The Scarlet Devil Mansion [Open]

[recon5]

This was more to Korochi's liking. Even if Kanda and Hikaru were forced to remain at the gate the fight would still be a four-on-four counting the reinforcements, and with what Kanda had mentioned earlier about Hikaru and the girl lacking combat ability the odds would still be against them if the numbers were even. She refrained from forming any Orochi heads as she wanted to see if a fight would indeed break out or if the gatekeeper would be gracious enough to let them pass.

----

Carmellia was relieved to see that Hikaru was still outside the Mansion's compound. She'd been afraid of having to deal with the Scarlet sisters or their Chief Maid but her confidence increased when she saw that none of those monsters was present. Without waiting for Katrina to say anything, she flew off the raft and began firing at everyone around Hikaru, being careful to avoid the youth himself.

[Schala]

Katrina's running feet skidded to a halt in front of Hikaru.
"We're getting out of here," she said. "Not back to the windmill, definately not an option. Just...anywhere but here!"
Then she noticed Carmellia was attacking everyone else.
"Stop!" cried Katrina. "You don't know any of these people or the content of their character. Those could be perfectly good people you're shooting at!"

[Augen]

An attack came from the little youkai girl. Meiling flew upwards to evade before looking down at Akane. "Akane! I'll take care of the threat here! You go get the door!" "Aye-aye, cap'n!"

After Akane tongued over the gate, Meiling looked down at her opponents. As far as she was concerned, they all were. At least, the ones who continued to try to pass would be. So she sent a flower-pattern of yellow and pink bullets in their direction. Mostly as a warning shot to weed out who it was she really needed to fight.

[xxhikaruxx]

Hikaru saw Katrina in front of him, he said "But, Katrina, I-"
Yumi saw a shot fired over to Kanda. Yumi jumped out and pushed Kanda out of the way and said "Spade Sheild!"
Yumi pulled out the Ace of Spades and then a giant sheild shaped like a spade appeared in front of her blocking the attack keeping Hikaru, Katrina and Kanda safe. Kanda thought, She is worth something afterall... Damn, there is that maid blocking the gate, that puts me one step farther from getting that stone... I feel a prescence of the shard here, but it is not causing this mist... Why do I feel like its coming from this Mansion...? Kanda was now desperate, he took out his spear and transmitted energy into his spear causing a high concentration of lightning through it. Kanda pointed his spear toward the gate and the high concentration of lightning stretched like an extending blade. Kanda intended to break open the gate but it accidentally aimed toward Akane. Kanda thought Shit!...

[recon5]

Korochi was about to join the fight when she realized that everyone else was focused on one of the newcomers... then they were not... then the gatekeeper began firing at everyone else. The fight was way too chaotic for her to decide who was the most in need of help, but her thoughts were cut short when bullets thudded into the ground around her.

She quickly shifted her head and both her arms into their Orochi form and brought up three barriers. At the same time she moved away from the battlefield, hoping to get a better idea of who was on which side.

----

Carmellia didn't hear Katrina's words as she was busy dodging Meiling's shots. While it was a fairly dense barrage, danmaku wasn't the gatekeeper's strong point and furthermore it seemed that she wasn't being too serious about this attack. Wanting to finish things quickly, Carmellia stopped firing and began charging a shot beyond its regular power level as she dodged.

[Schala]

When Katrina saw all the danmaku, she immediately called out "Shield of Light!" and thrust her hand toward Hikaru.
A protective sphere formed around Hikaru.
"We've got to get out of here," Katrina said. "There's no telling what danger there will be."

[Augen]

Akane landed softly in front of the main entrance to the mansion, opening her eyes just in time to see a bolt of lighting zooming torwards her. "Oh," she said, right before the shot surged through her and she fell to the ground.

Meiling looked over. Akane had been shot. "No... Akane! You're going to regret that," she said before diving foot-first torwards Kanda, releasing more flower danmaku as she plummeted downwards.

[xxhikaruxx]

Yumi pushed kanda away as Hong meirin kicked the two of them with the danmaku flower bullets. Yumi used herself to sheild Kanda as Kanda let go of his spear. And the extending lightning blade disappeared. Yumi was stabbed everywhere by the danmaku bullets. Hikaru said "Girl.... No!"
Then the Yumi Hikaru was looking at disappeared producing smoke. Hikaru frowned, but then out of the smoke was Yumi again! Hikaru was confused. Yumi had actually made an afterimage clone of herself in front of her to minimize the damage of the danmaku flower bullets. Yumi had a few bullets in her shoulder, hip, and leg. She was temporarily immobolized. Kanda slowly got up and said as he picked up his spear "You will pay for that, Gate keeper."
All the sudden Kanda's injury turned worse, Kanda fell to his knees and grunted in pain as he used the spear to support his weight. Now both of Hikaru's new friends are injured but are still breathing and alive. Hikaru looked back at Schala and said "Wait a moment, I cannot leave without Kanda and the Girl."
Hikaru inserted the mag into his gun. Hikaru slowly raised his gun so that the gun was aiming toward Hong Meirin's head. Hikaru moved his index finger and switched the power level from normal to Rapid Fire. He thought, These guys are depending on me now, I will eliminate the Gate keeper and figure out what Kanda is after... Now I know why I came here, I promised Katrina I would be alive... My mission here is to help and know what Kanda is after... That stone... Its all on me. All Hikaru said was "500 rpm..."
As Hikaru said that he picked up a set of Mags he had in his pocket and held it in his other hand.

[recon5]

The tides of battle turned quickly, didn't they? One by one the combatants had fallen until only Hikaru, Korochi, the gatekeeper and the two newcomers remained. The odds were clearly against the gatekeeper now, with both of the newcomers seemingly having chosen to take Hikaru's side against the Youkai. One of the newcomers appeared to have shielded Hikaru with a spell while the other was preparing a powerful shot that the gatekeeper seemed to be too distracted to notice.

Well, that last part certainly had to change. Korochi dropped her barriers and shifted her middle head back into its normal form. She took off and flew towards the small Youkai girl, firing magic beams from her left and right heads as she went.

----

Carmellia's shot was nearly three times more powerful than normal but just as she was about to release it she sensed an attack approaching and dodged upwards. A beam as thick as her waist scorched the air where she had been and she looked back along its path to see what looked like a pair of massive snakes flying towards her. More beams blazed past her and she decided that her new opponent was more deserving of her shot.

----

Korochi saw the large bullet coming and judged that she would only need one shield to stop it, so she raised one with her left head.

She'd underestimated the shot. It smashed right through the shield and consumed her entire left head in a blast of blue light. She grimaced at the pain and heat that shot through her left neck, but she was used to taking hits and kept up the return fire from her right head. As quickly as she could she shifted the headless neck back into its normal form and shifted her left leg into its Orochi form as a replacement.

----

Carmellia was relieved when she saw the monster's left head explode but its right head continued to fire at her from different angles. She tried to shoot back but she couldn't aim properly as she had to focus on dodging the beams.

Then the monster grew another head and it was more than Carmellia was willing to take. She turned and flew away as fast as she could. No reward was worth her life and she was sure that this creature would kill her.

She hadn't gone far when one of the beams seared her whole right arm off at the shoulder. The pain overwhelmed her and knocked her out, causing her to plummet towards the lake.

----

Korochi saw her opponent falling and realized that her battle was over. She shifted her right arm and left leg back into their normal form and swooped down to catch her fallen opponent. The small Youkai seemed to be unconscious so Korochi brought her back onto dry land and formed two Orochi heads to shield them from the ongoing battle.

((OOC: Summary: Carmellia is out of the battle, out cold and missing her right arm. Korochi is shielding Carmellia and herself at a point near where the rest are fighting.))

[Schala]

When Katrina saw Kanda and Yumi fall to the ground, injured but still alive, she knew something had to be done.
"I'll help them," she said after Hikaru spoke to her.
She lightly tapped Kanda's shoulder and then Yumi's. She had used her Healing Touch and hoped it would work.
Just then, she saw Carmellia about to fall into the lake, and then saw another girl save her.
Thank goodness!
"It's okay," Katrina said to the wounded pair. "You'll be okay."

[Augen]

Hong's attention was focused on the white-haired kid's weapon. It looked strong... Not good. But maybe if she spammed danmaku attacks with a zigzag motion, she might be able to parry the bullets while making her way in for a punch...

So, that's what she did. She charged torwards Hikaru whilst making sidewinder and releasing rainbow spread bullets. It was a gamble... But if this didn't work, then she still had a few tricks.

[xxhikaruxx]

Hikaru kicked with his legs using the quick step, otherwise known as, the flying shadow. Hikaru disappeared as the bullets hit nothing but an after-image. Hikaru appeared in an open spot where there was no danmaku heading toward. Hikaru pulled the trigger firing 25 bullets in a matter of seconds with amazing recoil toward Hong meirin, the bullets were almost unseeable since the gun was modifed for assassination and Hikaru was modified for a high leveled man of infantry. Hikaru and his gun made a great team. Hikaru quickly took out the Mag and threw it away. Hikaru inserted a new Mag with another load of 25 bullets. And pointed it toward Hong again.

[recon5]

Korochi had a bit of trouble watching for stray bullets through her shields, having shifted her regular head into Orochi form along with her right arm as the left would take some time to recover. She shifted her left leg and used the new pair of eyes to look around her shields.

A soft whimpering caught her attention and she saw that the Youkai she'd rescued was beginning to awaken. The poor girl's shoulder was probably still quite sore but Korochi wasn't completely sure that pain would keep the girl from attacking after she woke up. She therefore decided to put the girl back to sleep until things had settled a bit and reached over with her newest head, but she stopped when she remembered that her Orochi parts tended to break what they touched.

After thinking a bit, Korochi managed to reorient her partially transformed body so that her remaining leg was raised. Taking careful aim, she brought her heel down onto the injured girl's head with what she thought was a moderate amount of force. The girl stiffened at the hit before going limp, which satisfied Korochi, and she went back to watching for stray shots.

[Schala]

Katrina was still comforting the two youkai when she saw Hikaru fighting.
She was sure her shield would break from Hong's rainbow danmaku, but then when Hikaru fired his...whatever it was...the shield did not hold.
Not wanting him to be hurt, she cast another Shield of Light. Of course, it would probably break...again.
As for the two youkai, she kept healing them and was using up a LOT of her strength. Soon she wouldn't have any power left if they didn't heal...

[Augen]

Hong Meiling paused for a moment after the boy seemed to disappear... Then she turned just in time to get hit by a volley of bullets. She managed to dodge her vitals out of the way, but the shots that did hit indeed packed a punch, sending Meiling to the ground. Had she been human, or even a weaker form of youkai, that probably would've killed her... But she managed to pull herself up from the ground, and she looked through the blood in her face at her opponent. "That hurt... Dammit," she said, before pullling back torwards the gates. "Now it's time for my last stand."

In flew some of Hong's underlings. Fairies in green uniforms came out from behind the partition around the mansion. Most of them carried muskets, pointed straight forward. A few others had these things that looked like metal bagpipes. These girls with guns were definately weaker than most youkai, but what they had on their side was numbers. And as Meiling says, "Quantity is a quality all on it's own."