Loading User Commands:
[X] Custom

---

"Help the others," says Remilia. "That's an order."

Before they can reply, the vampire strikes the walls with her fists. He can feel the ground rumble as the ceiling over the door begins to crash down. As the dust settles, Grey realizes that she effectively sealed the entrance to the basement chamber. They won't be able to enter the basement from this way anymore.

He struggles to his feet and takes a glance at Sakuya. She still seems to be in shock. He gently places a hand on the chief maid's shoulder to reassure her.

"I'm sure that Remilia knows what she is doing," he says. In any case, the elder Scarlet has Flandre with her. There are few forces in Gensokyo that can cause either of them permanent damage.

"..."

Sakuya stands herself up, but says nothing.

"You mentioned that beast youkai are coming into the mansion from somewhere?" he asks in an attempt to change the subject.

"Huh? O-oh, of course," mumbles the chief maid. "They seem to be coming from somewhere around the Voile Library area. The fairy maids formed a barricade at the library entrance."

Grey reloads his weapon as he begins walking back toward the staircase.

"I believe we should get going," he says. "Orders are orders."

Sakuya sighs heavily as she follows.

"The cleaning never ends..."

...

The rest of the walk was uneventful. They didn't meet any other beast youkai, though they could hear a loud racket coming from the direction of the library. As they approached, they could hear loud crashes, explosions, and an occasional high-pitched scream.

"I'm going ahead," says Sakuya. Grey turns to face her, but she had already vanished from sight. He blinks stupidly for a few seconds before running forward.

The sound of battle grows louder as he reaches the corner. Without warning, one of Sakuya's knives flies past him, missing his neck by only a few inches.

"W-what the?" cries Grey. "Be careful with those!"

"Sorry about that," returns Sakuya, not sounding sorry at all.

Strewn carelessly along the hallway are over a dozen dead youkai beasts. While most of them are impaled with the chief maid's knives, a few seem to be badly burnt or stabbed with other types of weapons. Grey pulls out the knife from the wall before running toward Sakuya.

"If I didn't know any better," says Grey as he hands Sakuya the knife back. "I'd say that you were trying to kill me by accident, Sakuya".

"Eh? Now why would I want to do that?" asks Sakuya. She fails to hide a tiny smile on her almost neutral face.

Suddenly, a door on their left opens. A single fairy maid peeks out of the crack.

"S-Sakuya?" she whispers uncertainly.

The chief maid gives the nervous figure a single nod.

"It's her! It's her!" cries the fairy as she runs out of the door. She rushes toward the chief maid teary-eyed, as if to hug her, but she manages to stop herself and settles for a simple curtsey. At that moment, Grey feels that Sakuya had glared at the fairy maid, but he couldn't bring himself to check.

Several other maids come out of the room, some of them carrying weapons. A few look injured, with make-shift bandages wrapped around their wounds.

"What happened to the barricade?" asks Sakuya sternly.

One of the taller maids steps forward. Carrying a heavy halberd in one hand, she salutes to the chief maid before speaking.

"We held the position as long as we could," the fairy says. "But in the end, we were forced to retreat. I'm s-sorry, chief."

The fairy maid lowers her head in shame. Grey notices that this one has the same insignia embroidered on her dress as the other maid he met outside. Unfortunately, he can't seem to recall her name. Did it start with an "E"?

Sakuya takes a glance at the remaining fairy maids. While there are over a dozen standing with them, several are badly injured. Most of the others look tired and scared, and only three or four seem to be experienced enough for combat.

The chief maid takes a few minutes to ask the fairies some questions. For the most part, she seems to be asking about the status of the battle. However, Grey catches a few strange terms that he doesn't recognize. They almost sound like magical terms. Is Sakuya a magician of some sort?

Sakuya nods at the fairies one more time before walking back to Grey.

"This is strange," Sakuya says. "It's almost as if the beast youkai are coming from inside the Voile Library itself."

"That can't mean anything good," replies Grey. "But I suppose that we better find the source of the youkai before things get any worse."

Sakuya nods in agreement. She turns her head slightly in the direction of the fairy maids.
[ ] Take them all with you. Deserters will be executed.
[ ] Take only the uninjured faires. The others should lick their wounds.
[ ] Take only the armed and experienced fairies. You only need soldiers.
[ ] Order them all to retreat. Sakuya and yourself will be enough.
[ ] Custom