"This place is huge!"
After wandering around the Scarlet Devil Mansion for a while, Marisa hadn't found anything of particular interest. She did find a room leading downstairs, but it contained nothing more than a bed and some toys.
However, Marisa soon arrived at the Great Library. The sight of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves crammed with books made her gasp in astonishment.
"This is incredible!"
In her entire life, she had never seen so many books at once. Furthermore, Marisa quickly realized most of the books were related to magic, which only fueled her excitement. She immediately started darting between the shelves, trying to find magic books that might be useful to her.
Kars, who was deep in thought about how to actualize his new spell concept, heard the disturbance. In the silent Great Library, the continuous sound of footsteps certainly didn't belong to Patchouli or Koakuma; the former rarely moved, and the latter typically flew. As for his two little aunts, they should be occupied with their grand plan and wouldn't be here.
Does that mean someone broke in?
Kars instantly tensed up. This situation meant he had to notify Patchouli immediately, before the intruder could do anything destructive.
I hope this doesn't interfere with Little Auntie's plan.
"The plan? You must be talking about the Red Mist in the sky, right?"
A sudden voice snapped Kars out of his thoughts. He saw that the intruder was now standing directly in front of him. His gaze quickly fell to the several magic books she was clutching.
"Are you a common thief who broke in?"
"Ah… these are just borrowed for a bit, promise! But you must be the mastermind behind this Incident, then! What exactly are you trying to achieve?" Marisa quickly got into character, demanding to know Kars's intentions.
"To make Gensokyo the property of the Scarlett family. After all, no other vampire but me seems to appreciate it. Once we succeed, this entire place will become a personal garden for my two little aunts to play in."
"Alright, if you leave now, I'll pretend nothing happened. A mere human cannot stop us. We have no time for little rats like you; our target is only the Shrine Maiden. We won't do anything to humans like you."
Marisa laughed at Kars's dismissive tone and words.
"There's a limit to how much you can underestimate humans!"
Marisa tossed the books aside, standing firmly on her floating broom. She pulled her Mini-Hakkero (Mini-Eight Trigrams Furnace) out of her skirt and aimed it directly at Kars.
"Defeating yokai isn't just the Shrine Maiden's job; humans can do it too! Let the magic of Marisa Kirisame defeat you!"
Seeing that his friendly advice was useless, Kars sighed reluctantly.
"To be honest, I don't think your magic can accomplish much. How can you possibly compare yourself to Patchouli? The magic she commands is a realm humans couldn't reach in a lifetime. Every book here contains the magic she has recorded. Do you really think you can match that?"
"If you insist on trying, then I'll give you a small demonstration of Patchouli's magic."
As Kars spoke, Sun-attribute energy gathered in his palm. Seeing this, Marisa became instantly alert and vigilant. The man holding the glowing energy looked relaxed, even smiling faintly, but his robust physique gave her significant pressure.
"Are you ready then?"
As the energy in his hand burst into a dazzling, blinding light, Marisa instinctively shielded her eyes, squinting to try and see Kars's movements.
Kars: Time to bolt! (ง ˙o˙)ว
As she finally managed to glimpse Kars's figure, she saw him turn around and run away without the slightest hesitation.
"Patchouli! Enemy! The enemy is here!!" Kars shouted as he ran, hoping she would rush over quickly. As for fighting Marisa himself? Don't be ridiculous. His magic was barely at a basic level; he couldn't even compare to Koakuma. He could only use his physical strength against opponents like Cirno. Fighting someone who clearly wasn't ordinary like Marisa was out of the question.
And would he lose face? He'd just told her he was going to show her Patchouli's magic, so calling Patchouli over made perfect sense, didn't it?
Marisa: (ㅎ.ㅎ)
Is this guy kidding me?
He had talked like a final boss and summoned magic, only to use the blinding light as a cover to run away and call for help. This unexpected turn of events completely threw Marisa off. She had been taking the fight seriously, and the ending was this anticlimax.
However, this confirmed to Marisa that Kars was definitely not the mastermind. And now that he had raised such a ruckus, that person called Patchouli would surely appear soon.
Things unfolded just as Marisa expected. Patchouli, alerted by the intense flash of light Kars had created, as well as his shouting, realized an intruder had made it into the Great Library. She strained to hurry toward Kars's location.
"Patchouli!"
Kars found Patchouli first, with Marisa close behind. Seeing Kars standing defensively behind Patchouli—a hulking figure hiding behind a girl much smaller than him—the visual was highly incongruous.
"It's good that you're not hurt." Patchouli quickly examined Kars and, after confirming he was unharmed, turned her attention to Marisa.
"I didn't expect a rat to sneak in. We are quite busy here and don't have time for you. If you leave now, I will spare you."
"Ha? The same line again. The guy behind you just told me the same thing, and that turned out differently. But my answer is the same! You scoundrels will be subdued by me, Marisa Kirisame!" Marisa's determination made Patchouli sigh.
"Is this what they call Gensokyo? A little brat like you thinks her magic can defeat me? What an impressive delusion. Very well, human, I will show you what true magic is."
"Bring it on!"