Fantasy Maiden Wars E Part #36 - Humans and Youkai

Part 36: Humans and Youkai - Part 1b

...Yuuka Kazami.

The final boss (and Stage 5 boss) of Touhou 4, and one of the player characters in Touhou 5. That latter fact is going to be relevant, because remember who else from Touhou 5 is in the party!

...Reimu and Marisa. I'm glad to see you're still alive. You've grown so much.

...Well, this sucks. Who woulda thought the situation would get this complicated.

My, I thought you would be happier. It's a wonderful reunion after so long. I see you have plenty of human and youkai allies with you this time as well. None that I am familiar with, though...

..Wait.

...

...It's nice to be remembered. Although I would've much preferred it if I never met you again.

...Hahaha! You're that little crybaby Alice? You've grown so much in the short time I wasn't looking!

...You've become very pretty now, practically beyond recognition.

While everyone else is trembling in fear or gritting their teeth, Reimu just wants to know if she's found the person she needs to beat up.

I'm afraid not. I suppose you could call me... a guest of this mansion.

Hey now... What kinda twisted master would accept you as a guest? And hey, this mist spells trouble for plants too. Did you change your religion?

Yuuka's ability is that she's Capable of Making Flower Blooms. That does exactly what it says it does, by the way, and is in no way linked to what Yuuka can actually do. It does give her an interest in gardening, though.

You're as foul-mouthed as ever, I see. It is true that clear weather would lead to some flowers blooming more easily... But large flowers that bloom under the sun... And devilish flowers that bloom in the midst of melancholy... They are all equally beautiful.

There are two references there. Can you Touhou fans catch them?

Hey, who's that proud woman? A friend of yours?

"Friend" would be a generous way to define our relationship. She's Yuuka Kazami, a flower youkai.

Flower? That doesn't sound like much.

Ehehehe, that's the last time you'll say those kind of things, shortie!

Yeah! Yuuka will destroy you all along with the entire world!

Yeesh, you guys are really loud for a pair of third-rate villains. You're even relying on someone else to fuel your threats.

Looking at it now, that scythe youkai and the devil must be her youkai servants.

I have no plans of interfering with you. I'm just here as a spectator. ...Yes, I want to see you in battle.

...Very well. Please wait there and enjoy. I will do my best to ensure that you will not be bored.

...That flower youkai appears to have no interest in obstructing us.

That's good for us. We don't have the time to play around with someone like her.

Yep. That maid's enough trouble, we don't need more problems on our plate.

If Reimu and Marisa are being so cautious, she must be a really tough customer.

Yes, don't try to provoke her. She is not someone we can fight half-heartedly.

Concentrate entirely on fulfilling that objective!

Glad you've all come to a consensus, but...

The game's not letting you off that easily.

By the way, this Bonus scales to your difficulty. On Easy you have to fight her once, Hard thrice, and Lunatic four times.

Recall that it was enemy phase.

Hello, we met at the human village before.

You were that teacher, correct? It's admirable of you to help out the humans.

Don't speak as if you're not involved. You all are the cause of this, after all. When you came to the village, you tried to hide your connection to the mist... Do you really hold such malice towards humans?

I was not attempting to hide it. I simply have no reason to help the humans... That is all.

...Words will do no good. I'll talk to you through danmaku instead!

Music: Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial

I've posted the FMW version already, so this time have a random Luna Dial arrange I like.

Keine's tough enough now to make the fight with Sakuya a joke, even with the Night terrain debuff.

Two maids try to hit Reimu,

and two others suicide themselves on Youmu. One landed a hit, though.

Cirno's enemy is still attacking Dai.

And then Yuuka creates a gigantic Danmaku field. This thing's effect is devastating, since it means that unless you cast Alert or Sense it is literally impossible to dodge. And considering the Defense penalty, even Graze damage will hurt a lot.

Let's have a look at the optional superboss.

Yuuka is straight bullshit. Ridiculous HP, ridiculous Armor, ridiculous abilities,

and ridiculous attacks. That attack down there, marked with MAP?

It's a special kind of attack that ignores the battle screen entirely. Instead, it just does straight damage (that you can not Defend or Evade) to everything in a set area, in this case being that whole area circled in black. Yuuka doesn't have enough Power to use it yet, but that'll change.

More importantly, Yuuka's skills. Not only does she have both Parry and Shield Defense to piss you off, she has this ridiculous ability. Once Yuuka gets her power up, you are literally flipping a coin to see if you even get to damage her. And then rolling a die to see if she activates Shield Defense. It's very bullshit.

Finally, this. This is actually a typo: what it should say it that it recovers 10% MP a turn, with the joke being that the item that does that in SRW games is the Solar Panel. This is your prize for straight up killing Yuuka, and that's a very tough feat because Yuuka will leave at about 9500 HP! Getting this requires very specific set-ups you need to have worked on beforehand, and needless to say I haven't done that.

I do intend to chase Yuuka off, though. I just need to get by Sakuya, Elly, and Kurumi and do 15,501 damage, not so tough.

This is one of the advantages of taking this left path, since you can avoid Sakuya entirely.

But as long as you have Support Defenders to ferry everyone across, it's really not that much of a problem.

Cirno finally finishes her fight, and picks up a Ginjou Sake as a reward.

Now everyone's heading north. I'll need someone to deal with Sakuya while all of the big players fight Yuuka, after all.

You are impeding my cleaning process. Milady will get angry with me if this continues.

Milady... The master of this mansion, you mean? You're the ones who've been releasing all this mist. Why have you been doing such a troublesome thing?

The sunlight is a bother to Milady. Milady prefers the dark. ...And something that bothers Milady, is something that bothers me.

I'm here to stop that mist... Though I suppose that doesn't matter to you.

So I'll have to defeat you, then beat your master up!

Damn, I was hoping Support Defend would trigger.

Welp.

The priority now is to get rid of the maids spawning danmaku, so Reimu does some long range countering.

She is then healed to full in preparation for the fight with Yuuka.

Nitori destroys this maid and her danmaku field,

and Alice follows suit. Man, I really wish Alice had Alert by now.

Everyone here is Unfocused so Nitori's Support Defend can better protect them. I had Nitori cast Guard too, so she should be able to take some hits.

There are so many maids here. Are you one of them?

Those are fairy maids. I am the chief maid. I would suggest you do not mix them up.

Fairies alone are essentially useless. They will not be able to do anything without my orders.

Huh, you're a really proud maid, aren't you? But you're giving orders to fairies. Don't they not listen sometimes?

Not particularly. They may well be easier to deal with than other humans.

...Yeah, that's true. You're a lot harder to deal with than fairies for sure.

Wow, Sakuya's doing 2000 to Nitori.

Reimu's in range of Elly and Kurumi now. With the Focus spirit cast, she should have 100% dodge rates, which is important because when fighting Yuuka you want to have as much HP as possible.

Oh yeah, weren't you the gatekeeper for Yuuka's house? I remembered you getting in my way, but not where it took place.

You could forget about me, and someone so important like Yuuka? Do you have amnesia or something?

Oh, shush. I've just been busy with lots of things recently.

What're you talking about? You're the person with the most free time in Gensokyo.

You don't know when to shut up, do you...

Elly's just as easy as she was before. Note that on Hard and Lunatic, she'll drop a Bomb, while on Easy and Normal Kurumi will.

Nitori sets off a bomb to clear the way for Alice and Marisa. She also killed the last maid spawning danmaku too, which is kind of a shame since I was hoping to weaken it enough for Youmu to get the kill.

Also, Alice will be taking a risk and go without Support Defend for a turn. She has Focus cast for safety, but it would be much more preferred if she had her Support with Marisa too.

Dai spends the last of her SP on Keine,

and Youmu casts Accel so she can get in position to use Nitori's Support.

Looks like Nitori wasted that 20 SP on Guard.

I imagine Yuuka is facepalming.

Oh yeah, we met when I was fighting Yuuka, huh? You're still her minion?

Yeah. I'll beat up everyone who gets in Yuuka's way!

You'll beat up everyone...? Didn't we just fight you earlier?

Ah... Um, that was just me checking out the situation!

A-Anyway! Yuuka's watching, so I'm gonna be serious this time!

It's actually a bad idea to take down Elly and Kurumi before going after Yuuka if you're trying to kill her, but if you're just trying to make her flee like I am it doesn't matter.

Elly activated Parry.

Keine's blow strikes true, at least. I had Keine cast Trust on herself too, so now I only have two casts of Trust left.

Meanwhile, Alice and Marisa will be taking out Kurumi.

Oh... You're that "Lil'l Alice" that Yuuka talked about!

I have no idea what you mean.

Don't play dumb! We were so lonely when Yuuka went all around searching for you! How many times did Elly and I cry on Yuuka's bed...

...*sigh* I don't know about you two, but she's the one causing trouble to me. If it was as bad as you said, you should've came and brought her back with you.

But our duty is to protect the mansion...

...You're even more innocent than I thought.

This is a reference to another series of bullet hell games, much harder than Touhou. Not sure why Kurumi's the one screaming it considering how easy her bullets are to dodge.

As Alice demonstrates.

Marisa's run into a little problem called "I can only move two spaces while Focused." I have her cast Alert in case Sakuya attacks her, which leaves her with only 15 SP left.

Thankfully she doesn't, so I can use that Alert for something later on.

I had heard of trespassers within the mansion. But to think they were attempting a raid on Milady...

We have indeed stepped into the lion's den... And we shall receive the location of the master of the mansion from you!

Your skill as a swordsman is evident. But do you truly think you can beat me?

...What do you mean?

This is not a dojo. A good little girl's sword will stand no chance of landing a blow on me.

Good point.

So Youmu will just do this.

Alice should be able to survive this even if she gets hit.

...When I heard the name Alice, I was thinking that it sounded really familiar. Then I remembered. You're the little girl that Yuuka kept calling "li'l Alice"!

Yuuka did that...?

...After the previous incident, Yuuka would not stop talking about that girl. I was so angry that someone stole Yuuka away from me!

W-Wait a minute. I don't know what you heard from Yuuka. I did nothing suspicious with...

Don't talk like you're so friendly with her! You're not that "Li'l Alice", you're just some impudent blonde!

Meanwhile, Marisa laughs hysterically in the background.

So what happened between Alice and Yuuka to justify the latter's behavior? Honestly, nothing. Aside from Yuuka fighting Alice in Touhou 5, there really isn't that much of a link between them. But a small link is still a link, and if there's one thing Touhou fanon does it's magnify even the smallest relationships. And honestly, I'm fine with it in this case since I'm a sucker for any sort of PC-98 reference. I also get the feeling that Sanbondo is going to elaborate more on the events of Touhou 5 in a future game, so maybe they'll give a good reason for Yuuka's interest.

Guess what happened in this battle.

If you guessed Reimu missed you're right.

Much more importantly, Yuuka said she'd only watch, but that just means she's standing still. If someone gets in her range, she'll attack.

Oh my, I even said I was just here to watch... Yet you all took the time to come here and play with me.

On her first attack, Yuuka will cast Strike. It's a total fuck you to the player, and it's hilarious in hindsight. What is not so hilarious is when she does it every turn on Lunatic.

Yuuka attacks with killer sunflower buzzsaws.

They hurt.

God damn you Rinnosuke, why did you fix her parasol?!

First thing I do on my turn is kill Elly.

Then Reimu goes after Kurumi.

And Keine weakens her to point that Marisa can kill her.

What's someone who ran away earlier doing here now?

Ooh... Let's not talk about that anymore.

Yuuka's around this time. Even if I run, there's nowhere to hide!

You can't leave your master behind, eh? In that case, it's time to do some exterminating!

This was actually a tense moment, since Marisa only had an 83% chance of hitting. If she had missed, Kurumi would have destroyed her Alert, which would have eventually killed Marisa.

Meanwhile, I did something very dumb. I moved Nitori down to make a formation with everyone else,

and this made Sakuya go after Marisa. Might as well write her will now.

I see someone who does not know her place has come to get in Milady's way.

Oh, I know my place. I'm a magician, and a guest here.

Unfortunately, I reserve no mercy for magicians. So you shall be swept out of the mansion.

Cleaning up's a tough job. I'm much better at making stuff dirty.

I make the mess, and you clean it up. Let's see which of us is faster!

Okay, so Marisa's last hope for survival is that Yuuka attacks her this turn.

Nope.

Long time no see, Reimu. I'm glad to see you're doing well.

Yuuka will only start talking with people on her second attack onwards.

Yeah. I was wondering where you had went recently. But to think you were in a place like this...

It's surprisingly comfortable here. Though if you must ask why I am here...

I don't care to chat with you. I'll get you out of my way!

You still prefer danmaku battles over talking, I see. You're as ferocious as ever.

You're one to talk!

Why does Parry keep triggering?

Reimu gets another heal,

and Marisa seals her fate by casting her last Alert.

Long time no see, Marisa. You've gotten bigger, haven't you?

It ain't as you might think. My height hasn't really changed.

That's true. It's quite disappointing if you haven't grown at all. But one thing has certainly changed...

...? What?

Were you discarded by her, perhaps? Did the cruel master decide not to carry you around anymore?

...I haven't got a clue what you're on about. And you think it's a good idea to get distracted? If you underestimate my magic, you'll pay for it.

...It seems you've completely come of age. Very well, I shall test your power.

Damn it.

Keine casts my very last Trust, and moves in position to protect everyone.

Meanwhile, everyone down here desperately move up to try and get Sakuya's attention.

They fail.

Anyone would have made the same mistake the first time they saw you. You've become very womanly.

...Please stop eying me over. And when did you come to Gensokyo...

My, you want me to tell you?

Not at all. I am not like I was in the past. That girl back then is of no relation to who I am now.

...That seems to be the case. That locked grimoire would be the proof of that.

Very well, show me the person you are now. Since you've become so pretty... I'm sure your danmaku must be similarly beautiful!

Finally, a clean hit.

Also a level.

Okay, here we go.

Marisa has a secret second conversation with Yuuka that will only play if you attack her with Master Spark after seeing Marisa's first chat. Doing this secret, by the way, is a really, really dumb idea but it's required for 100% completion.

A Magicannon... of light? Hehe... I see. When Elly mentioned something about magic relying on power... Perhaps she was referring to that.

So, does that mean you're trying to imitate me?

That's unthinkable. Best to call it a reference. 'Sides, I'm the one who gave this magic a name. So this is truly my magic!

...So, a human using magic has decided that my own power is hers. Interesting.

In that case, show me what your Magicannon of light is capable of...!

Drive pumps the user's Power by 30. Yuuka's only costs 20 SP (!!), and oh hey at 130 Power she activates Copy Images and her MAP.

Music: The Beauty of Nature

I honestly have no idea how Vantouzare came up with his translation.

Watch the original Master Spark!

...I see. So you've named this technique "Master Spark." I like that name. I shall call this technique "Master Spark" from today onwards.

Hey hey, that's the name I gave it. Don't go stealing stuff from me.

It shouldn't be a problem. It's much more convenient to refer to it by name. And it's fitting for a flower master like me.

This is a reference to Yuuka's title, "Flower Master of the Four Seasons".

If you want a monopoly on this technique... You will have to surpass me first.

You have no idea how hyped I am for when Marisa learns Final Spark. Or maybe even Final Master Spark.

...Easy for you to say. That used up tons of my energy.

Hehe, come with all your might. Marisa... Let's have some fun.

Marisa is guaranteed to survive the Master Spark duel with 10 HP, but that means that if she gets attacked she's very likely to die from Graze damage, unless Support Defend goes off consistently anyways. If you had Marisa cast Alert during the beam-o-war she'll be in a much safer position, but guess what I couldn't do!

Yuuka now has access to both of her Sparks. She needs to die now.

And unfortunately, that's kind of hard when she can nuke you from almost all ranges! If Alice had Alert I could at least try a Shanghai Doll, but the way things are right now there's only one thing I can do.

Bomb, (I am seriously going to regret this later)

and have Reimu drop a full power Fantasy Seal. Sense will ensure Copy Images doesn't activate, but it won't do anything about Shield Defense. All I can do now is hope.

My hope was not in vain!

Now to hope again. And this time I have to worry about both Shield Defense and Copy Images.

...Well fuck.

Double fuck.

Sorry, I'm counting on everyone for the rest!

Yuuka's one good hit from fleeing, but Reimu, Alice, and Marisa need to survive a turn next to Yuuka and Sakuya with no Support Defend.

Please attack these people Sakuya.

That works too.

That does not work.

That does not work very much at all.

There goes a chunk of funds.

...Aren't you getting confident. Perhaps defeating Lady Patchouli and Meiling was not a fluke after all.

The fight's only just beginning. You've got spellcards, don't ya? Use 'em.

I would even if you did not say so. Cleaning up is my duty, after all. ...Or perhaps it would be better to use you all as ingredients. You would go wonderfully as the next meal that I will prepare.

Geh, you cook humans? I don't get why devils like to eat humans so much.

This is the residence of a youkai after all. Things like that do happen. Though you are a human yourself. Surely you do not eat other humans as well?

You are indeed correct on that. I prepare other types of food for myself.

That must surely be bothersome. I can't believe you enjoy living here with youkai.

That is true. You are a human, why do you serve a youkai?

You seem to be mistaken. I am not here because I wish to be. It is simply difficult to live with other humans.

I don't see the connection between that and living in the mansion of a youkai.

Even if you don't get along with humans, living with youkai is another matter.

Regardless, this is something that I must do in order to continue living. I am given food and shelter... Those are all the reasons I need to stay here.

Your reasoning almost sounds believable, but it ain't understandable at all. Whatever, I don't care about your circumstances. Let's get this battle started!

Yes. I will show you all clearly... The difference in power between you and I.

...! Here it comes!

You will now bear witness to countless bewitching knives, manipulated by dolls.

The thrown knives that rob lives from people cannot be escaped by humans... Tonight, the dolls will dye the area in blood!

Well that was interesting. Now returning to your previously scheduled program of EVERYONE DIES.

My dolls are all worn out. I need to repair them...

Sorry, but that's it for me. Take care of the rest.

Hmm, I guess there's still some endurance problems.

Rumia was the only survivor. She was at full HP, had S rank Night, had a Laser barrier, and was 10 spaces away from Yuuka. She still took over 4000 damage.

I guess I'll have Reimu and Yuuka mutual kill each other.

Or not.

Oh well. I'll go back and have some tea.

There's only one way out of this situation.

Running away.

No, seriously. I'm going to Time Out this spell.

Dai levels up from patching people up,

and the first card goes down. There's no dialogue, oddly enough.

What amazing danmaku. Is this her full power...?

There's no time limit at the upper-right. What's that mean?

It is just as it looks. This spell has no time limit. It cannot be "timed out", we must break it.

Isn't that kinda mean?

She's going all out, after all. If we don't shoot her down, we're not going to be able to stop her!

Sakuya's World has the most frustrating Danmaku effect. It's really worthwhile to save a Bomb for this card so you can blow through it with the nuke of your choice, but if you don't have one you can attack from gaps in the danmaku to avoid the automatic counter.

It also flips between two patterns.

I was hoping Sakuya would start moving towards the group, but I guess everyone's too far away. Cirno will have to draw her over.

I get it... You're the boss of all these fairies!

I have no plans of being the boss of fairies. I am the boss of the maids.

Hm? But aren't all the maids here fairies? Then once I beat you, I'll be the boss of all the fairies! Let's fight it out!

...You appear to have strength, indeed. But your brainpower is even worse than the fairy maids. I will sweep you out of the mansion before your stupidity infects anyone else.

This is going to be a slow death by chip damage since I can't get Youmu in range for a Meditation Slash without exposing her for a tu-

...Holy hell I just found a use for this.

From this spot, Youmu can dash over to Sakuya on her next turn and Meditation Slash her. Sakuya shouldn't be able to reach her thanks to Freeze, so Youmu doesn't need to worry about getting filled with knives.

Go for it Rumia.

Hey, what does a maid do?

Many different things. Such as cleaning up the mansion, doing the laundry, and serving food.

Serving food? So you get your own food?

No, I serve the food to others, not for myself. ...Although all the maids here are given food as well.

If you guys get food, then maybe I should try staying here for a day.

I would not recommend that for you. Those that are useless will get no food... You work for what you get.

Rumia asks "Can this human be eaten?". A shame, I was expecting Sakuya to smell like clocks.

Dai heals Rumia. She's probably a huge target for Sakuya now, but honestly better her than the three who can actually attack.

Watch Sakuya's ultimate attack!

Alright, wasn't expecting her to The World Cirno, but this can still work ou-

Oh god that was too close.

I was just holding back today!

Cirno goes down after doing a bit more chip damage.

Oh man, I can't believe I found a use for this too.

This is it for me. I'll head back and get something to eat~.

Okay. This is it. If Youmu either dodges or survives Sakuya's World, I win. If she doesn't I lose.

Yeah, that's what I expected.

Uhhh.... Go Dai?

A person in a maid uniform... So it's not only fairies who work here.

You are quite a strange fairy to have slipped into here. Could it be that you want to work here?

Ah, no... I'm just taking a look around.

As you wish. The numbers of the fairy maids do not make a big difference, after all. Though you look more useful than the others. Perhaps I should capture you.

Ah, I'm not a bug to be caught...!