Part 48

No intermissions this chapter because I'm on a tight timetable this weekend. I might add some later, I might not.

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Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text


Music: Bizarre Smile

Full Text

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Music: Confusion in the Moonlight



I can see lights down below. Is that a youkai town?

Yup. That's the old capital, where the oni live. And right up ahead is that bridge I was telling you about.

It doesn't look like the guard youkai's here, so let's just snea-

Hold on, I'm detecting the approach of an enormous aura!



A flying boat?! Was this thing making all that racket?

A couple of youkai showed up. I guess that's the guard from the bridge?

It looks that way. The slender one would be the infamous Hashihime then. Then the heavyset one would be-

Oh, I recognize that face!

Do you know her?

It's not a matter of knowing her! You watch your attitude around her too, Sanae. That's one of the Four Devas of the Mountain. The oni, Yuugi Hoshiguma!

Whaaat?! That's the same group Suika's part of!

Oh, it really is Yuugi. And she's with Parsee Mizuhashi.

Sounds like someone on that boat knows me.

That drunken voice... is that...?

Hey, Yuugi, how've ya been?

It IS Suika! Long time no see!

...Suika, huh? You DID always get along with her...

Yeah, until she wandered out of the Underworld a little while ago.

So what brings you here today? Don't tell me that stupid huge ship of yours is a souvenir!

Nah, that's not it. We're just looking into something.

It's a long story, but there's a dangerous incident occurring on the surface right now. At this rate, not just the Human Village, but all of Gensokyo will be affected.

Humans? You mean it's not just oni on that ship?

Yes. We're aware of the noninterference pact, but this is a state of emergency. If you let us investigate, we won't cause any trouble.

You can't tell us that and just expect us to go "Oh, okay then." And as soon as the youkai in town find out, they're kicking you out anyway.

I see, I see. So Suika brought humans from the surface with her. It's kind of a waste to let it just end like that though.

Huh? A waste of what?

Hey, surface people! Wanna settle this with a quick throwdown?!

Wha-?!

Yuugi?! How can you make a promise like that?

This won't even be a fight, anyways. No matter how many there are, you'll just blow 'em away.

Have a little faith. These are our first guests in a long while, and on top of that they're friends with SUIKA. Aren't you looking forward to this?

Drinking and fighting are the flowers of the Underworld! C'mon, my fist is itching for this!

*sigh* There she goes again.

What could be going on? She's getting awfully fired up over there.

Hmm, once Yuugi gets going she won't listen to a word we say until we stop her rampage.

If we're gonna talk, it'll have to be through our fists! Only one way this is going!

Good grief. Guess I should have seen this coming.



I can't help it if you wanna complain, but now that it's come to this there's no choice but to suck it up.

Actually, communicating through a fight makes this simpler for us.

If we win, you'll let us through and tell us everything you know. It's incredibly straightforward.

Already planning for after you win? Well, if you've got the strength to back it up then I don't mind. And that's a promise! On the honor of an oni!

Sheesh, once you decide on something you won't budge an inch.

You surface folks just march right in, without a second thought to your position here. Are you brave, or just stupid? Your strength will show which!





This is a cool map. Up here is Parsee's bridge,



and far down here is a city.



The basic concept of this stage is to split your army up into your A Team and your B Team. The former will go after Yuugi, and the latter will face Parsee.



Since she's the vanguard of B Team, Letty takes the brunt of the assault.



And since she sucks, Tewi also faces her share of attacks. She's surrounded by Support Defenders so I didn't bother to cast Alert.



Oh, here's a funny quirk. Thanks to a silly quirk with Ghostly Butterfly Dance, when Yuyuko Support Defends someone she has a pretty good chance of outright dodging the enemy attack. Ignoring the fact that this should mean the attack hits Tewi anyways (), it throws her up to one of the best Support Defenders in the game because not even Meiling takes zero damage from attacks.



Can't say I'm really feeling Ghetto Border Team. Sanae is not nearly dodgy enough to dive headfirst into enemy formations like Reimu can, which means Yukari's Accels and Support Defend safety nets are of limited use. They don't have a friendship either.



Meanwhile The Full Moon's Red Eyes are just kind of eh. Sakuya and Reisen share weapon ranges, but Sakuya does way more damage. And with Meiling also nearby, there's no real reason for me to ever put Reisen in front.

Which works out since Reisen's true purpose this chapter is to survive till she hits the boss.

I was kinda hoping for it, but I never though we'd actually run into you down here, Yuugi.

So you miss the oni then?

They're my buddies after all. 'Course, that has nothing to do with the investigation.

By the way, thanks for not telling Yukari when I left!

...How cold of you.

Music: Oni's Island



Suika really should be on my B Team, but come on.



Shizuha finally learned her L3 friendship buff skill.

I can scarcely believe we ran into an oni right after we were talking about them. What are the odds?

Princess, you shouldn't get too close without taking stock of the situation.

Actually, you probably shouldn't get involved with these Underworld folks at all.

After coming this far with the investigation? How dull. I want to try seeing these sealed youkai from closer up.

I just hope that curiosity doesn't get you stuck as crow food.



I was expecting Kaguya to kill this crow.



Eirin to the rescue.



Alice is only nine enemies away from a cool 200 kills. Yes, Magic Team has been slaughtering that many grunts.



Also seeing the (red) movement range on this bridge is really annoying!



I eventually started feeling bad about Magic Team getting all the kills, so I had Alice start Evading.



By turn 4 I've gotten close enough that Yuugi and Parsee have started moving. Now to bait them towards my two teams.



wait no

...Surface youkai. Their faces are as bright as the sun...!

Eek! She's really glaring at us!

You're already monopolizing all the stuff we don't have, so what else have you leeches come to take? Why can't I ever go wild like that too?

Oh, so this the youkai of jealousy?

She's all dark and gloomy. Reminds me of you, sis!

...I'm not gloomy.

What's with that banter? You three get along so well it makes me so jealous!

If you're not gonna run, then my jealousy is gonna tear right through those bonds of yours!



Parsee has the best cut-in.



Parsee kept attacking Sanae, so I just had her stay still to stall until B Team could get in range of Parsee.

I'm a shrine maiden too. Even if it comes to fighting, I won't lose to Reim-

You're already focused on someone else, so this'll be easy.

Try to remember what can she do that you can't... Aren't you getting jealous?

M-Maybe I do think like that sometimes. Reimu never flinches from anything, and she shines so brightly...

Right, that's it. Why don't we nurture that feeling together!



Meanwhile A Team kept crawling closer to Yuugi.

All right! Finally, a fistfight!

Eeek! Her spirit alone is super strong!

Well, yeah. Back when we were in the Four Devas, they called her Yuugi the Strong. Spells are one thing, but when it comes to brute strength even I might not be a match for her.

What's with that?! If I take a direct hit, I'll end up splattered on the wall...

Oh come on, I wouldn't end it THAT fast. We don't get many guests from the surface.

Don't be shy now, come at me fair and square!

Music: A Single Oni Strikes as Hard as a Thousand, No Help Needed



As you probably expected, she hits really hard. Her danmaku field buffs all her Melee attacks by a further 20% too, which is no fun.



It took a while, but Parsee finally set her sights on the proper targets.

A fight with Suika, huh? I've been itching for this!

Yeah, same here!

It's been a while since we fought, but don't tell me you've gotten soft up there.

No need to worry. The folk on the surface are pretty good you know. What about you? Are you gonna disappoint me?

Don't be stupid. The strength of an oni. The strength of a Deva. Why don't I remind you?!



Yuugi is better than Suika in every conceivable way. It's kind of sad.



I finally finish setting up on turn 9.



Yuugi has two spells compared to Parsee's one, so she's going down first.

I can't believe a youkai picked a fight with us for such a dumb reason.

I am pretty sure you don't get to say that, Marisa.

You don't like it? Well, that's humans for you.

Don't be stupid. This'll be just like when we play danmaku with Suika.

In the end, you're just some villager we're talking to for clues in the middle of the dungeon. We'll beat you and find out what you know!



Final Spark's animation changes a bit to accommodate the fact the party is in the Underworld (instead of a sky it's just a black haze), but how is there a cloud cover underground?



Seriously Parsee?

Seriously?



Turn 10 marks the start of my actual offense. Suika throws on Missing Power,



which does literally nothing because Yuugi also has Oni. Remember how it nullifies all Size penalties so Suika wasn't complete trash? Well even though Yuugi has no reason to worry about those, she gets the same buffs!

You're the first oni I've met other than Suika.

Oh? So do you people get along with Suika?

Sometimes she comes up Youkai Mountain to drink with Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako. She's even tried to offer me a drink, but...

...So she's really living it up on the surface then. I kinda want to hear more about that. But after the fight!



Sanae grabs a Gained finish.



This bumps her all the way up to 49, letting her snag Shrine Maiden L7 and Living God L3. She's now as good as she'll ever be in this game.

I wouldn't have settled for any less!

I'm sure we're attacking her, but she hasn't budged an inch.

But our blows landed! She shouldn't be unbeatable!

That's the spirit. Looks like this'll be a good brawl.

So what do you think, Yuugi? These girls are worth fighting, right? They're a lively bunch too, enjoying both parties and fights.

Parties? So they've gotten that comfortable around you?

This might not have anything to do with us, but why don't you come too next time? I'm sure you'd get along with the humans up there these days.

You think?

Right. I've heard that the oni left the surface because they lost patience with the humans' cowardice. But with some kind of connection then I'm sure that if you came-

Ha ha ha! Don't misunderstand me!

I'm not like Suika, I couldn't care less about the surface.

Huh?

Actually, I'm grateful to the sage for that inviolable agreement. Thanks to that, this is oni paradise. We make our own rules, and no one gets in our way.

I never even thought about trying to get along with the humans.

So it's just like Yamame then? She has no expectations of the surface.

That's just how deep this gulf they made back then was.

Looks like there's a black sheep among the oni who didn't give up on the humans though.

...Well, I can't deny that.

Who cares about all that, let's keep fighting. I just can't help myself from enjoying this!

I wanna see what it took to get Suika's seal of approval. Will you be able to stand up to this torrent of strength beyond understanding?!







Yuugi's oddly named spell pumps the base damage of enemy weapons by 500. It also features a sizable defense debuff, so if you're unfocused and get hit you're probably dead!

You look pretty human, but are you a youkai too?

Indeed. I came here with Reimu and the rest to investigate the incident. I never imagined I'd end up fighting an oni like you though.

Ha ha ha! No need to lose your nerve over a little thing like that. I know you surface youkai know how to lick humans' boots. Let's see what else you can do!



Not that Magic Team is getting hit while Marisa still has SP.



I was about to have Yuyuko cast Rally to get Calamity's Bow up and running, but then I remembered I have Magical Girl on Flandre. Whoops.



Doesn't stop her from hitting hard at least.

Oh? You've got some pretty cool moves.

It's chi control through martial arts. These techniques have 4000 years of history in the motherland!

I'll show you I can win through spirit and technique, even if I'm against an oni!

Yeah? Then bring it on! Show me those techniques of yours.



I was hoping Meiling and Sakuya could finish Yuugi off, so I had Tewi cast Bless. No dice.



Speaking of Tewi, she's just gonna hang out back here with Luna.

I can tell you two have the seed of jealousy.

Sisters are so close to each other that they've gotta be jealous of SOMETHING, right?

W-Well, I do kind of wish I could be as elegant as Shizuha's leaves...

What are you talking about? You're so popular with the humans...

Good, let those feelings burn even hottter-

But! I still think autumn is really all about the sweet potatoes!

But! Autumn is really all about the colors!

Their jealousy lost to those declarations?! These two really love being the center of attention!





Parsee is theoretically pretty dodgy, but even her massive Evasion stat isn't enough to make up for her awful Mobility.



She's a total wimp armor-wise too, to the point that Eirin finishes her off with a Team Attack.

Ugh, not only are they ganging up on us, but they're strong too?

Surrounding us with superior numbers... I'm sure you people are laughing at me, and thinking you're all hot stuff!

Er, not really...

I'd heard the stories, but she really is quite the annoying youkai.

But if she get upset, she'll be even more annoying. Alice, try to calm her down.

Huh? Why me?

I read in the newspaper that you've been nailing dolls to trees...

...I don't know what you're talking about. But if you want me to persuade her, then...

Miss Mizuhashi, I think we're in the wrong for suddenly showing up like this. However, if this incident spreads to the Underworld, then this would be for your sake-

For OUR sake? You're saying you're doing this for OUR sake? If that's how it is, then that's so ridiculously kind-hearted of you! That makes me so jealous!

...

Hey, Blondie! You made it even worse! So even though Yuuka likes you so much, you can't do it directly OR negotiate?!

I don't think Yuuka has anything to do with this.

Don't tell me that her power is fanning the flames of OUR jealousy too?

Heh. Fight each other. That's where the darkness takes root. Everyone has these ugly feelings. My power just draws them out.

Nothing can keep spurring on a heart forever like good old jealousy.

Watch out! An unpleasant sound is building up!

That swell of jealousy will become a green-eyed monster that chews right through your heart! Just try and run from your own feelings! Tear yourselves apart!







That all changes with this spell's danmaku field. Parsee gets a buff to her attack, accuracy, and defense depending on how many upgrades the character attacking her has. If said character has more than the entire army's average rate (or god forbid, WP levels), Parsee completely stonewalls them then murders them for insane overkill.

Music: Resounding Wailing in the Hidden Heart
_{This is Ryza's favorite song!}



Or at least she used to, but this spell gave so many players trouble that Sanbondo ultimately decided to nerf it. Now she's only reasonably strong.

It's still worth it to split your team up though. It's a cool stage gimmick!



Meanwhile, Sakuya finishes off Yuugi.

You're skilled! I like it!

I thought she'd be nothing but dumb muscle, but she pulled out this weird technique.

Anything called an oni can obviously do at least that much.

But I'm glad you girls are playing along. Why don't you show Yuugi the power of the surface?

Sounds like you're really interested in these surface folk, Suika. You planning on spending the rest of your life up there?

...Yeah. I did miss you guys, but I really like it better on the surface. You probably didn't know this, but humans these days are WAY funner.

So you haven't given up on them then.

I mean, isn't that how it was supposed to be in the first place?

I want to find out if the Underworld isn't the only place for the oni.

Suika, you-

So she's ignoring the odds of success and stubbornly trying to head outside.

But is what the other oni is thinking really acceptable either? You're not trapped in, so why choose the boring life of staying indoors?

What, you're saying our lives are boring?

But aren't they? The people on the surface are continuing to change. The humans you knew back then aren't the humans of today. Yet still, without even trying to know them, you're satisfied shutting yourselves up in this cave?

With that attitude, you'll never discover the charms of the surface that Suika's talking about.

...Are you riding on Suika's coattails to give me a lecture?

Ha ha ha! That's superb! I've never met anyone like you before!

You've got my interest! I can't wait to talk with you guys!

Oh, I didn't take you for the chatty sort, but-

No, I mean talk with my FISTS!

Take a good look at this, the Four Devas' Arcanum!







Fittingly, Knockout in Three Steps has three fields. It drops Movement by 1, makes it so that characters in the center portion take 60% more damage (as a reference to that part being a death zone in the actual STG), and finally makes it so Yuugi automatically casts Strike and Fury at the beginning of every turn.



Green-eyed Monster is a MAP. Used to be a real pain since you were basically guaranteed to be unable to kill her before she could let one off, but now it just does decent damage.



Suika is not The One.

Whoops, my bad. Maybe I drank too much?



REISEN



YOU ARE THE ONE



YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET A VIDEO BUT FRAPS FAILED THE SECOND THIS BATTLE STARTED



WHICH IS KIND OF ANNOYING BUT AT LEAST I CAN GET THIS UPDATE OUT FASTER



ANYWAY GO BACK HOME REISEN



INCIDENTALLY IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS GAME THIS ANIMATION'S DYNAMIC KILL BUGGED AND ALWAYS PLAYED, SO YUUGI WAS PUNCHING PEOPLE TO THE MOON 24/7



YORIHIME MUST HAVE BEEN PISSED

I'm exhausted, let me take a break.



I should be able to get the bonus next turn. Just have to make it through one more MAP.

Sheesh, go a little easier!

I wasn't exactly planning on losing but... I'll just entrust this battle to everyone else for now.

Man, Knox and Nages are going to be pissed.

Sorry, but this is it for me. You girls handle the rest!

And Marisa was out of Alerts so Yuugi smacked her.



Shizuha finishes off Parsee for a massive amount of XP. Thank you Cheer.

Ngh, geh!

All right! We beat her! Wait, wasn't that too easy?

I'm sorry, did we hurt you?

You can afford to worry about your opponent right after you beat her? That makes me so jealous!

She can even get jealous of a fairy? She's really committed to this.

That's enough, Parsee. Leave the rest to me.

What, you're saying I'd just get in your way?

No, I just don't want you to any more beat-up than you already are. Come to think of it, aren't I the one who forced you into this anyway?

Oh, so you noticed. A bit late for that, don't you think?

...But if you insist, I'll withdraw.

Parsee leaves.

...Wow, that was a quick 180.

We're lucky about that. Parsee has a truly fearsome power.

All that's left is Yuugi. Brace yourself, everyone!



And on the other side, Flandre takes out Yuugi. She drops another Oni's Horn.





That was awesome!

If Parsee were still alive, she'd be appropriately shocked/concerned that Yuugi lost.

W-We did it. We overcame the special move of one of the Four Devas!

You're pretty solid! Not that I doubted you, of course.

I take it you've approved of us then?

Since we beat you, that means we're all Four Devas too, right?

...! Take a look at her sake dish, everyone!

You mean the one she's holding?

What about it? I'm not handing it over just 'cause you beat me. I just need a good drink after some exercise.

Why you... Did you make it through that entire fight without spilling a drop?!

I see, so no matter who you're up against you protect your pride. How stylish of you.

Same to you. You girls really made that fight fun.

So, since we won, can you answer some questions about the incident for us?

Of course. Oni never lie.

I think you said something about something happening on the surface?

That's right. We're looking into some vengeful spirits that have been gushing forth from the Underworld.

Hm? Did you say "vengeful spirits"?

Good grief, looks like we're finally getting to the core issue.

Let's take a moment to gather below and discuss our next move.





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Here's the other boss convos.

Yuugi and Parsee's attributes are buffed on Lunatic, but that's about it. The fact that your main team is almost certainly upgraded to hell and back makes Parsee tougher though, and both of them have Fury so Support Defend isn't all that helpful.

I honestly just ignore the bonus for this chapter half the time.