Library of the Scarlets

Scene 2

            Taking my broom and my hat, I thought about the place where I should go.

            And I was not contented from the stuff in the newspaper.

            “Maybe today, I should read more at Patchy’s place,” I sighed because there was nothing to do while waiting for the Flower Viewing.

            Jumping on my broom, I flew up the skies above the forest and went straight to the north, where the Scarlet Devil Mansion stands, just beside the Misty Lake.

            Patchouli Knowledge (nickname: Patchy) is another powerful magician besides me. She is the witch that lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, a giant mansion that moved straight from the Outside World to Gensokyo.

            But I don’t believe even Patchouli can do such miracle.

            Patchouli is always found in the library in that mansion. That mansion is particularly full of books published both here in Gensokyo and from the “Outside World”. I could spend my time there.

            “She probably had read every book in that library, so sneaking one book wouldn’t bother her,” I said out loud to the winds blowing my face.

            “So, you are planning to steal another book, Marisa?”

            Looking at the direction of the voice, I saw a blonde girl in the same age as I was flying above me. She had multiple dolls swarming around her, all staring at me.

            “I am just borrowing,” I grinned as I braked down my flying speed.

            “Borrowing without permission is the same as stealing.”

            This puppeteer, Alice Margatroid, is a lone girl that can manipulate the most number of dolls she creates at the same time. She is also a good girl, and good girls naturally oppose thieves.

            Alice raised her hand and pointed it to me. Her mouth opened as she shouted her first attack.

Looks like someone wants to have a spellcard battle early in the morning.

            “Doll Arrangement!”

            Her dolls consecutively moved forward and flew above me. A second later, they dived down and charged me with their small blades.

            I dodged each of the dolls with my flying maneuvers. Few seconds later, I passed through the dolls and took canisters of star-type magic from my pockets and made them blast towards her.

            She stumbled to the small explosions and left her immobile for a moment.

            This is my chance!

            I clasped my both of my hands together and formed a shape as if I was holding an imaginary orb. I then shouted my spellcard.

            “Love Sign  ‘Master Spark’!”

            I sent most of my magic power to my hands and condensed it in the space between them. My hands started heating up as a familiar bluish glow flashed ahead of me.

            However, Alice recovered faster than I expected and called back her dolls to distract me. Her dolls made one line and circled around me. And their gleam to me became sharper and angrier, giving a golden aura…

            This is...!

            “Grunts ‘Suicide Squad’!”

            This is one of Alice’s signature Spell Cards, which makes every doll that came rushing towards me is a bomb that explodes on contact. These dolls are now surrounding me, and there are only two directions left to go.

Down and use the gravity’s effect on my advantage, or Up and make the dolls slow down due to the gravity…

            Gah, I didn’t wake up this early to think!

            I closed my eyes and focused on the energy inside my hand. I reformed its shape and compressed it even more for a longer effect.

            I felt a faint heat above my elbow, which could be one of the dolls…

            I changed my Spellcard before the dolls would explode on me.

            “Perversion ‘Sure-Fire Master Spark’!”

            Relying on luck, I recklessly absorbed the energy to myself and felt overwhelming heat stored in my body, and painfully released it as a giant laser to Alice’s direction.

            “Perversion ‘Sure-Fire Master Spark’” is an upgraded version of “Love Sign ‘Master Spark’”. Normally, the Love Sign “Master Spark” is a giant laser formed when the energy charged is released to the direction of the opponent.

But, if you use another beam as an amplifier, the energy released is multiplied, and makes more damage. This is the logic of Perversion “Sure-Fire Master Spark”.

At this time, I gambled and used my own body as an amplifier of the energy, for I panicked for at that time

I opened my eyes and saw that my dress is lightly singed from my Spellcard. Aw, I spent a whole day just to dry this dress after that Kappa almost drowned me yesterday, and now it’s burned…

I saw Alice having a little problem with flying now that her magic must be used already to protect herself from my fatal attack. I was about to catch her when she almost fell, but then she used her dolls to support herself.

“Don’t forget we still have a Flower Viewing at Reimu’s place today!”

I shouted to her as I turned my head away and tried to wipe off the ashes formed on my dress and rearranged my hat.

Giving a final glance at Alice trying to descend down the ground, I continued my flight towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion.