Loading User Commands:
[X] Custom

---

"This is strange," Sakuya says. "It's almost as if the beast youkai are coming from inside the Voile Library, rather than breaking in from outside."

"That can't possibly mean anything good," replies Grey. "We better find the source before things get any worse."

The chief maid nods in agreement. She turns her head slightly in the direction of the fairy maids. They can't just leave the others like this. But they might be a hindrance if they come.

"Is there any place where the fairies can retreat to?" he asks quietly. "The injured need to recover, and most of the others don't look like good fighters."

Sakuya pauses for a moment before speaking.

"For some reason, there are hardly any attackers on the second floor," she says finally. "Perhaps they can stay in one of the larger rooms. I believe that they can defend themselves adequately upstairs."

Grey nods in agreement.

"The others should be able to move the wounded," he says. "They will also need an escort. The armed fairies should accompany them to minimize the risk."

Sakuya smiles at him thoughtfully.

"Strange that a normal human would be so concerned about fairies," she says. "Or anyone else but themselves, for that matter. You seem to be something else."

"Human or not, they are part of the staff too," he replies. "This is just part of my job here, after all."

"Or perhaps you have other reasons?" whispers Sakuya seductively. "Like making sure that we are alone together?"

The chief maid steps dangerously close to him. From this distance, he can feel the heat of her warm breath. Grey forces himself to maintain a poker face, though he is beginning to feel very nervous for some reason.

"E-er..."

Suddenly, Sakuya flicks him on the forehead. He gasps in surprise and irritation.

"D-damn it, Sakuya," he mutters. "That really isn't funny."

The chief maid laughs at him lightly. Several moments pass before the two of them realize that they aren't alone in the hallway. Some of the fairy maids are whispering animatedly to each other. A few of them glare at Grey angrily.

"Ahahaha.."

Sakuya clears her throat before giving out orders. After making sure that the fairy maids understand the instructions, she turns back to Grey.

"Let's go," she says.

...

The two of them encountered several more beast youkai on their way to the Voile Library, but for some reason, the number of enemies decreased as they approached. But nonetheless, they were most certainly coming from the direction of the library. Sakuya said nothing as they pushed forward and dispatched the youkai.

"Shouldn't there be more of them around?" asks Grey as he reloads his weapon.

"Perhaps Patchouli took care of them already," says Sakuya. "These youkai shouldn't pose much trouble for her."

Grey nods slowly as he follows. However, her words feel uncertain, as if she suspects something else.

When they arrive at the library, the shelves near the entrance are completely destroyed. Books and broken wood can be seen all over the area. However, there are no beast youkai to be seen. They continue forward, carefully examining the debris as they pass. While there are clear signs of battle, they find no corpses or dead bodies. The area looks as if something stampeded through, but the fighting didn't occur here.

After several minutes of walking, they find themselves at the undamaged portion of the Voile Library. For some reason, Grey feels more and more uneasy as they continue forward. He draws his weapon and checks the safety as they walk. Sakuya draws out a single knife in her hand as well. She must feel it too.

Something is wrong here.

"Sakuya, maybe we should try to -"

"Get down!"

Suddenly, a bright flash of light blinds him. By the time he is able to open his eyes, Sakuya is standing in a defensive stance in front of him. The shattered remains of her knife lie on the floor nearby.

He looks over the chief maid's shoulder to see a single humanoid figure walking toward them.

"So it was you!" cries Sakuya angrily. "What the hell are you planning?

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

"Lady Remilia! Are you alright?" cries Sakuya.

"Sakuya? Grey?" replies Remilia. "What are you two doing here?"

"We came to help," says Grey. "Where is -"

Without warning, a wave of fire comes upon them. The two humans crumple down on the ground. They can feel the searing heat approaching. This power will kill them for sure, Grey thinks.

But after a few moments, the heat subsides. Sakuya and Grey open their eyes to find Remilia standing in front of them, her wings and arms raised to shield them from the attack. The vampire's body seems to be badly burned. Both of her hands are little more than black charred stumps.

"Lady Remilia!" cries Sakuya in despair.

Grey watches open-mouthed as the vampire starts regenerating before his eyes. In mere seconds, her injuries are completely healed. The only sign of damage are the few burnt parts of her dress, which seem to be made of some damage-resistant material. But that isn't the reason he froze. Her eyes are filled with fury as she looks straight at him.

"You useless fools! You'll both be killed down here!" she shouts angrily.

Before he can reply, Remilia grabs him by the neck and throws him back into the hallway outside. He flinches in pain as his back hits the ground. Grey lies on the ground, unmoving, as he waits for his body to recover.

"But Lady Remilia, we just came to-"

Suddenly, Remilia slaps her on the face. The sound of the blow echoes along the hallways, somehow silencing the noisy battle inside. For a single moment, Grey watches Sakuya stand in shock in front of the vampire. Then in the next, Sakuya is kneeling over him, her long silver hair hiding her face.

"We should go," she whispers quietly.

Grey sits up and looks over her shoulders. From the air thick with ashes and fire comes a small figure. It flaps it's strange wings of gems and metal a few times to shake off some dust before speaking.

"Big sister! The smelly things stopped moving," says Flandre. "And there's a weird guy coming our way!"

Another humanoid figure walks from the shadows. Wrapped completely in bandages from head to toe, the shadowy man walks towards the vampires, carrying something long in his hand. Even the man's eyes are wrapped in bandages, as if he could see without using his eyes.

Remilia has a strange smile on her face, as if recognizing the person. She turns back at the humans for a moment.

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

Before they can reply, Remilia strikes upon the walls with her fists. The ceiling begins to crash down, sealing the entrance to the basement chamber with rocks and debris. It will take them hours to dig their way through it.

Grey struggles to his feet and puts a hand on Sakuya's shoulder. She still seems to be in shock.

Where should they go next?
[ ] Custom

Loading User Commands:
[X] They should go help Remilia and Flandre at the basement.

---

"Get down!" cries Sakuya.

Grey narrowly avoids the teeth and talons of the beast youkai. Strange and deadly, the crocodile-hound hybrid lands hard on the floow behind him. He can smell its foul breath from this close. If he hadn't seen this type of thing before, he would have froze in shock. But, for good or bad, he has survived an encounter with these things just the other day.

He quickly raises his pistol and fires several times at the creature's head. From this distance, none of the shots miss, and the beast falls dead on the floor. Like he suspected, his weapon seems to be a bit more effective against youkai. He won't be completely useless, this time.

"Thanks a lot, Sakuya," he says, smiling. "What would I do without you?"

"Die slowly and painfully?" the chief maid suggests.

"Probably," replies Grey.

Behind him lie the corpses of half a dozen corpses of the beast youkai. They are all heavily impaled with several dozen knives. When Sakuya attacked, not a single of her weapons missed.

"We shouldn't waste time with these small fry," says Sakuya. "I have a bad feeling about this attack. It feels like it was well planned."

Grey nods in agreement.

"We should help the Scarlets first," he says. "Remilia is my master too, after all."

...

Sakuya leads him down a long, spiraling staircase. The sounds of battle echo along the walls as they run down. The chief maid explains that Remilia and her sister are the only ones fighting in this place. It would be useless to send the fairy maids down to assist, as they would easily be killed by Flandre's attacks.

"Wouldn't Flandre be enough against the enemies below?" he asks quickly. The younger Scarlet is pretty much capable of destroying anything, living or not.

"Perhaps if she used her full power," says Sakuya. "No, even with only a part of her true power, she would easily annihilate everything in the area."

"So why did Remilia come down?" Grey asks.

Sakuya sighs heavily.

"Someone has to keep the little sister calm and in control," she says. "If Flandre panics, the whole mansion and everyone in it could be killed."

At the bottom of the stairs, a huge pair of iron doors loom over them. The torches on the walls barely illuminate the darkness. Their shadows dance ominously as they walk forward. Sakuya slowly pushes the doors open.

Suddenly, a powerful hot gust pushes them both back. Grey barely manages to remain standing. Sakuya is kneeling on the ground to his left from the impact.

"Flandre! Don't be reckless!" cries a familiar voice from within. "Stay close, and don't rush forward like that!"

"B-but it hurts! It hurts when those things bite!" cries another voice, younger and higher-pitched. "What are those things anyway? They won't stop coming!"

Loading User Commands:
[X] Look out the window.
[X] Custom
[X] Take some items with you:
A Mauser C96. Early semi-automatic pistol. You have four unused magazines for reloading.
(3) Blank spell cards. You can inscribe spells on them.
A pair of sturdy workgloves. They won't be replaced.
A spell card. "Command Sign, 「Master's Voice」"
A Stradivarius violin. It seems to have a life of its own.
A violin case. Self explanatory.
A ribbon from Patchouli. She didn't leave instructions.
A small plain envelope. It is empty.
A small note reading, "Help me." You don't recognize the handwriting.
A pair of police handcuffs and keys. Heavy-duty.

---

Grey pockets the note hastily. Something must be happening outside. He has a really bad feeling about it. This can't possibly mean anything good.

After getting dressed, he takes a glance out of the window. He watches with mouth agape at the commotion outside. This can't be happening! Again.

"Too many... there are too many!"

"Stay focused! We can fight them off!"

"B-but I don't know how to fight!"

"What are you? Humans? Fire danmaku at the damn things!"

"I've been stung again! I've been stung again!"

"D-damn! Someone help Siesta!"

"I-I don't want to die... uwaaa!"

"Hand me another glaive. I'm gonna gut this piece of -"

"Start falling back to the front door! Cover the retreat of the others!"

Youkai hornets. Dozens of them. They seem to be coming from somewhere in the direction of the Forest of Magic. Like before, they are flying over the gate and swarming all over the grounds as they cause havoc. Roughly two feet in length, each of the creatures have mandibles and stingers that can pierce through bone. Small but deadly, the insect youkai continue attacking anyone in their path.

The fairy maids seem more organized this time around. He recognizes the one leading them as Elena from before. They seem to be using the same formation that he came up with last time. A few of the fairies got split from the group. Those unfortunate souls are being picked off, one by one. At this rate, they are going to lose over a dozen maids before they get to the front door.

Suddenly, a familiar voice cries out over the chaos.

"Illusion Sign, 「Flower Imaginary Dream Vine」"

A large pentagram forms around the gate guard. She pauses only for a moment before rushing forward into the center of the insect horde. The hornets in her path are crushed to pieces instantly as she passes. She fires hundreds of blue bullets in a scatter shot pattern around her, killing off most of the hornets as she weaves in and out of the insect swarm.

Grey sighs in relief before pulling his eyes away from the window. He can't just stay here and watch. Quickly, he rummages through his things for anything useful. He takes the Mauser C96 and replaces it in his holster. After pocketing four extra ammo clips, he grabs the violin and its case. He also ensures that he has all of the spell cards, blank or not.

He grabs the pair of workgloves and pockets them as well. He also takes the handcuffs and keys, just in case. After examining the note one more time, he replaces it in the envelope and pockets it. Before he closes the cabinet, he checks his coat for Patchouli's ribbon.

"Got everything you need?" asks a voice behind him.

Grey jumps slightly in surprise as he turns to face the chief maid. She seems to be waiting for him patiently. How long has she been standing behind him?

"I'm ready," he replies. "Any idea what's going on?"

"The mansion is under attack, as you can see," she says calmly. "I've instructed Meiling and half of the security force to guard the front door from the bugs. But we have trouble at other places too."

"Other places?" he says.

"I've heard reports of beast youkai flooding into the mansion from the direction of the Voile Library. Patchouli and Koakuma should be alright, but some of the beasts are breaking through into the rest of the mansion. Seems like they got through the barrier unharmed."

"Just like last time," he mutters.

"But that's not all. The maids working downstairs just told me that the Scarlet sisters are fighting off some strange creatures at the basement. I don't know the details, but they seem to be some type of undead. While Remilia and Flandre are powerful, their skills aren't especially effective against things that aren't properly alive."

"Now that one is new," says Grey. "What I don't get is why you are here at all. Shouldn't you be helping the others?"

Sakuya looks at him thoughtfully before speaking.

"Remilia ordered me to find you," she says, a hint of regret in her voice. "She said that you would know what to do."

"Wait, what?" he says.

Sakuya doesn't look like she is joking. Seems like she is going to follow his decision, so he better choose wisely.

[ ] They should go help Meiling fight off the youkai hornets outside.
[ ] They should go help Patchouli and Koakuma at the Voile Library.
[ ] They should go help Remilia and Flandre at the basement.
[ ] Custom

[X] Inventory
A Mauser C96. Early semi-automatic pistol. You have two unused magazines for reloading.
(3) Blank spell cards. You can inscribe spells on them.
A pair of sturdy workgloves. They won't be replaced.
A spell card. "Command Sign, 「Master's Voice」"
A Stradivarius violin. It seems to have a life of its own.
A violin case. Self explanatory.
A ribbon from Patchouli. She didn't leave instructions.
A small note. It reads "To use, aim and throw hard."
A few pieces of blank stationary. You'll need something to write with, first.
A map of the East Wing of the Voile library. Nothing special is marked on it.
A catalogue listing books in the East Wing. It isn't very thick, but the print is small and hard to read.
A broken door knob handle. It seems pretty useless.
A blindfold. It seems to be part of a magician's set.
A cloth gag. Not very funny, in your opinion.
A pair of police handcuffs and keys. Heavy-duty.
A bicycle chain. You can't remember what you were thinking when you took it.
Three small candles. You'll need some matches.
A length of silk rope. It probably won't leave marks.
A letter from Remilia. You already read it.
An ammo crate. Holds ammo clips for the Mauser C96.
A short pamphlet. "A Draft of Spell Card Rules"
A small pink envelope. It is empty.
A book from the Voile Library. It reads "Invoking Spirits for Beginners".
A small plain envelope. It is empty.
A small note reading, "Help me." You don't recognize the handwriting.

Loading User Commands:
[X] They are coming upon us.

---

After finishing his morning rituals, Grey returns to his room to think. He doesn't meet anyone in the hallways.

Like the ones before it, that dream was very vivid. But unlike the others, it wasn't especially disturbing. He didn't hurt anyone this time, and somehow he felt that he was more of himself in it. In fact, though he hates to admit it, the dream was quite pleasant. He can still recall the softness of Patchouli's skin and the sweet smell of her hair.

"..."

Grey quickly shakes away his own perverted thoughts. This isn't the time for this. He must stay focused this time. Especially on that second part.

That was the first time he can recall speaking to someone he didn't meet in the waking world. He can't remember the person's features very clearly, but he knows that the person was wearing a distinct pair of spectacles. And he was carrying a long and dangerous weapon.

That man said that he was going insane. But wasn't it himself that was often crazy in those nightmares?

Before he can ponder further, he notices something new on his desk. He examines it closely. It seems to be an envelope. Inside is a small note.

"Help me."

He can't recognize the cute, loopy handwriting.

Suddenly, the floor rumbles with some kind of impact. It feels like an earthquake of some sort, but it stops immediately. Maybe a truck smashed into the side of the mansion?

"..."

This can't be good. Grey quickly gets dressed as he thinks about what to do next. He can hear some commotion from outside the window. The racket seems to be getting louder. He can also hear some loud noises that must be echoing in the hallway outside of his room.

He pauses to think.
[ ] Look out the window.
[ ] Listen behind the room door.
[ ] Slowly peek out of the room.
[ ] Burst out of the room.
[ ] Take some items with you. You can't take everything. (Specify)
[ ] Custom