Marisa: Yo.
Aya: Ah, Ms. Marisa Kirisame. It's been quite a while.
Whoa, you remember me?
Once a reporter has investigated a lead, she never forgets it.
As if that's true. Ya failed to reveal the truth on who's the fastest in Gensokyo after all.
My, isn't it a fact? There wasn't anyone I left out, was there?
The one right in front of ya. I ain't gonna run from a battle on who's the fastest. Let's settle this right here!
A human is attempting to compete with me? This could be very interesting. Okay, I accept your challenge!
Great, ya better not throw a tantrum when ya get beat!
Hah, the eventual result is plain for anyone to see!
That's it, I'm definitely gonna make ya cry!
**********
Our next assault against the Human Village brings us to a formidable obstacle: Aya Shameimaru. With a fairly high level and incredible speed, Aya tore into our party right out of the gates, bringing both Wriggle and Marisa down to fairly low health before most of our party even got a chance to act.
Aya is weaker in melee combat, but she makes liberal use of her special, Wind God's Fan, which both deals damage and automatically moves her from Close to Far range, keeping enemies at bay with ease. Shanghai managed to get close for a while, though, and dealt significant damage during that time, finally bringing the Tengu down.
In addition to the advancement of our conquest, we managed to capture an enemy soldier, Sousuke Jinbara. He has pretty good stats for a ranged attacker, with a natural 7 in both RNG and SPD. We may need him more than I had thought, actually...
Akyu: Wow...everyone seems to be working very hard.
All the villagers who were able and willing to fight gathered at the plaza every day for training. Akyu happened to catch a glimpse of them while passing by, and was quickly filled with admiration for them.
Villager: Ah, good afternoon, Lady Akyu. Are you out to do some shopping?
Ah, yes. I am just about to return home.
A young man nearby called out to her. She put her bags of items she bought earlier down as she spoke, partly because the heat of the mid-day sun had made her feel a little dizzy.
Whew...It is rather warm today.
Yes it is. It must be hard on you, Lady Akyu.
Ah, yes...My body is not very durable, unfortunately.
Would you like to join us? Training yourself will help you grow stronger to the effects of the sun as well.
I am afraid that I am not very good at physical exercise...Unlike everyone else here.
She politely turned down the invitation. She much preferred sitting at a desk with a pen in hand.
I see, that's too bad...Aren't you fighting with Ms. Keine and all of us too? Wouldn't that be dangerous?
It may be...But I shall do my best as my body allows.
Hahaha, alright. If things get dangerous, we'll protect you, so don't worry.
Thank you very much.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I ought to be heading back as well. See you again!
The young man with a good physique waved goodbye, and returned to the plaza. A tinge of envy started to develop within Akyu upon seeing all the energetic youths training hard.
They look like they are having fun. I am feeling a little jealous now. But I must not do anything too rash to ensure that the reincarnation goes smoothly.
If by chance, the person holding the legacy dies before preparations were completed, the reincarnation would not be guaranteed. And if the Hieda family were to collapse, who would take over the Gensokyo Chronicles?
...But as impudent as my actions may be...It has been quite fun.
The large-scale event occurring now may be more dangerous than training, but for Akyu, who had never seen such a thing in her present life or her memories, it was an event that she had to participate in.
**********
The human village launches a counterattack on their turn. Against them, we fielded Hourai, Shikieiki, and some generic units. Our enemies were Aya and a squad of human soldiers. In this 5-on-5 match, it soon became obvious that pretty much only one character on either side actually mattered: the powerhouses of Shikieiki and Aya.
Thanks to her immense speed and ranged attack power, Aya started off the fight by dealing 250-300 damage per hit to our generic units, leaving them easy prey for the rest of her team to pick off. Shikieiki, while slower, was also hitting for the same amount, and managed to nearly OHKO several enemies. Due to Aya's speed, her team was able to wreck everyone but Shikieiki in record time. However, with her high stats and level Shikieiki was able to practically solo four enemies all by herself, including Aya. Even when grossly outnumbered, she managed to slowly defeat every last enemy. While the battle guage may have been heavily in our opponent's favor for most of the battle, defeating all enemies automatically means a victory for us regardless of what the guage had read just before the end.
Unfortunately, this proved to be a rather pyrrhic victory.
We lose two of our members in this battle. Admittedly, they weren't particularly important members, but that could still be somewhat costly at this point in the game. Hopefully, the guy we captured earlier could make up for this in part.
**********
Marisa: Hey, did ya hear? Or rather, did ya read?
Reimu: About what?
This thing was delivered to my house.
Marisa's hand fidgeted with her skirt for a while, before it eventually threw a rolled-up piece of paper towards Reimu.
...Ah, this...Where did you just pull that from?
It was convenient. Best for ya not to think about it. From your reaction, I'm gonna guess that she came over here too?
Uh-huh, she landed a clean hit on my head. Hmph, she'd be sorry if my brain got damaged from that.
Who knows, maybe a good whack would make it work better...Okay okay, my bad, now put that spellcard away!
You always love to say more than is necessary, don't you?
Reimu then stuffed the spellcard back into her shrine maiden outfit through the neck.
And where do ya keep YOUR stuff, huh? Well, that ain't a big deal anyway. More importantly, someone sure has guts. She can't declare herself the fastest.
Marisa exaggeratedly slapped the newspaper with the back ofher hand as she spoke. Just when did someone have to get permission to talk about who the fastest was?
It's not like you have a monopoly on that title.
Whatever ya say, this line is definitely her way of callin' me out. It's only gonna be right to take up on anyone who picks a fight with me.
...Well, feel free to do your best, as long as it doesn't become a headache for me.
Reimu thought that Marisa would act against orders when she was as fired up as that, so she readied a little motivation in terms of a brandished needle to keep her in line.
**********
Turn: 31
Ouki: 9785
Ryumaku: 30/62
Actions Available: 2
Our Territories:
Hakurei Shrine
Defense: 250/250
Cost to Develop: 24 RES
Night-Blind Road
Defense: 160/160
Cost to Develop: 27 RES
Faintly Dark Path
Defense: 175/175
Cost to Develop: 30 RES
Magic Forest Entrance
Defense: 180/180
Cost to Develop: 21 RES
Magic Forest Border
Defense: 160/160
Cost to Develop: 30 RES
Magic Forest Interior
Defense: 210/210
cost to Develop: 9 RES
Road of Reconsideration
Defense: 190/190
Cost to Develop: 9 RES
Muenzuka
Defense: 215/215
Cost to Develop: 6 RES
Enemy Territories:
Human Village
Army: Human Village Corps
General: Keine Kamishirasawa (leader)
Defense: 130/310
Prisoners:
Sousuke Jinbara - Good ranged stats, excellent speed.
Special: Human Harmer, increases damage dealt to humans.
Level: 7
HP: 350
MEL: 4
RNG: 7
DEF: 1
WIS: 5
SPD: 7
RES: 2
NEG: 5
Cost: 2
Requires 9 NEG to recruit.
What a day! We lost two members, but also captured someone with pretty nice stats. I suppose recruiting this guy is a foregone conclusion, eh?
I'm starting to think that with Aya being this much of a threat, we should probably replace Wriggle with Shikieiki in our main assault party, just to ensure that we can at least win the attacks that we know we must do, and hope for the best in regards to any counterattacks.