A Touch of Scarlet Devil

[Remilia Scarlet]

Floating lazily across the darkened night sky of Gensokyo, the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Scarlet, was heading towards her aforementioned home, with a pouty face and arms cross in needless defiance. She had been fighting the little devil named Seija Kijin, who had been causing quite a stir in the fantasy world as of late. Fought and lost to, in fact, for the same reason why the youkai had gotten so much attention in the first place: she cheated the spell card rules, and now there was a price on her head. Remilia had gone in with full force, threw her full force at the devil, but no avail. The defeated vampire left in a huff once her fatigue hit a brick wall, very angry that he could lose to such a half pint and, more importantly, not at all appreciating the irony that the vampire had once been the cause for the spell card rules in the first place, and now was the one defending it. Looked like Reimu was going to have to be the one to deal with the brat. Oh well.

"Let her have her win" Remilia told herself, trying to push the lost out of her mind "I'll go home to my big mansion, my maid will make me some tea and I'll boss around my fairy staff and-" She stopped when she realized she was falling into a case of sour grapes and went back to just flying back home before the sun rose again. Although tea and bossing around the fair maids did sound like it would be fun. And then in the morning she could head down to the Hakurai shrine and bother the shrine maiden. Play with her sister, lord over the humans a bit, maybe plan for a party. The Scarlet Devil's mood began to lighten as she planned out tomorrow's activities and small giggle escaped her lips as her previous pout turned to a smile. For now she just appreciated the warm summer night air on her face as she raced home.

But it all was for nothing, as soon her night sky turned to an inescapable blackness and she felt brief moment of non-existences.

--???--

Remilia first thought that this was some kind of blindness or magical darkness at first, that perhaps the night sparrow or some light fairy thought they could play tricks on her. But she could see her hands, and feet, and legs, and everything about her as if was in a lit room. It's just that there was nothing to the light to show. She shoot on a plane of some expanse with no color, save for herself.

This is probably that Gap Hag's doing. Or this is a trap from those Taoist. Or those Moriya Gods are up to their tricks again. Or- As the scarlet vampire thought of who might have been behind this strange dimension, it dawned on her that it's been some time since last that she had been the cause of an incident in Gensokyo. She made a mental note to change that once she's gotten out of here, but with no apparent escape that didn't seem to be anytime soon. She tried to shout on into the abyss to see if there was any reaction, but to her shock he found that she could not.

Remilia's mind began to wonder, questions forming as it seemed her situation grew dire. What was the meaning of this transgression against her? She demanded to know why this was happening! And as if by fate, she felt a presence. A silhouette of white appeared in contrast to the background, ready to answer. No. The being itself was of pure white...

--The Nexus--

The change to the white expanse was almost blinding to the vampire as she was once again moves from one plane of existence to another. Remilia once again was standing on a strange surface of seemingly endless world. Beside her was the only feature of note: a shallow fountain of unremarkable make, only a single column and the water dripping down from the top. The land oh white was like a place of inspiration, peace and serenity ready to be broken by imagination and-

"This is boring" Remilia said to no one in particular, looking out for whomever. When Omni had given her his speech and answers of what laid ahead of her in this strange playground of his, she was expecting... well, anything but this. There was likely more to this world what first impressions were giving, but the failure to grab her attention immediately made the vampire completely unimpressed . If she was running this show, she'd have people clambering for more. Take some pride in your work, she would have loved to tell the bald smiling weirdo.

The worst of it was just the feeling of weakness after being dumped in this bland environment. It was not down to the level of some bog-standard human, as she could still fly and have the faintest connections with the strands of fate, but she no longer felt like she could punch through a mountain, or run through the human village without anyone noticing. She felt weak, but worse: she felt vulnerable. Not since was she first turned has she felt like this. But she had already dragged herself up from there before, and with this Omnilium she will have something to work with that just her dangerous sister and a determined will.

A smile crept across the Scarlet Devil's face. One that spoke in volumes of the cunning and charisma that had now been unleashed upon the Omniverse.

"Hey, kid! Get out of here, it's too dangerous!" Not everyone got the memo, though...

[Remilia Scarlet]

Remilia slowly turned her head toward the source of the voice, an annoyed and unamused glare pointed at the person that pierced kike a knife through the . Persons, actually, two men in glossy white armor and black body suits underneath that covered the entity of their body, armed with what the vampire knew was some kind of rifle but not one she's ever seen. The men seemed more uncomfortable than unnerved by the vampire's sight, shuffling their feet after a few seconds under the stare. Eventually Remilia gave up, a small hum in acceptance of the soldier's unspoken apologizes escaping, and with a flap of her bat wings she was up close and at eye level to the stormtroopers.

"And why should I leave?" the vampire leaned a little closer to the skull shape helm of the soldier, who similarly leaned back in response. Remilia's smile spread far enough that the two fangs were visible, upsetting her lady-like composure just a bit "Do you think I cannot defend myself? That I, mistress of darkness and lady of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, could not fight against whatever meager brigand that would call itself a threat to me?" The berated soldier looked on in silence as he wondered how he could answer without putting his life and limb in jeopardy, and the Scarlet Devil just gave another sigh. It was so hard to find good help. She eventually backed off, decided that the two were just not going to be any help, and held herself aloft with her hands laying across her collar as a show of her grace and nobility (and a bit of cockiness, but not purposely).

"Well, unless you're Omni's welcoming party, and if you are then I would suggest a grander group and maybe a band next time, then you should better tell me which was is out of this dab room" The two soldiers looked at each other, the vampire's odd mixture of rude yet polite making her a welcome change from either the usual forceful or flat out psychotic prime, and one finally stepped forward with a pitch.

"We don't work for Omni, but represent the Galactic Empire, a government body striving toward peace and posterity. We welcome all people, even those of your condition" Remilia let that one slide " and primes in particular have a glorious future if they join our ranks" The vampire was unimpressed by the message, although she at least gave him credit for the effort. It was more that she has heard that one before, and it seemed that half the time it didn't live up to the word. "Our main world is Coruscant, which you can reach though the gate over there" He points toward the horizon to where a black blip rested. "It's a place of technological superiority and comfort, I assure you"

There WAS a gate, wasn't there. Although her sight had been held back by the Omniverse's weakening, she could see it just out of the max range of her still superhuman sight. And when she spun around to get a view of the rest of the Nexus she saw many more just like them.

"And what of the other gates? Where do they go?" Remilia asked, while she thought what the soldier meant by 'prime'. She had thought that everyone was summoned by Omni, but perhaps that was not the the case and she was special. Well, more special than she was normally.

"Uh, well, there's Costa del Sol, a tropical land of sand and ocean" Although he could simply not imagine a vampire out in the island sun "there's also a few wild places, like the tangled greens or the Ashen Steppes. And then there's Camelot" He said that one, looking in the direction opposite of the Coruscant gate he first point out, with a tone of voice one would normally reserved for a cheating lover or a venereal disease, or a cheating lover with a venereal disease.

"You don't want to go there" said the other troop, finally putting his own two thoughts in "It's a shithole"

"And why would that be?" Remilia wondered aloud, only half seriously asked, but she felt like she was getting an answer soon. Not metaphorically, she quite literally felt something as the chains of fate started to pull and twist around her. She saw swords and anger and a squad of medieval soldiers advancing forward. She turned around before they even appeared from their hiding spot behind the fountain, but there they were: men in leather studded armor, armed with spears and swords, and lead by a large, muscle bound, and oiled man with blond hair. Pulled, more like, as the soldiers behind him seems completely reluctant to follow after him while the leader held a single minded objective, staring up at the vampire with hatred his his eyes. The Scarlet devil's smile grew wide as she locked with those eyes. She didn't need to see the wooden stakes on his belt to know that he was a vampire hunter.

"Kill the monster while it's weak!" The man shouted, but the soldiers behind him were trying their best to try to hold him back, short of literally getting in his way. The two stormtroopers jumped and yelped when they heard the force of the man's voice, and were quick to raise their guns but hesitated to fire in fear of what would escalate from it. Remilia simply flapped her wings and flew in place, rather amused by the man's devotion to attack her and quite happy that she was no long bored. The hunter finally stopped advancing, only to pull his sword and defiantly aimed it at the vampire.

"I am Richard Grelard of the Sunsworn house, and as the protector of the land and destroyer of the darkness, I will not let you blight the world any longer with your presence, vampire!" He had a lovely set of lung, she gave him that "Accept your fate and die with dignity"

"Do you have any experience with cleaning and cooking?" Remilia asked the hunter. Everyone went silent, eyebrows raised and looks towards each other for confirmation that they heard the same thing. Richard in particular had his mouth slowly bobby his lower jaw up and down as words failed him.

"What?!" he finally went with, and Remilia tisked him when he did not answer her question.

"I lost my maid when I was pulled here, and I need a replacement. I thought you might be a good choice" Her smile only widened, while Richard shook with fury. He had given the childlike vampire enough time, and from his belt pull the holy symbol of his order to weaken and harm her with it's holy wraith. Against such an attack, she would be easily dealt with and what happened in the moors would not repeat again.

What actually happened was simply nothing. Remilia gave the holy symbol a glance, for it's value as a nice piece of jewelry outstripped it's actual ability to harm her, but decided that she would leave the hunter with his trinket once he had dealt with him. Rather than gloating her immunity to symbeolistic attacks or continue to verbally slap him around until he switched to a real weapon, she would teach him a sudden and brutal lesson on the spot for standing against Remilia Scarlet, the Scarlet Devil.

She raised a balled fist up to the sky until it was above her head, focusing magical energy into it until a red aura began to form. Is spread out in opposite directs, quickly creating a staff that then ended with large spear head, the final shape longer that the youkai was tall and fright to behind. It glowed with power and grew lighter as she forced more magic into it, until she was satisfied and threw it with all her might. the vampire hunter was shocked, but was quick to bring his shield up to block. To no good, as the spear simply went through it and then him soon after. he screamed in pain as the length of the magical javelin passed through him, exiting out his back and at the angle that it was thrown it embedded into the smooth white material the Nexus was made of and the spear shattered to many fragments of red magical sparkles. He clutched at the wound as he fell backwards, no physical wound could be seen but the pain was like getting punched in the soul. Seeing the awe inspiring attack, the camelot troops finally lost their wits about them and fled for it, dragging their leader along as the hunter yelled and screamed foe revenge.

Remilia landed after she watched the squad routed back to their home, next to the two stormtrooper who now just looked on with equal parts glee and fear. It was great to see those sword swinging knuckleheads get it for once.

"So you said that the tangled green was wild?" The vampire asked, some whimsy and novelty bring a sparkle to her eyes "I think I would prefer some wildness"

----

It took a bit of time to get to the gate she wanted, longer than she could have flown from one end of Gensokyo to the other and particularly if she had put effort into it. There was more of a feeling of weakness as she touched down at the gate's front, particularly after her scuffle. The spell card might have looked impressive, but she could have only used that once before needing to regain the energy to use it again, and that the squad was already to run was more to her luck. But then, if she was at full power, she wouldn't have need to fight anyway. It would just have been something to work on until she had control over fate once again.

She looked at the gate with anticipation as she dreamed of what adventures awaited. Vines had began to grow over the gate from the other side, and it gave a foreboding look that spoke of challenge and incidents. Including ones that she would be the cause of. He was ready to step in, when she remembered: Sunlight. She had left her umbrella back at the mansion as she had been traveling at night before she was pulled in. But what was it Omni said? Think of what you desired. In her head, she though of the pink umbrella she had grown rather fond of over the years of use, and closed her eyes in concentration. It felt like a magical energy so different from her own, and yet she knew it would not yet be finished so soon. After minutes of thinking of that image, it felt like a pop as the energy stopped flowing from her, and she opened her eyes to find the umbrella in her hands.

She let out a "woo hooo!" and thrust her arms up in victory, before she brought them down just as quickly. Have to keep that charismatic look about her, after all. But it felt nice to have such a small victory that she had over this strange place. She opened up the umbrella, let it rested on her shoulder, and the youkai Remilia walked into the real start of her time in the Omniverse.