Part 28: Scarlet Boundary - Part 1b

Normally I'd put Keine in the middle, but she doesn't have Support Defense yet so no point this time.

We're here, it's the red house!

Yeah, it's really red everywhere.

And it's more of a mansion than a house. A structure like this was built here...

There's an entrance over there. There are people standing there too.

!

You're...!



If you all are here, that means you should have a good grasp of the situation!

That redhead youkai was the one with the maid!

And the one in the red dress is Elly!

I see, so the scythe youkai is indeed connected to the source of the incident.

Yes. I had thought she was suspicious, but to see the two youkai standing here now...



This is the mansion of the devil! The Scarlet Devil Mansion! You may have had it easy on the way here, but you will go no further!



And I'm the other hired gatekeeper, Elly!

As long as we stand here together... No one shall set foot past the scarlet devil gates!

...Man, they're getting all heated up. I don't care about your names, we'll be making our way throu...

So they understand that warriors always exchange names before a battle!



I'm Cirno! The strongest!



...You all don't really have to introduce yourselves, you know.

...

Is something the matter, Reimu?

Yeah. That redhead is making me twitch... I feel like I've seen her before, but I don't remember where exactly.

She was with that maid from yesterday. Don't you mean then?

I know that already, I'm talking about something else... What was it?

She doesn't appear to have any special characteristics. And I can't sense any special powers either.

I'd think "being built like a wall" would be a special characteristic, but I guess in Gensokyo that's not that uncommon.

Yeah, seems it won't be as rough as it was with the maid.

...Meiling, they're talking about you.



It is true that our lack of special powers is our weak point. Instead, we have trained our bodies and mastered techniques.

Meiling actually does have a special power (she's Capable of Using Chi), but it's functionally the same thing as Youmu's ability to use swords or Marisa's ability to use magic. Which is to say very unimpressive.

Indeed! No matter our opponent, there is no blind spot that they can find... We are two all-purpose youkai serving as an impregnable fortress! You better not think you can break us apart easily!

I see. Being able to utilize your power to its fullest... That is the greatest ability that a gatekeeper can achieve.

Hm... It sounds excellent when you phrase it that way, but in summary... They have no special weak points, and no special advantages either...



Ah...

Ooh...

I see. Their average stats may be high, but they're also balanced and normal.

Yeah. Ordinary youkai are suited to be gatekeepers.

They're really ordinary even for gatekeepers.

Stop going on about us being ordinary!

I would've overlooked this if you retreated without a fuss! But now, I'm not going to hold back!

You actually thought we would retreat? This danmaku battle starts now!

Our opponents may seem foolish, but don't underestimate them. They've said it themselves, gatekeepers are sublime at protecting a single point. Direct battle are their forte!

Understood. Since they seem to be fully resolved, we must steel ourselves too!

Now!





This chapter's bonus is pretty unique.



The map itself is refreshingly straightforward though.



Anyways, remember how everyone was slamming on Meiling for being "ordinary"?



She's anything but. True to her standard portrayal in Touhou RPGs, Meiling is an extremely sturdy tank.



She's also incredibly deadly if you get close to her. 164 Melee makes her melee attacks devastating, and her crazy 180 Skill means criticals come often for her.

With that said, Meiling's distance game is fairly harmless. If you have a sturdy Support Defender to tank her big attacks and just have everyone else attack from afar, she goes down easily enough. She'd probably be harder if she bothered to land and abuse her and her melee weapons' S ranks in Ground.



By contrast, Elly's harmless. The only thing she's got going for her is her floor tile danmaku, but she can only summon one instance of those at a time (two if you're on Hard/Lunatic) so they're not really a problem. Especially since you can just bomb them.



Now then, remember how everyone was talking about the night falling? That's actually very important! The lit up moon icon on the top-left screen indicates that the map is considered Night terrain.



The way Night terrain works is that depending on your Night ranking, all of your other terrain rankings can change. If you have a B like Marisa, Keine, Dai, and Reimu before the Firefly Gem, everything drops one rank.



If you have a S, all of the other terrain ranks increase. Rumia is the only unit in the party with a S in Night, and it kind of helps her keep up.



Finally, if you have an A rank nothing changes. Every other unit and all of the weapons but Night Bird (which is S) have this.



I start the chapter by having Reimu charge forwards,



and the rest of the army gather into groups. This is going to be my strategy for practically every map.

Music: Invasion of the Evil Spirits

I think this started being the enemy phase theme earlier (maybe chapter 6?). I just completely forgot to mention it.



The only thing that happened on the enemy phase was two Evil Eyes missing Marisa. They were too far away for her to counter, though.



Turn 2 starts with a tutorial on Night terrain. I already did that, so I'm skipping it.



Reimu focuses and continues to move forward,



and the two groups each take a side of the screen.



Keine hit 160 Graze after her first kill, but Alice still needs 50 more. That's actually not that hard to get though, and Marisa's the only other unit in her group who's I want to get Graze for anyways.



An Evil Eye somehow tags Reimu on a 23%, but its damage output wasn't very impressive. That's what happens when a ranged unit tries to do a melee attack.



Youmu cripples this Doofy Ghost, _{don't ask why the sky is blue again, I don't know either}



and Reimu accidentally murders this one. I wanted to give the Graze to Alice too.



Everything else just throws up danmaku.



Back on my phase, I'm really missing the Marisa/Alice support. 83% is too iffy.



I was curious to see how much damage Rumia could do with Night Bird, but I had her attack from as far away as possible so this doesn't really reflect the move's damage potential that well.



Youmu is the last unit who can attack this turn, and she does a great job.



Dai heals Nitori for some scratch damage, and Reimu unfocuses and continues her march to the bosses.



...Probably should have had her cast Focus.



Thankfully she dodges, and since the Black Kedama was at point blank Shotgunning amps her counter.



The two fairies attack, and one of them hit on a 17%.



Things got pretty tense,



but in the end, Reimu successfully dodged everything.



First thing to do is have Dai patch up Reimu.



Second thing is sic everyone on all the enemies Reimu just crippled.



Youmu starts off with the green fairy spawning danmaku, and she nets a level out of it. Focus will be very handy for her!



Alice and Marisa take out these two chumps,



and Marisa also gets a level. One more to go before she gets Alert in this route!



I intended to have Keine weaken this fairy so Rumia could kill it, but this works too I guess.



Reimu's reached Meiling.

It's right there in the back of my mind... Just what was it? I can't remember...

Um, you can complain all you want... I don't have any idea what you're talking about either.

...Well, whatever. I'll remember after I kick you down.

I hope you're ready for this!

Music: Chinese Girl, Stand Guard!

If you're a SRW fan, the original of this song should both be very obvious and incredibly unsurprising.



As long as Reimu keeps her distance, she'll be fine.



Especially since the fight gave her another level.



I'm going to spare this fairy so Alice can kill it.



The enemy's turn 4 begins with reinforcements.

They've got reinforcements from the building!?

Hm... Those are fairies.

They really are. I've never seen them before. I wonder what they're doing there?



Ah, the chief maid told us to scout the situation. And we are to help out in the danmaku battle if it is not going well.

Sakuya's always such a worrywart. We're enough for that lot.

She's worrying about us, huh? I'll do my best, Sakuya!

Those fairies are wearing maid outfits... They couldn't be residents of this mansion, could they?

Isn't it so? I think they're gonna attack us.



Meiling tries her luck again, and fails again.



Meanwhile, Reimu continues to chip Meiling down.



So close to a perfect dodge rate.



These fairies are straight out of EoSD stage 5, and have very similar bullet patterns.



Back on my turn, Alice overkills the fairy.



Rumia tries to imitate her with a point blank Night Bird, but fails. Youmu has to step in to help.



I was hoping Keine would get another critical. Oh well. _{This image makes the game look entirely different.}



Over on the right, I split the group up since I don't want them to all get caught in Elly's floor tiles. Dai also heals Reimu.



Reimu finally gets off her ass and casts Focus. She then targets Elly.



Elly's not as durable as Meiling, but she has more HP. Not counting Meiling's spellcard anyways.



...Huh. A conversation is supposed to play explaining why Elly's floor tiles are talking now, but the trigger is Elly initiating an attack. Apparently counters don't count.

The enemy phase starts with Meiling attacking Keine.

A gatekeeper that protects the enemy's base point... You do indeed look very tough.

Of course I am. I am called the Iron Wall of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I will repel you with all my might!

Just try it. I will not lose in a battle of power!

...

What's up, Youmu?

...No, nothing! I was just thinking that they were very well... armored.



Even Keine doesn't want to take a melee hit from Meiling.



Elly put up her floor tiles around Reimu. This means Nitori is also paralyzed, though to be honest I would have had her Defend anyways.

I hope you didn't forget about this technique of mine!

Geh, she's using those floor tiles again!

F-Floor... tiles? What do you mean?

It's her secret weapon: "floor tile danmaku". They're her familiars or something.



In other words, if you're caught in that danmaku, you won't be able to act.

And then the entire battle grinded to a halt so everybody could chat.

What? That youkai uses powerful familiars despite her appearance.

That's amazing! I didn't know you had that sort of power!

Hehe... Of course I did. Gatekeeper or not, I need a technique like this in the current period.



Okay then, floor tiles! Get them!

Underfoot! We'll floor them!

Yes, I'll be counting on you!

...

...Huh?

Geez, Elly's always so unretilable. You'll be beaten to the ground quick by yourself!

Eeeeeep! The floor tiles are speaking!?

You're too floored by it! Lady Patchouli just thought you were beneath this job!



I am kind of surprised by just how many floor tile puns you can make.

You always depend on us all the time, you should see what it's like from below!

...I thought it was strange... She could barely remember my name, yet she suddenly gave me these familiars... Patchouli's definitely toying around with me! She never told me about these talking floor tiles!

Wow... It's good that you have so many friends, Elly!

Wait, Meiling! You've got it wrong! This is a mistake!



Err, they weren't talking when I last saw 'em. Well, whether they talk or not, they're still floor tiles in the end.

That's true... But giving familiars such advanced self-consciousness...

Is something wrong, Alice?

No, nothing's wrong. Let's be careful not to get caught by those floor tiles.



And then the attack finally started.



Still not impressive.



This Maid Fairy suicides herself on Keine,



and Cirno finally does something!

Aren't you fairies? Why're you wearing such weird clothes?

This is a uniform. We wear these while working.

Working? You mean like ants and stuff?

Despite what you might think, life here is quite pleasant. As long as you keep quiet and listen, you get fed. And it's more or less okay if you just laze around too.

Ooh, the food may be something to be jealous about... But that just ain't suited to me. I'm a fairy of freedom!



Cirno didn't even break 2000. And that's one of her stronger attacks too.



The second Maid Fairy also attacks, and gets nailed by a Perfect Freeze.



I spent most of my next phase just moving people right (the bonus encourages stalling tactics), but Cirno got to attack again.

Ohh, your hairstyle's pretty interesting.

My hairstyle? You mean this rolled-up hair? Ehehe, it's wonderful, mm? It's been my trademark ever since I was called cute.

Hmm, then once I win, I'm gonna make hair like that too.

Well, with your hair length, you should be able to make it like dumplings. It might fit you quite well, actually.

Yeah, yours are more like chocolate cornets. How do you make 'em tasty?

I don't make them "tasty"! So you're just a fairy after all! You can't understand the cuteness of this rolled-up hair!



Once Elly goes down, Reimu and Nitori will be freed.



Uh, okay.

Hm, hmm!

What's wrong? Why are you staring at me?

That badge on your hat is cool.

I-Is it? That's actually my trademark and...

Once I win, I'm taking that badge!

Ehhhh!?



Oh god damn it.



At least Meiling's MP is still falling at a steady clip.



Elly changes the focus of her floor tiles to Nitori. Now Reimu, Nitori, Alice, and Dai all can't move.

You know, you two seem like hard-luck characters.

...? What do you mean?

Hmm, well, you just give off an aura like that. Like even when you win, you trip over your feet as you give your victory line.

Don't make such snap judgements about people based on their appearance!



Meh.



The last two Maid Fairies attacked Marisa. One of them got killed for it. Damn it Marisa, stop stealing Graze from Alice.



It's time to eliminate Elly. This is arguably not the best place to use this bomb, but oh well.



Rolling Scythe is a Strike attack, so Youmu gets a free hit.

So you've come, you bobbed-haired swordswoman!

We meet again, scythe-lady! Your handling of your scythe shows that you have practiced extensively with it. It is entirely unlike what your atmosphere suggests.

Isn't that obvious? I'm not a gatekeeper just for show. And this time, I have my floor tiles too. I'll beat you before you can get close!

And if I get close, the result will be the same. Do not let youself be caught unprepared!



Elly got caught unprepared.



Alice will finish Elly off. I'd use Kick, but Elly has Parry and I don't want to risk it.

Did you summon those familiars yourself?

W-Why does that matter?

It doesn't matter too much. I just thought that they were rather complex familiars for you to be summoning.

Hmph hmph, another cheeky little blonde to add to the last one. Though you seem more mannerly than her.

I'll let you know then, these floor tiles were a present. If you want to study them so much, I'll test them out on you!



I-I-I give!

There is nothing more of our stile we can teach you... Elly... It was a short time on the floor, but it was fun...

Ahh, my floor tiles!

...Though honestly, they probably needed to be destroyed.

Elly!

...I'm okay, I'll keep on fighting with you. I'm a gatekeeper too!



...All right. Be careful, Meiling.



Elly also dropped a Beer.



And now to whittle down Meiling. Grit makes Cirno perfect for this.



Keine will also pitch in.



Meanwhile, everyone else clusters over here.



Works for me.



Well that's improbable.



Reimu gets another unlucky critical, if that makes sense. Though Meiling's MP is low enough now that I should be able to get the Bonus easily anyways.



Right target, wrong place.



I'd like to take this moment to be relieved that I'm not playing on Lunatic. If I was, at this point Meiling would cast Guts and Guard, making this fight a deadly slog. It also makes getting her bonus easier, though.



Alice kicks her way to 160 Graze,



and Cirno chips off 20 more MP.



Rumia's getting the kill since she'll be useless for the next phase.

It seems like it'll really hurt if I get hit by you.

If you're scared, then leave this place at once. I will not give chase.

I'm not really scared. Your attacks can't hit me if I confuse you with darkness.

How conceited of you! Whatever darkness you may try to emit, my fists will never lose their mark!



I might have already mentioned this, but Rumia has special dialogue for most of the bosses.



Also, Darkness will be mostly useless. Only the sturdiest or the dodgiest should attack Meiling, and half accuracy isn't going to change how those matches will go very much. And it's only for one attack too.



Rumia leveled up.

Ugh, these humans really are tough...!

She still wants more? What a tough customer.

This is taking too much time. Even as we fight, the human village is...



The mist pervading the village right now has hampered its normal lifestyle. Many people have collapsed because of the mist.

! Humans have collapsed...?

Yes. So please let us pass through and speak with the one behind this. All we want is for the mist to stop!

Keine's still trying diplomacy at a time like this. Amazing.

...



!

Well, that was predictable.

Whatever your reasons may be, Milady entrusted me with protecting this gate. By no means will I neglect my responsiblities!

It seems words will fall on deaf ears. We have no other choice but to fight.

Wouldn't that have been fine from the start? We'll just take her down and force our way in!



Spellcard declaration! Let's go!





Wind Chime's danmaku effect is a mixed blessing. Obviously it makes the fight take longer, but that means you have more time to deplete Meiling's MP.



Getting hit by it is essentially instant death for most of the army, so don't stand next to her.



Let the whittling begin.



I would strongly recommend having your units cluster around a Support Defender by the way. Ideally that would be Keine since she'd be able to tank a Wind Chime by just defending, but a defending Nitori with Guard cast can also work.

You don't happen to think that wielding a weapon gives you an advantage, do you?

A true expert specializes in nothing. The intensity of your fists and techniques feels like opposing a wild beast. Lumbering yet precise, sluggish yet sure. You remind me of...

Right, like a tiger. My flexible movement and trained fists will take you out in one shot!

...Yes, you remind me of a panda!

A-A-A panda!?



Sheesh, look at all that HP.



Before I have Nitori attack, I have Dai fully heal her. Dai's been healing Keine too, so she's totally out of SP now.

You shall feel the pain of my techniques!

You've trained your body and polished your techniques to such a degree... That's amazing. There aren't many youkai in the mountain like you.

That seems to be the case. You don't seem like the type to engage in intensive training either.

That's because I train myself in technology. Have a taste of my awesome weapons!



One more hit should do it.

Heya, Ms. Ordinary.

You're on about that again!? Besides, what's so bad about being ordinary?

Ohh, you've accepted your ordinary-ness now. It's time for the punishment then.

Who on earth taught you when you were younger?



If Youmu were to attack Meiling with Meditation Slash, she'd also mention that she'd cut through the gate.



That did less damage than I was hoping.







I was hoping to finish things this turn with a Youkai Buster Fantasy Seal, but I guess that'll have to wait for next turn.



Meiling tries again on her turn, but the result's the same.



Okay, let's finish thi... actually, you know what?



I want to be safe.



Now let's do this. Reimu's standing next to Keine too, so she'll get 10% more experience.



Guess I was underestimating Shotgunning + Youkai Buster!

Wahhhh!



Awesome! We did it!

The two of them were strong opponents.

Looks like we can press forward now.



Ohh, you look healthy enough to stand up.

She is unyielding... In many ways.

Let's blow her up!

Ehhh!?

...Just kidding. Alright, let's get going.

Yes, we don't have time to waste.

...Huh? You're just leaving like that...?

You're all worn out. Further combat will be meaningless.



Yeah, the enemy's stronghold is right before our eyes.



------

Hong Meiling

------

Mm~, summer's over but it's still so warm...

Heya, Dai!

Eek!

W-What are you doing, Cirno? Grabbing me from behind like that...

Ehehe, I thought you'd feel better if I cool things down for you. Like this! *squeeze*

G-Geez, Cirno... ...It is cooling, but... How should I say this...

...Huh, you're getting warmer, Dai. What's wrong?

...

...

You bunch of lolicons!!

There's a similar (though much longer) suspend dialogue to this that involves the three fairies trying to go to sleep, and it ends with the exact same punchline. I'm going to do everyone a favor and keep skipping it every time it shows up.