out from underneath their enemy made contact with Qing'e and promptly revealed what sort of effects doing so would have. Coupled with a butterfly that promptly lit her aflame, though...

It wasn't surprising, really, that Sanae let out a shout mere moments before her body, now apparently consigned to the flames, disappeared outright. There was a brief moment of anger over how quickly and cruelly the other woman's life was apparently snuffed out, but that would mean nothing if they didn't finish what job they had already started.

Unfortunately, those few seconds worrying about the fate of their helped would come to collect from her, too.

Though Sanae had the sense to take flight after seeing what had happened to Qing'e, the scant seconds she had taken to mourn her meant that she, too, would end up a victim of the oncoming curse. As the oil-like substance pooled beneath her floating form, the young woman gritted her teeth and gripped onto her gohei as the very same substance began to bleed from her eyes, her sclera now stained black from it.

"This curse really is... Something else, huh?" Sanae choked out before taking as deep a breath as she could muster before calling out to Rayne. Despite her own currently-crippled form, the battle—as far as she could tell—was nowhere near over despite their sudden losses.

"Rayne! Don't even try to fly over this stuff!" she called out as she lobbed a few more bullets towards any butterflies that dared to even draw close to her. "Big hits from afar, if you can! We need to—"

Before she could finish her sentence, though, an even stronger wave of nausea—one that she couldn't suppress out of sheer willpower—overcame her, and the shrine maiden promptly vomited the same substance that Qing'e had before her own disappearance.

"...Crap, I think I might need to call Kanako-sama in for this one..." Sanae cursed under her breath as she tried to steady herself. "Might not be calling home any time soon... But it's probably better than dying here."

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

With his attention thrown away in the heat of the moment—rare as such an incident was for him who had already seen so much absurdity in his lifetime—the monk could do little more than barely turn back in time to face the swordswoman who had all but sealed his fate. But instead of encountering that all-too-familiar feeling of cold steel carving through his torso, he found a rather targeted kick aimed directly at his solar plexus. With the wind thoroughly knocked out of him, the man fell to the ground, at which point his opponent promptly declared her victory—and, most surprising to him, a request for his surrender. The other woman chimed in soon thereafter in agreement, but by this point it was all but settled. The fact that she hadn't opted to kill him, though, seemed to give rise to more questions than answers.

"...Fine, fine. It's my loss," he responded as he released his weapon. "Man, sorcerers of this era really must be something else..."

Now that the fight was over, though, Carol—who had taken the prudent choice to not get involved with more of the insanity that seemed to be breaking out no matter which direction she traveled in—walked over with a mildly annoyed looked on her face.

"I suppose that you're done handling whatever... That was all about?" she asked as her gaze briefly flicked between the monk and the jiangshi (who seemed to be patting her stomach with a rather pleased expression on her face). "Now, with regards to your earlier question—no, this is most certainly not Europe. I'm also fairly certain that throwing those morbidly deformed creatures at us for simply seeing them isn't any way to have a proper conversation in most worlds."

There was a brief pause as the monk took in Carol's worlds for a brief moment before a rather uncertain look finally crossed his face.

"Most... Worlds?" he parroted, taking a moment to stare at each of the three girls in turn as his uncertainty turned to discomfort. "...Wait. You three... Don't have any cursed energy coming from your bodies? But that one over there's just regenerating her hand as if..."

"Finally starting to piece it together?" Carol sighed as she shook her head. "Well, I'll let the two of you decide how to handle him. You've spared his life, but it's another question unto itself if it'd be safe letting him go... Not to mention the chaos of that fight sure to attract—"

It was at this point that the monk, after a brief expression of apparent enlightenment, began to laugh maniacally despite the current situation. Nothing more seemed to come of it, though—least of all when he began to speak again once his apparent fit of madness had subsided.

"Ah, sorry about interrupting you there," the monk replied as he slowly pushed himself to a seated position. "I just realized something about this whole situation, but it's not of any importance right now."

With a snap of his fingers, the darkness of night hanging over them soon washed away, only to be replaced with the bright blue midday sky.

"...Can we feed this guy to the jiangshi instead, actually?" the smaller girl asked in turn. "You said you knew the one who owned it, right? Surely they won't mind if we used her to help us a bit, right?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Magic Shop

The group of cautious travelers would find little of note past the debris and crushed goods—at least, at first. Further inspection of the wall that the destruction converged towards, however, would reveal that it was covered up by stone and dirt to mimic what had been there before. A bit of force—be it thoroughly destructive or otherwise—would soon reveal a massive cavern that had been carved out and led into the room they were in now.

Bereft of light as it was, though, exploring such a structure might have been dangerous—and indeed, almost as if on cue a few moments after revealing the hidden passageway, the sound of metal crushing stone and metal scraping against stone could be heard echoing from further down into the darkness...

And, as Anne had suspected, from around them as well. From all sides, massive skeletons covered head-to-toe in metal armor began to bear down upon the group in what appeared to be an attempt to keep them from pushing towards wherever the passageway led.

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

"...Eh?"

Though Sanae had expected some shenanigans when she had chosen to dive into the hole, a recreation of some old-timey Japanese street was probably one of the last things she had expected to see. It wasn't unheard of back in Gensokyo, which meant that the young woman was left notably less flabbergasted than Rayne seemed to be, but the fact that such a lifelike illusion—if it could even be called one any more—meant that whatever was causing this mess wasn't anything to scoff at.

The being that they promptly encountered, however, seemed to be far less willing to lend an ear than any resident of Gensokyo was. The geisha—or something that seemed to be mimicking the form of one—made her disgust at their presence rather blatant, and the blasé insult she levied at them, while offensive, had left Sanae more annoyed than anything else.

"Big words from someone who cakes their face in makeup," the green-haired girl replied with a slight smirk before a light wave of nausea washed over her. Instead of simply standing there and suffering from it, though, Sanae raised her gohei towards the sky and took a deep breath.

"Though I guess whatever horrors you're hiding behind it are enough to make me sick."

With that, the young woman pointed the tool towards the ghost's face, after which a massive pentacle seemed to spread out from under her feet and promptly covered the ground around them. With it, a gust of wind seemed to blow from behind her, and with it went any sort of sickness-inducing curse that was trying to take root in them. With any symptoms therein promptly nullified, Sanae felt that this was a good a chance as any to join in Rayne's offensive efforts.

Sending out more frog-shaped danmaku explosives to bombard the area seemed like a good place to start. The endless hordes of butterflies mattered far less if they were removed from the equation the second they appeared, after all.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

The words that the fire-wielding woman spoke seemed to catch the monk ever so slightly off-guard, and for a moment he seemed to be considering the implications of her being longer-lived than even the greatest of sorcerers in his mind before choosing to place those thoughts to the side for the time being.

"Come now, I'm not naive enough to believe something like that," he replied as the spiral above his head began to grow denser by the second. "You could well be speaking the truth, sure, but then it'd just be removing my head from my neck or a stab through the heart or something equally as lethal... And far easier to do on someone with their guard down, no?"

While he spoke, a bunch of the creatures surrounding him began to coalesce around him, acting almost as if their presence alone was meant to deter the others as he prepared to strike. Just as he was about to launch the attack, though, the world itself seemed to go black.

No, it wasn't as if it had 'gone black'—it was like there was an absence of light altogether. Even in darkness, he would be able to make some light for himself. Rather, this was more like he had simply 'become blind'—and in so doing had found himself open to attack.

It was a natural response, then, to simply order what curses he could to guard his every flank for the moment and attempt to fire off the spiraling mass of cursed energy the second his sight returned. A few seconds—that was all that it took for light to return to his world, and in that moment the monk found himself staring down the swordswoman who had cleaved through his defenses to reach him.

It was a familiar sight in a way, given what he had experienced what had felt like not a few hours prior, but not one he would like to soon repeat. With a shout, the monk attempted to launch the attack towards his opponent—

Only for him to feel it being pulled away in the opposite direction. Unable to resist trying to see what in the world would be the cause for his second death, the man turned around and saw the very same jiangshi he had been trying to deal with mere moments prior vacuuming the attack into her mouth.

"—————What the hell sort of cursed spirit———?!"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Magic Shop

At a glance, nothing would seem amiss when the group walked through the storefront. The scent of blood that the vampire had picked up was not any sort of a false alarm, given her propensity for the fluid as her main source of nourishment, but it would almost seem as if the place was scrubbed clean of any trace of injury. A closer inspection of the wood that composed the floor and tables that might have otherwise displayed various goods would present scratches and indentations that did not seem to come from simple wear...

But otherwise, naught would seem amiss at a glance. With that said, the door to the basement seemed to be left open, almost as if inviting those curious visitors a chance to travel downwards.

Assuming that they did, though, the group would be met with a spiraling staircase that seemed to stretch on for ages that would eventually open up into what appeared to be some sort of storage facility for goods. Here, the damage seemed to be more palpable, with shattered wood beams, glass, and debris of all shapes and sizes scattered every which way.

Most notable, however, was the fact that the area seemed to be partially cleared away in a path towards the back of the room... But with still no sign of the missing shopkeeper.

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Between her and Rayne's combined efforts, the soul-sucking butterflies seemed to be kept comfortably under control, which meant that they had at least some leeway to keep pushing forward. As they did so, though, the shift from 'butterflies of death' to 'infinite hallway' did absolutely nothing to help the situation. While the young woman assumed that it wasn't actually endless, she had no desire to test that theory—doubly so when the hallway was promptly lit aflame. Her first instinct was to prepare the same spellcard she had used back at Aventon to quell the flames, but it seemed that Rayne had a different plan in mind.

Instinctively, Sanae shielded herself from the debris of her companion's summoned lightning bolt as it carved a hole straight through the building. There was a brief moment of consideration as she glanced between the fire and the hole before nodding.

"Then down we go! It's probably a better idea than cooking ourselves alive!" she called out before diving down into the hole. It was possible that Qing'e wouldn't be able to follow them regardless, but if the flames that threatened to consume the building were magical in nature it was quite possible that putting them out for any reasonable amount of time wasn't exactly an option.

In other words, they were now on a bit of a time limit to exorcise whatever was causing problems here; hopefully that wouldn't take too long to do...

Maybe the other woman had some other tricks up her sleeve to get out of this mess? Hopefully that would be the case.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

With the fire-wielding woman occupied by a cursed spirit, the monk turned his attention back to the swordswoman—who, despite any immediate expectations, shouted something that sounded vaguely like the name of a technique before disappearing from his sight in an instant. A bevy of emotions crossed through his face in an instant—anxiety chief among them—before he attempted to scan his surroundings for any attempted sneak attacks headed his way. When the girl reappeared overhead, however, he could do little else than block the attack. With both hands now occupied as he caught the blade with the center of his staff, the monk gritted his teeth and pushed back against the downward momentum of his opponent's weapon and took a step to the side while releasing his grip on the weapon with one hand. With the slash able to follow through towards where he had been standing, the next course of action would be a counterattack—in short, whipping the weapon around to try and catch his opponent where she was left unprotected.

Out of the corner of his eye, though, the sight of the other woman who had chosen to answer the curse's question as she was summarily chopped up into little pieces by the shears that manifested themselves—and the pieces promptly lighting themselves aflame as she seemed to casually regenerate from complete dismemberment—before dodging through any that appeared soon thereafter and cleanly annihilating the spirit caused him to pause, at least for a moment. It would hav been obvious to anyone watching that he was at a disadvantage, but given that the alternative seemed to be fighting to the death yet again...

"Well, I can't say I expected that," he quipped as he moved to take a step back the instant his weapon whipped back around to him. "Sorcerers in this day must've come a long way since mine. I couldn't have been dead for that long, right?"

As he mused to himself about the current state of affairs, though, a black spiral of energy seemed to begin swirling over his head, aimed—naturally—towards the two women bearing down upon him.

"That said, I'd rather not get sliced in half today. Once was enough."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

After the trio had signed off on the paperwork, Serena promptly marked the paper with her own signature before gesturing for Bren to take it elsewhere. There was little else to handle on that front, at least, and with the confirmation that their contract wasn't anything that abused either of their positions it only made sense to make sure it stayed that way.

Granted, it only really applied to the three of them at the moment, but that offer could always be extended if need be.

"Well, in that case, I've got something for you to do now, then," the princess said, responding to Anne's smile with one of her own. "I need you to retrieve some goods I ordered from a shop on the north side of the city. I usually get updates on the shopkeeper on their status, but he hasn't sent his usual correspondence. As this is a bit more of a personal matter, I'd like you to go see if everything's prepared, and if they're ready, to bring them here."

With that, the princess handed Anne a letter marked with what appeared to be a seal of some sort—one marking it's origin and importance, no doubt.

"If he questions you, just hand this to him and everything should be settled. Payment will be given on your return."

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

While being surrounded by butterflies of death wasn't a particularly novel experience to her at this point, the sheer density of them as they came pouring out into the hallways in front of them did not leave Sanae feeling any more comfortable about the situation. Being in the Netherworld was one thing, but there was a level of malice at play here that the shrine maiden had never once felt in her past encounters with the nearest possible equivalent force in Gensokyo.

Her recognition of what Qing'e had chosen to throw to the proverbial dogs in front of the three of them quickly confirmed her suspicions about the insects, and that her decision to shoot them on-sight had been correct. Unfortunately, that didn't really matter as much when there were so many blocking the way.

Of course, when they began to pass through the walls to get to them, things only went from 'bad' to 'worse'. Rayne, at least, was more than prepared to start firing now that the butterflies had demonstrated their ability to both drain them dry and pass through walls as if they didn't exist. All the better, then to start moving once the way was cleared...

Or so Sanae had hoped to do, had the butterflies, seemingly unfazed by the swathes of them that had just been destroyed, simply continued to fly through the walls towards them. If there was any time to try and get moving, though, it was now, before her companion's homing shots stopped being able to clean up the opposition before they even got close.

"Ah, what a pain! Rayne, I'm going to make the call here to just break through! Keep your feet off the ground and shoot at anything that moves... Excluding us, of course!" the green-haired girl called out as she floated ever so slightly off the ground before flying through the path that the halfling had carved through for them. With her gohei at the ready, Sanae began to fire clusters of frog-shaped bullets towards the floor and the walls, leaving them ready to blow up the second that they encountered even the slightest hostility.

The problem now was to track down the source of this curse... Which, in all honesty, really just meant that she had to find where the suffocating feeling was getting worse and just follow that until they found something interesting. Nothing too unusual.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

The monk gave the pair of girls approaching him a half-hearted shrug as he took a step back, almost as if he was trying to make a little bit more distance between them—as one would have expected from someone who seemed to be a summoner to begin with.

"Believe me, your guess would be as good as mine," he replied to the one approaching him at a slightly more measured pace than her companion. "But the fact that I'm alive now means more than that—and I'd like to keep it that way."

Rather than engage in further conversation—at least, for the moment—the man seemed to be spending more effort in attempting to gauge the opponent. The short-haired girl looked to be a more immediate threat, if only because she seemed to be more focused on taking him out of the picture immediately. The other's apparent disregard for her own safety, coupled with the fact that even the slightest injuries were being healed as they were made, however, meant that he couldn't just discount her from the equation entirely.

"...Hm...?"

A curious expression briefly passed over the monk's face for a moment as he seemed to consider something, but that was quickly replaced by a slight smirk as he turned his focus towards the swordswoman barreling towards him. With but a little time afforded to him thanks to the summoning of a certain being to occupy the other one, the sly-faced man figured now was a good a time as any to try and deal with his opponent while he could. It wasn't the first time in recent memory he had to deal with a swordfighter, after all.

A strange worm-like spirit soon materialized upon the monk's shoulders, and from it's mouth he slowly withdrew a three-section staff dyed in red. With a weapon now in hand, the monk quickly adopted a combat stance and readied himself to fight.

The strange white spirit following the girl around did seem to pique his interest, though, insofar as he seemed to be treating it as something to be aware of throughout the fight instead of simply as an odd accessory.

While the monk had moved to engage Youmu in combat, however, Mokou would soon find the area around her strangely bereft of enemies... Or anyone else, for that matter, The area around her would seem dark, but the voice of something calling out to her from the darkness would let her know that she certainly wasn't along.

"Hey."

A brief glance towards the source would reveal an emaciated feminine figure garbed in a long overcoat, whose numerous eyes peeking out through long, black, unkempt hair paired with a medical mask to cover her face might have brought to mind another familiar face... Though not quite in the same way as the other residents of Gensokyo had.

"Am...
Am...
Am I...
Pretty?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

"Well, to be quite frank, letting strangers into the royal castle on a whim is more than a simply national security risk, regardless of their station. Even I am not so foolish so as to let guests in without having them vetted, after all; my life might not be worth much compared to my father's, but I had intended your earlier comment as a simple jest. Unless you truly did mean to do something that might pose a risk to the people who lead this country...?"

While there was a bit of frivolity in her voice, the undertones running through what the mage had said were difficult to ignore. Under the assumption that Anne had Remilia's selfish desires under control soon thereafter, though, Serena gave the glasses-wearing woman another nod and let the facade she had been putting up for the moment slide for the moment by ever-so-subtly laughing at the plain irritation upon the woman's face.

"Of course, I'm not mad enough to try and rope you all into political struggles—though some part of me feels like you'd find them falling into your lap regardless. More likely than not, I'd have you retrieving goods for me from somewhere or another, or maybe just gathering samples. For example, there's been an odd illness that's begun to—"

"Princess, I've returned with the paperwork you requested."

With that, Serena found her statement cut off by the minister she had sent to retrieve the paperwork she had requested, and after reviewing the contents and handing them off to Anne to sign, simply waited for her to check them herself. It was, as she had said, a simple contract that emphasized only what needed to be done while in her employ.

"By the way, Miss Mayer, you mentioned that you had a golem among your companions?" Bren asked before glancing towards the nearby window. "Would they happen to be accompanied by a rather frail-looking blonde child? I believe I saw one wandering the streets outside earlier looking for something..."

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

Upon hearing the monk's question, Carol's gaze quickly sharpened—no doubt due to how the question being presented now was not at all unlike what she had asked Mokou before their prompt escape minutes prior. Given how he was speaking, there was little reason to believe he had been here long; in fact, it might have been apt to assume that he had arrived far too soon to gather himself.

Not that the strange beings that seemed to be monitoring them from within the cemetery grounds were any reason to lower her guard. The two white-haired girls, after conversing with each other, soon led to Youmu responding in kind to the monk, who seemed to be... Less than pleased with the answer.

"Fair enough, I suppose... Though if you answered in Japanese, I suppose that's one less thing I have to worry about," he replied before slowly walking away from the jiangshi and towards the exit where the others stood. "That being said, I don't suppose you can see them too, can you?"

The smile on the monk's face quickly faded, replaced with a dead-faced seriousness as a massive, grotesque worm-like thing burst out from the space behind him. At the same time, the smaller creatures that had been lingering around the area began to move, flailing and grasping at the girls—one of whom was already on guard against him.

"Aah, I should've figured that those bastards would send more sorcerers after me," he complained out loud, cocking his head to one side as he stretched his neck. "You'd think that one death would be enough, but I guess it really isn't..."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

"Well, if you put it like that, I really can't overlook it..."

Despite the very air around them feeling like it was weighing her down, Sanae could do little more than try to psych herself up before following after Qing'e. The overbearing pressure was not enough to deter her by any means, but there was only so much she could do to guard herself against the miasma in what little time they had before closing in. The very least she could do before entering, though, was set up a barrier around the brothel before the three of them proceeded inside the building proper. It wasn't likely that anyone or anything would attempt to enter, granted, but making sure that whatever was inside didn't get out seemed just as important to the situation as actually clearing up the root of the curse.

Once they had entered, though, and witnessed the presence of butterflies within the abandoned building, however, Sanae wasted no time in firing out a cluster of ofuda towards them. When more began to replace them, however, it became clear that those were going to be the biggest obstacle in getting to their target. While dodging them might have been easier in open ground, this was a brothel...

Which, obviously enough, meant that there was only so much space that they had to work with.

"Guess we're just going to have to muscle on through. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that those butterflies mean death, given past experiences... Well, that and the fact that butterflies usually don't live in places like this. Either way, I'm going to say that 'kill on sight' is probably the best way to proceed from here."

Unfortunately, it was likely that they would have to comb every inch of the place to find their target; with any luck, they would do so before anything got too bad...

And if they did reach that point, calling Kanako-sama in didn't seem like too bad of a plan B.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

Despite their role as the city's protectors of the peace, the guards that had moved to apprehend the white-haired swordsman, adamant in she was at her refusal at going peacefully, could do little more than watch as she simply flew away. The ensuing hasty attempt at chasing after her only went so far, though, especially when they only had eyes on the ground and the group and had escaped towards a veritable maze of streets and back alleys.

Mokou would be the first to encounter company once more, as the blonde girl that she had been speaking to had failed to get too far on foot since they had last spoken. There was a slightly annoyed look on her face as she noticed the white-haired woman floating overhead, but that irritation seemed to stem from how much the woman stood out by flying on top of looking so thoroughly out of place from the rest of the populace. Landing, at least, seemed to help stifle any follow-up reaction on that front.

"I suppose that 'friend' of yours also fled, then?" she asked, refusing to stop for even a moment as she continued to walk through the streets. "Probably for the best. Musashi told me she was going to lay low for a while, which completely defeats the point of her becoming my bodyguard... But I digress. I don't suppose you wouldn't mind working with me for the moment, would you?"

There was a moment of silence before the girl, now having realized she had been so crass so as to never actually introduce herself, acted to resolve that issue.

"Carol. Carol Malus Deinheim. At the very least, being able to refer to each other by name would be far more effective than not."

Whatever the result of their pseudo-agreement was, the pair would continue to weave through the back streets and alleys before the sounds of guards milling about had finally become inaudible. With the immediate problem at hand out of sight, the pair eventually came to a stop after finally breaking through the veritable maze they had been in for who knew how long, and in so doing found themselves facing the entrance to a cemetery filled with mausoleums. In direct view of the pair—and Youmu, who had apparently managed to exit the maze from a slightly different path—were a pair of figures who seemed to be arguing in broad daylight.

Or, well, one of them seemed to be arguing.

"Look, I'm just asking if you know where——"

"This is no place for the likes of you to enter!"

The former, a young man garbed in Buddhist robes, seemed markedly irritated as the girl in front of him cearly refused to listen to any words coming out of his mouth.

"...What am I even doing, trying to communicate with a walking corpse...?" the man sighed, shaking his head briefly before glancing briefly at his palm. As he did so, though, the three girls who had come across the scene would notice that something else was amiss in the cemetery. Odd, malformed creatures seemed to be staring from them from within the bounds of the walls in front of them, and the monk-apparent, in turn, would turn to face them as well.

"Hm. You three, over there!" he called out, "I don't suppose you would happen to know where this place is? I'd hazard a guess to say this is some place in Europe, maybe...? Should I try and restate the question in English...?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

Serena gave Remilia a slight look of disapproval when the vampire had immediately insisted that they head to the royal castle, but simply chose to ignore it in favor of speaking with Anne instead. It seemed quite apparent that the offer was taken positively, and if the only requisite was that the agreement was committed to paper, who was she to argue?

"Of course we can get that in writing," the princess replied before looking towards Bren with a smile. The minister, who was still a minister at the end of the day, let out a small sigh and nodded.

"...I'll go prepare the necessary documents. If you'll excuse me..." the man sighed before exiting the room, leaving the four girls behind for the moment. Soon thereafter, though, Serena's attention focused towards the box that Anne had produced. Any sense of half-playful polticking was promptly thrown to the wayside as the princess promptly accepted the container and placed it onto the desk to examine the contents proper.

"Hm... The vial's out of my realm of expertise, but I could send this to some botanists..." the princess mused before picking up the necklace and watching it point towards the distance—a reaction that would be familiar to Anne, given how she had seen it firsthand.

Opting to now grasp the accessory by the pendant rather than the string, Serena began to twist the object around in her hand before placing it back where she had found it.

"This one's a tracker... And it seems to be one attuned to a person, no less? Things like these aren't simple to make without an imprint of the magical signature or something approximating it, but I have no clue as to what that could be. As for the jewel..."

With that, the princess took the object into her hands and began to examine it in much the same way as she had the necklace, though with extra care taken to view each glyph so painstakingly carved into each facet of it. Slowly, though, her reaction turned from one of curiosity to once of mildly meaningful concern.

"How to explain this one... Right, okay, how about this, then? In layman's terms, you can think about this object as if it is linked to a person... Whoever that is. Whenever that person dies, the magical bindings on it—the runes you see carved here—will glow. At that point, the intended 'inheritor'—let's call them that—can release the binding by injecting some mana into it, which will then cause it to release the spell inside of it. As for what that spell might be... Well, I wouldn't be able to tell without breaking the jewel open, but there's a self-destruct mechanism inlaid here so that's not exactly an option."

With a sigh, Serena calmly placed the jewel back in its place before turning towards Anne.

"You said that you received this from a commander? The vial would make sense, but the other two..."

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Sanae was hard-pressed to hide the slight blush that crossed her face at their benefactor's comments, both due to the situation at hand and the fleeting images that passed through her mind before she could shoo them away.

"I'd rather not engage in any of that talk," the green-haired girl replied with a slight glare. "We're here to solve a problem, and I'd prefer that we keep it at that."

Regardless of her feelings on the matter (or the oddity of someone screaming in an alleyway nearby), Sanae continued following behind Qing'e in silence. The rough overview of the situation she had provided en route to their final destination—wherever that happened to be—certainly sounded like a curse of some sort to her, at least. Coupled with where they were and how unlikely the residents here would be to have someone look into the matter, the whole situation had to at least be curse-adjacent.

Eventually, though, Sanae began to feel a stifling presence bearing down upon her. As the trio continued pressing forward, that presence—whose malicious weight she seemed to feel far more than her peers—only grew stronger and stronger. When the woman leading the way finally stopped in front of an abandoned brothel, whose appearance seemed pristine, though, that presence was suffocating.

"This is bad news..." she complained as she whipped out her gohei. "You said that this place is abandoned, right? I'm not as trigger-happy as some of the people I know, but something like this..."

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

"Friendly duel?" the guard responded, apparently shocked that Youmu had even suggested that such a thing wouldn't warrant a response from them. "Miss, we have multiple people here claiming that the two of you were swinging at each other with enough strength to break stone—and by the looks of things, that seems to have been the case. If you're swinging your weapons around with that much force, then you were very much putting lives at risk here. Now, just hand over your swords and come with us, or we'll have to take you in by force. You've cause enough problems here as-is."

Any further attempts to dissuade the guards would be met with equally hard-headed resistance to the idea, especially considering the situation at hand. As for whether or not to cede the argument or abandon it outright would be a decision left to the swordswoman that had been left 'holding the bag', so to speak.

It would explain why Musashi had fled at the first sign of interference, at least.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

With the three travelers having made clear their intention to stay, Serena nodded her head and returned their statement with a smile—though it seemed to be one more practiced than genuine if one attempted to examine the tiniest hints of her facade.

"Well, we'll see in due time as to whether or not Father decides to take action," she responded, "but your aid is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, however, I don't believe that it would be fair to simply provide any favoritism towards you and yours, regardless of what your intent might be. Please understand that despite my title, I don't actually hold that much power..."

There was a brief pause as Serena's words hung in the air, but the slightest hint of a grin on her face immediately gave the minister at her side cause for concern.

"At least, that would be the case if we spoke with regards to charity. I do not know of your circumstances with that merchant caravan you claim to have arrived with, but if you would be willing to aid me as assistants I might be able to figure something out."

"Princess, I do believe that is called embezzlement—"

"I'm not embezzling anything! I'd be giving them legitimate tasks and paying them accordingly!" Serena responded indignantly before turning back towards the group of girls in front of her. "Ahem. Well, there you have it, then. Of course, you're free to refuse; I'm not crazy enough to strongarm you into helping, and I won't make you do anything too crazy... Probably. So how about it?"

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92