Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 3
A pleasure to meet you. I am Yuka Kazami, Flower Master of the Four Seasons and the strongest youkai in Gensokyo. The great portal that opened in the sky has had catastrophic effects upon the landscape of Gensokyo, decimating my precious flower fields. But I do not mourn nor weep, for in my aged wisdom I know that little good could come of depression. Instead, I react with the most efficient response known to Gensokyo: beautifully elegant violence. Human, youkai, it matters not: all are but expendible casualties in my game of vengeance. Take for example Chen, the little shikigami cat whom we had to discipline just recently. After we left her at the mansion and departed, I left behind my Dual Spell self to teach her not to cross our paths. My other self had her restrained with tendrils of brambles and proceeded to flay the fur off of her tails with a barrage of rose thorns.
That was a lie.
What we did do was proceed to the next floor.
We entered a chilly corridor that made us feel like it was the middle of winter. As the youkai of flowers, I simply cannot stand the cold, so whoever came up with this area shall surely feel my wrath.
As if to mock my intolerance of the cold, our oblivious mages thought it wise to halt our advance in order to finish preparing a magic circle to mark our progress.
Angered by their inexcusable refusal to acknowledge my plight, I had no choice but to convince them through my personal favorite means of coercion.
That, too, was a lie. My apologies, but I do so love teasing the weak. And there isn't anyone who's stronger than I.
Speaking of weaklings to tease, our party soon came upon Wriggle Nightbug, shivering in some cold corner. She begged us to help her capture four of her little insect pets that were scattered in the dungeon. Or were we to exterminate them? I usually get the two confused.
Not far beyond where we met Wriggle, we came upon a most peculiar sight.
The harvest goddess, Minoriko Aki, had become a divine popsicle. While I normally care little for those who are at the mercy of the strong, even my heart was moved to pity at the plight of a fellow avatar of nature. With my own hands, I tore apart the ice that had encased her. Unfortunately, the ice itself shattered from my strength, and Minoriko along with it. Soon there was nothing left of her but a bloody pile of ice crystals that smelled faintly of sweet potatoes.
Of course that was a lie.
Patchouli convinced us to let the frozen goddess be until after we find the culprit responsible for this mess. There was little doubt in any of our minds just who that was.
The weak little ice fairy who fancies herself to be strong dared to taunt us. Regrettably, we were in her icy domain. Her unnatural chill put a strain on both our bodies and our spirits. Knowing that she'd lose to us in a fair fight, that coward just kept running away and waiting for the cold to wear us down. In her haste she left behind something else encased in ice. I didn't have a chance to see what it was, for Suwako Moriya had immediately snatched it up.
For what felt like hours, we endured the biting cold to give chase. Along the way, many new monsters came to obstruct our path. Allow me to elaborate on the more dangerous threats.
The nekomata Shadowcats surprised us with their swift speed, outpacing even our fastest allies, so of course I myself had no hope of beating them in a race. Their quick Shadowstep attack inflicted only the most superficial of wounds, but threatened to stricken several people at once with paralysis. If no other enemies are present, then their threat is minimal, as the Shadowcats could not hope to bring any of us down on its own, but the danger of mass paralysis gave other more formidable foes more time to strike us down.
Bronze Sorceresses were also very agile, although not quite enough for the fastest of our group to outrun. Their ice magic may not be too dangerous for anyone not vulnerable to the cold, but an entire group of sorceresses appearing at once could decimate an unprepared group.
Eventually, we tracked down the annoying ice fairy and forced her to contend with us on our terms. However, her frosty aura had taken its toll on us. Having endured such punishing temperatures, our limbs felt stiff and rigid, and our movements languished as we tried to keep up with her brisk energy.
Of course, even these obstacles did nothing to stop my wrath. Here at last was the culprit responsible for my day's misery. For producing this terrible chill to harm my flowers, for freezing a kindred soul in ice, and for having the gall to proclaim herself to be stronger than I, she was to receive the most severe of punishments. This was to be no mere teasing; this was to be utter annihilation. I mercilessly blasted her frail little body with the most beautiful and deadly barrage that nature could wrought.
This was certainly no lie.
And yet, despite my indignation, I am forced to concede that even my assault paled in comparison to another's. Our little frog goddess struck with an intensity even greater than my own, as though she had a more severe vendetta against the idiot ice fairy.
With no more tricks up her sleeve, the fairy quickly succumbed to our relentless might. There was to be no mercy for the loser. At my insistance, we strung her up and left her to melt at the sunny spot on Floor 1. When this proved too slow, I ordered Patchouli to speed it up with Royal Flare. Once she had sufficiently melted, we served her up as part of the brew for our afternoon tea.
That was a lie. Or was it?
~ Yuka Kazami