The Scarlet Devil Mansion [Open]

[Augen]

"Meimei, maybe it would be a good idea to save your strength. These guys might kill eachother for us, too." "Hmhm... You're right. No use wasting my energy now," Meiling said, flying back to the mansion's gate, Akane still riding on her back.

[xxhikaruxx]

Tsukiomi saw the beam fired by Korochi. Haru used her telecnic force and pulled Tsukiomi away. Tsukiomi landed on the ground in the middle between Korochi, Hikaru and Kanda. Hikaru walked and helped up Kanda. Kanda said "I let my guard down... The mist... A big disadvantage for me in the battle feild.... However...."
Kanda turned invisible, Hikaru looked arround. He thought, Where'd he go....?. Kanda whispered into Hikaru's ear "I'll need a bit of Teamwork. I'll hold him, and you punch. Right now its a 3 on 1."
Tsukiomi heard exactly what Kanda said, he said "A 3 on 1 eh?.... That is no threat to me..."
Hikaru thought, This man either is the worlds most arrogant ass, or he is someone I can actually respect other than Kanda.

[recon5]

Korochi let out a frustrated hiss as her target appeared to jerk out of the way of her beam. Clearly this man had some tricks up his sleeve.

She kept her barrier up and stopped firing her beam so that her right head would be ready for any more surprises her opponent might pull out. Then she heard what the others were saying about a 3-on-1 and she realized that her opponent would be the one who was disadvantaged. Her common sense told her to attack while she had the chance but her warrior's honor wouldn't allow that. She decided to just observe until she was sure of the real odds. Raising a barrier with her right head, she backed off a bit and waited.

[Augen]

Hong and Akane stood at the gates, waiting. The action seemed to be coming to a relatively abrupt slowdown. But neither of them were certain of the situation. So they watched and waited, prepared for the intruders to make a dash for the gate.

[Schala]

Across the lake was a young girl, who had formerly worked a windmill. At last she had arrived, and was about to rescue Hikaru.
"It's in the middle of the lake," she said to her companion, a small youkai girl.

[xxhikaruxx]

Kanda swung his spear toward Tsukiomi, Hikaru was clueless and was still looking arround for Kanda's signal. Haru had used her Fate clock to detect Kanda's presence. She raised her hand andp ulled Tsukiomi away from Kanda. Haru said "What are you thinking Tsukiomi! You are no match for him!"
Haru pulled Tsukiomi close to her and the took his hand. The two of them took their leave. Haru said "Tsukiomi... You are too selfish... Without you, how do you expect me to live?"
Tsukiomi's eyes softened and he agreed "Yeah. You're right Haru."

---

Hikaru and Kanda watched them leave. Kanda turned back to normal and fell to one knee. He said "Damn...."
Hikaru turned to him and said "Are you okay?"
Kanda stood up and said "Yeah. If it weren't for that girl, I would've finished that bastard off..."
Hikaru looked back at Korochi. He smiled slightly at her "So what's your name?"
Hikaru bent down to Yumi and picked her up.

[recon5]

Korochi grinned and shifted her arms back into their normal form. She still didn't understand what had happened but she was thankful that she'd had enough restraint to sit the fight out. Things might have gotten messy otherwise. "I am Korochi, avatar of the Serpent of Eight Rivers and Eight Valleys. Now, who are all of you and what are you doing in a place like this?"

----

Carmellia looked towards the Mansion and shuddered a bit. She was beginning to regret coming along but she reminded herself of the reward that was waiting for her. Besides, she couldn't go back on her word right now, not after having come this far. While she wasn't too happy about what lay ahead she decided to press on.

"Let's just get this over with."

[Augen]

((Skip me this post))

[Schala]

"Okay," Katrina said. "We'll have to find a way across the lake."
Now, how was she going to do this?
Katrina herself was a fair swimmer, but she wasn't sure about Carmellia, and decided not to risk that. If they could find stuff to build a boat out of...Oh!
There appeared to be a few logs lying partly in the lake.
"Carmellia," Katrina said, "look what I found! Maybe we can build a raft out of these!

[xxhikaruxx]

Hikaru said to Korochi "My name is Hikaru Sasaki, I am a traveller from Tokyo. I am a Biologically Engineered Human. I am here to explore new places and following Kanda, this Agyel right here."
Yumi then woke up, she said "Where am I?"
Hikaru said "We are near this mystic Mansion..."

---

Patchouli Knoledge was sitting in her library reading a book about Demons. Patchouli flipped through the demons she already knew and then something caught her eye. She looked up at the top of page 237, she saw a new species called Agyels. She narrowed her eyes on the word and quickly read through it. She kept on reading through the book still wondering in her head.

[recon5]

Korochi was a little confused by Hikaru's explanation but she did understand that he was some sort of human she didn't know about and she could guess that this 'Tokyo' was somewhere outside the Great Hakurei Barrier. The 'Agyel' must be some sort of Youkai, probably from outside the Barrier too.

Hikaru's words to the young girl, on the other hand, were pretty inadequate. Yes, the Mansion was mystical in its own way but that wasn't all there was to it. She decided to elaborate for Hikaru. "The Mansion is the home of some vampires, some rather strange humans and a bunch of fairies. Oh wait, there's that gatekeeper Youkai as well. It's best known for its library, which is probably what you all are here for since people don't otherwise visit even if they're invited. Just be careful not to annoy the human maid if you see her because she has some sort of magic that lets her stick people full of knives before they even see her coming. The gatekeeper gets that every once in a while..."

----

Carmellia was about to mention that she could fly and that Katrina should build her own raft, but then she remembered that helping the girl across was part of her earning the jewelry. She silently pushed past Katrina and went down to start dragging the logs out. Being stronger than most human men she was able to move one or two of the smallest logs onto dry land but she soon exhausted herself and had to sit down to catch her breath.

[Schala]

Once again, Katrina decided not to make Carmellia work more than she could. The windmill girl managed to pull out the easiest logs, and really couldn't pull any more after that. Nevertheless, she looked around for a knife and some rope so she could string the logs together.

[Augen]

((My cherries are on the complete defensive right now. Anyone makes a rush for the mansion, then they'll react.))

[xxhikaruxx]

Hikaru listened to everything Korochi had said, he nodded as if he knew what Korochi was talking about. Obviously he didn't, Hikaru thought, A library, interesting.....! Maybe I might be safe there, since I'm going to die today... Or at least thats what people said... Anyways, thats a place where i probably won't get killed, safest place. Hikaru was sure he was not going to die there, not knowing he will be killed there... His fate lies within the library... Killed by one of the most powerful soceror there, Patchouli Knowledge... Hikaru said to Korochi gratefully "Thank you for the information, Korochi of the legendary 8 headed Serpent."
Hikaru turned to Yumi and Kanda "Let's check this mansion out, by all means."
Kanda thought, A library! There must be information of the stone there!! Kanda said "I agree, and let's be sure to check out the library."

[recon5]

Korochi sighed as she listened to Hikaru and Kanda. They really are going through with this, aren't they? "Well, I'd better come along to make sure things are kept fair. I don't think the older folks in the Mansion will mind your presence but the regular maids are something else."

And if you end up ganging on that gatekeeper again, she added, but not out loud, I will be sure to even the odds this time as I no longer have any doubts.

----

Carmellia began to feel annoyed again when she saw Katrina start working. Did the human really think so little of her? Then again... the girl was the one doing all the work this time and the Youkai was still rather tired, so she decided to just sit this one out. She closed her eyes and waited for Katrina to finish building her precious raft, wanting desperately to fly over but unwilling to face the dangers of the Mansion on her own.