Gensokyo Dream (Chapter 6)

I take a quiet sip of tea, body clean and energy refilled. 

Man I LOVE being a boundary youkai. 

After plowing Flandre and Remilia into unconsciousness- a task that took considerable time and effort as their stamina somehow rivals my own which is infinite- Sakuya once more fixed me some lovely tea. 

I set up a game room in the mansion- with Sakuya's help, then I sort of just sat around. 

"I believe I'll go explore some more of Gensokyo." I announce blandly. "I'll be back eventually." 

I know Sakuya can hear me. 

With that I stand and quietly walk through a gap in reality itself. 

Noooow where do I go? 

Eh, let's just walk around, I guess. 

[Split] 

I watch winged girls flutter through the sky, throwing balls of energy back and forth. 

How cute, they're having a little danmaku fight. 

It looks like they're putting quite a lot of effort into those attacks. 

The attacks that the 'bosses' here shoot in bright colorful patterns hundreds- if not thousands at a time... with power being dozens if not hundreds of times more potent as well. 

"WAHAHAHA! EYE AM THE STRONGEST!" 

Like that...  

I watch a blue haired girl with spikes of ice for wings flutter around. Blue orbs scattering around her in a snowflake pattern. Whatever they touch seems to ice over and freeze. 

Oh. That's just Cirno. 

FLASH 

Icicles are shot forwards, skewering the fairies fighting her as they detonate with little popping noises. 

They'll be back. I've been told by Yukari that the Fairies are kind of immortal as long as I don't 'actually try to kill them with boundary manipulation'. 

The same can extend to a majority of youkai. Being able to regenerate entire limbs and vitally important organs with mere time. 

The evil ones are typically more resilient. I like to call it the 'bastard gene'. 

Well, actually, it's more of an evolution thing. Evil Youkai are more likely to get into conflicts, thus be damaged so their bodies reflect this by being hyper resilient. Their sense of self being in their very dna. 

Well. Maybe not DNA. But if you tore one limb from limb and all that remained was a headless torso... about ninty five percent of evil youkai would regenerate their head and limbs like nothing. 

A boundary youkai is among them, being in roughly the five percent or so that can function without vital organs at all. 

Hell, the concept of 'undo damage' is ingrained into my very DNA. 

Even If I'm reduced to a piece of flesh the size of my finger I'll regrow in an instant as my cells realize 'heeeey brain's gone. Should fix.'. 

"It's you!" I pause at the voice, eyes widening for a moment. 

A dark smirk quickly crawls across my lips, one that fades to a perfected impassive stare as I turn. 

"Oh it's you." I deadpan. 

I glare down at a short blonde girl, she has shark-like teeth, a red ribbon in her hair and blood red eyes. 

Rumia. The youkai who tormented me after I arrived here in Gensokyo. 

"I'm gonna eat you! Then you'll come back and I'll eat you again! And again! And then I gather enough power to beat up that mean shrine maiden!" 

"Is. That. So?" I question slowly. 

"H-HEY! THAT'S MY LINE!" She growls. 

"C'MERE!" She roars as she lunges forwards, maw opening wide. 

My hand comes up and smashes into her nose. I wouldn't even call it a real punch. My back wasn't in it, nor any of my weight or my knees. I sort of just held out my hand and extended my elbow 

She lets out a cry of pain, clutching her face. "My nothe! You bwoke my nothe again!" 

Tears prickle at her eyes as she stumbles backwards, her hands come down slightly... and I punch her in the nose. 

"AAAGH! Again!? Whath's wong wiff you!" 

The second she lets down her guard I do it AGAIN. 

"OWWW!" She rolls on the floor, clutching her face. 

"You see... this is what greed gets you." I smile as I crouch beside her. "I'm very annoyed with you." 

She rolls over like a feral animal, hand reaching towards my throat. 

Sigh 

"AGH- WHYYYYY?!" I had punched her a fourth time. 

"Normally you'd learn by now that attacking just gets you punched in the mouth." I deadpan. 

Her red eyes peek out from in between her fingers. 

Darkness surges forwards. 

I punch forwards again, a small rift appearing in reality for a split second. 

I punch her nose directly, passing by her hand shielding her face. 

"HOW?! HOW DID YOU- AAAAAH!" She writhes. 

I opened a boundary on the back of her hand that opened on the other side of her hand... not that she knows it. 

I step forwards, picking her up under my arm like a sack of potatos. "Come now! We're going on an adventure!" 

"W-What?" The girl questions, pain briefly forgotten. "KYAAAA!" 

She lets out a shriek of abject terror as she sees a boundary open in front of me... and I haphazardly toss her in. 

We float in a ceaseless void of red eyes. They seem to lock onto us... or rather... her 

I flip her slightly, taking her head in both hands, grinning as I stare into her eyes. "You see... I'm not the puny little pathetic human I used to be." 

"N-No! No no no! You- You can't! You can't be a youkai!" The girl whines. "O-Ow! Owowowow!" 

I tighten my grip on her head slightly. A little more and that cute little head would pop like that pineapple that was put between that one goth girl's thighs after spongebob didn't pay his rent. 

I lazily toss her forwards. 

"You see... normally I wouldn't be so mad at you. But that's the thing... you killed me over and over and over. It was all take take take... you never ONCE Offered to give me something. You could have at the very least worked something out with me!" 

She turns, quickly trying to flee into the ceaseless void. 

She finds herself bumping into me, she flinches back with another cry. 

"You were gaining power from eating me, I survived every time you killed me. Reasonably I was your ticket to infinite power had you just cut a deal with me." 

"But. You didn't." I smile. "Cactus." 

"Wh-" Rumia blinks, shrinking back in terror. "What?" 

A large Saguaro cactus comes through a gap behind her. I wordlessly shove her forwards, manipulating the boundary of her momentum and send her catapulting towards it. 

I reappear in her path, catch the back of her head, turn and slam her face first into the cactus. 

Needles stab into her as she is covered in pulped cactus. "AAAAH!" 

I drag her up and down the large plant slowly, before letting go and floating backwards... then drop kick her, sending her crashing through the cactus completely 

I reorientate myself so I am upside down. I make a grasping motion as her momentum is slowed... then it reverses sending her shooting towards me. 

I catch her by the face, her jaw cracking slightly as I slowly manhandle her, flipping her over so she is now 'right side up' for me. 

"You could have at least been nice about it, you know. I thought I was helping you at first. Hell, there's an entire LIST of what you could have done for payment!" 

A locker floats by, the doors swinging open. 

I swing the youkai into it, the metal denting with a loud thud, then slam the door shut with a clang. 

Then I begin spinning it. 

Faster and faster. The locker begins to tumble like a dart. 

"STOOOOP! I'M GETTING SICK!" The youkai screams. 

I kick the locker, causing it to spiral into the distance. 

I abruptly halt its spin, I can hear the girl's forehead smash against the metal wall inside. 

The door creaks open as I reach into a gap and pull. 

A stop sign is tugged free from the other side as I fly forwards. 

CLANG 

An impression of her face is left in the metal as she is shot downwards at high speeds. 

'hmm... now what? Oh! I know!' 

A large machine floats into view through a portal, the door slowly opening as I float back through a gap, reappearing in front of her and halting her momentum through catching her by the neck. 

I stuff her in the drier and turn it on, watching as she is quickly rotated at high speeds. 

She throws up causing me to wince. 'Ew'. 

After around twenty more seconds, I wave my hand, cleaning her off completely and opening the door. 

She flops out into the void, curling up into a ball as she begins quietly whimpering. 

Now she's making me feel a little bad, actually... 

A long sigh leaves my lips. "Okay. I forgive you." 

"H-Huh?" The youkai questions, tears in her eyes. 

"I forgive you for being a little brat." 

She sniffles, legs brought up to her chest as she continues to float there. Tears streaming down her cheeks. 

"Do you understand why I was so angry, though?" I question. 

"Y-Yes?" 

"You're lying." I note. 

"EEK-" she flinches like I'm about to hit her. 

I float down beside her, crossing my legs. 

"Imagine for a moment that you've got the ability to create food. You can do it pretty much whenever you want, any time you need. But. There's one catch. Doing so makes you feel like you did when you were in the drier... how would you feel if someone stronger than you showed up, forced you to make food, then took it for themselves?" 

Two red eyes blink up at me. 

"You know fully well that they could have offered something to you in exchange for that suffering. They could be your friend, give you money, or maybe even teach you magic. But no. They instead just take your food... and every time you recover, they just force you to make more food and then take it again." 

The girl looks down slightly, a small pout on her lips. 

"Do you see now?" 

"M-Mhm." She nods quietly, her voice sounding slightly choked, like she's about to start crying.  

I reach over and pat her head, causing her to flinch. 

"You can leave now." I decide as I open a gap beneath her and promptly shove her through it. 

"Now... Now what?" 

I'm silent for a long moment. 

"WELL. Time to go meet the shrine maiden!" 

[Split] 

I drop several coins into a large donation box. 

Woosh 

The shoji door slams open as a black haired woman wearing a red shrine maiden's outfit quickly zooms out of the building, eyes glinting with poorly hidden greed. 

She locks eyes with me, pausing, confusion seeming to radiate from her, brownish red-eyes narrowing slightly as she turns her nose up slightly in disgust. 

"A youkai? Why the hell are you here?!" 

"Well, big sis Yukari did give me a list of things I should check out across Gensokyo if I got bored." I shrug. "The Hakurei shrine was number one. She said 'give that broke bitch some money and she'll do some tricks for youu'-AAAH-" 

I duck under a massive yin-yang orb. 

"H-HEY! I gave you money! What the hell is wrong with you?!" 

"Don't call me a broke bitch!" The girl shouts, flying after me, sending a spray of danmaku as I lift off the ground. 

"I didn't! It was Yukari! It's ALWAYS Yukari!" I reply. 

I counter her attacks by shooting a few basic energy balls of my own. 

She holds up her hands, a yin-yang orb forming. One that grows larger and larger and larger. 

"huh..." I mutter. 

It grows to about the size of a car as she hurls it downwards. 

It rockets forwards. 

I swipe my hand lazily, causing a rip in reality to form. 

I can barely hear the quiet 'huh?!' From the girl before. 

CRASH 

She is sent hurtling towards the ground below, smashed against the front of her own attack that spontaneously spawns behind her like a bug caught on the windshield of a fast moving car. 

She eventually impacts the ground below, kicking up a massive dust cloud. 

"..." 

She's probably uber pissed right now... 

Which means... I should skedaddle before she tries to murder me. 

The world zips open behind me, I float backwards, then it zips back up. 

[Split] 

A blue haired girl sits in a lavish and frilly room, clothes strewn around her. A yawn leaves her fanged maw as her red eyes slowly blink. 

Well. 

Suzutsu can certainly work through her stamina. 

She sits there without clothes, her pointed ears listening to the quiet snoring of her sister across the room. 

How he can keep up with the both of them and still have more than enough stamina to keep going... she doesn't know. He has to be cheating somehow. Boundary youkai are known to cheat when it comes to simple things like injuries, magical power, and cleanliness. 

She glances to the side as a white haired maid appears, a tray in her hand that is holding a tea cup and tea pot. 

A vibrant reddish liquid is poured into the cup and offered to the petite vampire. 

She takes a sip, a sigh of relief as the scarlet liquid quenches her thirst and moistens her dry throat. "Wonderful as always, Sakuya. Thank you." 

"I live to serve, my lady." The white haired woman replies before disappearing. 

She's probably cooking something right now. 

The red-eyed vampiress looks around the room, a frown on her lips, idly wondering where her man is. 

Riiip 

A hole in reality forms next to her as Suzutsu apppears "Heeey, so, like another question on vampire weaknesses, but like... if I spilled a bag of rice would you be forced to count every grain?" 

Remilia blinks twice, a small blush appearing on her cheeks as she looks away from him. "Have vampire weaknesses really become so widespread? Why must the mortals craft story after story of ridiculous weaknesses... wood? Garlic? Water? Why would they be weak to something that is so laughably common! That's like being deathly allergic to dirt!" 

"So, it doesn't work?" The brown haired youkai questions. 

"..." But... even a broken clock is right twice a day. "To be fair... I am really good at counting." 

A bag of rice is spilled on the floor causing her brain to briefly bluescreen. 

That little sh- Onetwothreefourfivesix- 

"One hundred and three thousand five hundred and twenty seven." She calls out after a brief moment of calculation, mildly irritated by the action. 

"Huh..." Her little brat of a suitor hums. "I... have no way of knowing if that's right or you're just fucking with me." 

"I suppose you will just never know." Remilia sips her tea again.  

"Also. Clean that- oh." She blinks at the clean floor, a quiet hum leaving her lips. "Whatever." 

"Sooo would you like to see what I was working on while you were asleep?" The boundary youkai questions as the vampiress continues to pout. 

Remilia is silent for a long moment. 

"..." 

"Yeah okay." She relents after a few moments, only to let out a small squeak as two strong arms- that she loves to be held by- reaches through a portal behind her and tugs her through. 

She sits there for a moment, tea cup in hand as she is placed on the lap of her lover, being gently hugged from behind. She gazes up towards a strange rectangle on the wall. That... looks like a television... but it's so big?! And thin! Nothing at all like the television of thirty years ago.  

"Tadaaaa." The boundary youkai hums.  

"Is this... a television?" The girl questions. "I had one... but we couldn't do much with it in Gensokyo. We stopped getting programs when we crossed over. It should still be around here somewhere collecting dust." 

"This one we CAN use due to boundary youkai bullshit!" Suzutsu beams. "I simply manipulated the boundary between us getting connection to the outside world... and us not getting connection!" 

"..." 

He can do that?- 

"That was an oversimplification. It's actually quite complex. I sort of weakened the boundary between reality in a very few specific and small locations to allow radio waves to be redirected to our television. It took me an hour or two of trial and error. I even had to go ask Yukari about it- as she did something similar in her home... though it was a little simpler for her as she's kind of... metaphysically... closer to the outside world." 

"I... see..." Remilia declares. 

She doesn't. But he doesn't need to know that.  

"So? What now?" 

"Well, do you want to play a game ooooor watch a cooking show!" 

He points a smaller rectangle with buttons on it at the Tv... a remote if she recalls correctly. 

She watches briefly as a human dices an onion then slides it into a large pot of red sauce. Tomato presumably... unless this is a vampire cooking channel. 

"Then we've got cartoons." Suzutsu changes the channel to an animation. 

"Or drama." 

He eventually offers the remote to her as a table appears next to them, Sakuya's busy as usual, bringing the tea set from the other room to the new one. 

She gently taps the buttons on the remote with a sole finger, holding it flat in her other hand. 

The screen shifts causing her smile to grow. 

"Oh... and I wouldn't worry about breaking it." A shudder passes through her body at the whispery voice of her lover as he speaks right next to her pointed ear. "I messed with the boundaries of its durability." 

Boundary youkai truly are impressive monsters, aren't they. 

His fingers briefly dance along her body before he kisses her neck from behind, placing a few love-bites as well. 

Ooooh that does push quite a few of her buttons! a vampire being kissed and bit on the neck, how deliciously ironic and romantic! 

I-it's causing bats to flutter in her stomach. 

Yes. Bats. Not butterflies. She's a proud gothic vampire woman and wants nothing to do with the colorful insects. 

She relaxes in his gentle grasp, gazing at the television as she tries to find something interesting to watch as his hands go down along her sides and briefly massage her thighs. 

"So... what do you plan on doing today?" Her lover asks as he gropes her from behind, she rubs her legs together with a thin smile. 

"W-Well..." She huffs, shoulders shaking briefly. "Since you have given me such an impressive gift... it would be a true shame to not make use of it. 

"I see." The teen behind her hums. 

"Did you perhaps have something else in mind?" The vampire questions slowly. 

"Not particularly." Suzutsu shrugs. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go visit the outside world... perhaps go see the vampire clans in person?" 

Her eyes widen as she turns, a bright smile on her face. One that she quickly reins in as she doesn't want Suzutsu to see her as giddy as a school child. 

She has cultivated this serious, regal, and professional aura. It would be a shame for it to be ruined. 

"You're cute when you're excited." The boundary youkai hums. 

Shit. 

A pout appears on her face as she rises to her feet, taking her tea cup and drinking deeply from it. "That sounds like an enjoyable evening if I do say so myself. Allow me to freshen up slightly. I look forwards to seeing what the vampire clans have to offer." 

She recalls what Suzutsu has told her about the clans in the past. "I'll temper my expectations." 

"That'd probably be for the best." Suzutsu agrees. "Oh. Quick question. What's your opinion on Dhampirs?" 

"..." 

Is he- 

"A-Are... you perhaps suggesting something?" The vampire asks carefully. 

She's unsure how to feel about that. 

Does she want to be a mother? 

Well. Perhaps one day. She'd make considerable effort to be a better parent than her own. But does she want a child... now? 

Would that be... too soon? 

The thought admittedly does make her a little warm and tingly inside, to lay in bed, Suzutsu at her side as a little blue- or brown haired girl with purple- or red- eyes bursts in the room, leaping on the bed and bouncing atop it in excitement for the day. 

"Huh?" Suzutsu whispers. "Oh. OH! No... I didn't mean it like that, sorry. I'm not really... ready for that quite yet. Even if Yukari made quite a few not so subtle jabs that I should manipulate the boundaries of our fertility to ensure that happens in order to- and I quote- 'make sure that those two don't bother me for a decade or two at least'. But I'll leave such decisions up to you. You could certainly make it so we are fated to have a child." 

She... she could... 

But damn that Yukari! Trying to get her lover to lock her down like that! 

Suzutsu continues. "Though... I am curious... how would you classify a child between us? Dhampir? But that's more for half vampire half human. I don't think there's a word for 'half-youkai' like that..."  

"It wouldn't be a half-youkai." Remilia replies, red dusting her cheeks. "It would be a full youkai. Perhaps not quite a vampire. Nor a boundary youkai. But something new and almost certainly powerful." 

"You know, most places don't really qualify Vampires as 'Youkai'. They typically see them as a separate entity like devils, angels, or werewolves. At the least the youkai of my world do." 

She tilts her head back. "Hm. I suppose when there's more than just two vampires you would inevitably call that a species of its own. So. If you weren't talking about our future child... why did you mention Dhampirs?" 

"What's your opinion on... gaining one as a sort of... servant?" I ask slowly. 

She turns slightly, cocking her head to the side. "Huh? Well... I wouldn't mind it. Why?" 

"I know of a Dhampir that's said to have a quite... dangerous ability. One that I would prefer isn't anywhere but in the hands of someone I trust." 

"A dangerous ability?" She echoes. "For a boundary youkai such as yourself to call it such, it must be quite impressive. What is it that they can do? Perhaps... some form of conceptual creation? Can they make fiction reality? It has to be some form of conceptual power... right?" 

"Ah. A bit of context. It's the human side I'm worried about here. You see, in my world, humans and half humans are sometimes born with something called a 'Sacred Gear' a mystical object bound to their soul that was originally created by the biblical god." 

"Okay... so this... sacred gear... is what bothers you?" She echoes. 

"Every sacred gear has... what is basically a limit-broken state in which the rules of the sacred gear are broken and it can evolve called a 'Balance Breaker'. What a balance breaker can do is typically dependent on the wielder. If the sacred gear doubles your power for a time, now it may double it twice or thrice more. If you can conjure or create holy weapons, now you might be able to summon things to wield those weapons." 

A glint of intrigue enters Remilia's eye. That sounds... interesting... 

 "Amongst these sacred gears. Thirteen stand out. The Longinus." 

"The spear that pierced Christ's side?" Remilia echoes. 

"..." 

"I didn't take you as religious, Remilia." Her boundary youkai love sounds impressed. She tries to not allow pride to show on her face as she looks away, a smirk on her lips. 

"Well. I have had quite a lot of time to read. Oh right. You assumed I'd get burnt by crosses, didn't you?" The fanged girl hums. 

Suzutsu simply nods once. "Anyways, yes. The Longinus spear is the first and most powerful of the thirteen longinus class sacred gears, they were named after it. Sacred gears with the potential to kill gods." 

"And this dhampir has one." 

"She does." Suzutsu nod once. "Valerie Tepes. She isn't respected by her clan as they see her as unclean- a result of her being a dhampir- and, well, she is a woman so... the patriarchal clan sees even less worth in her. She's been locked away, kept alive probably only for her sacred gear. The Holy Grail." 

"And this holy grail... it worries you and the Spear of Longinus does not?" 

"Oh, say what you will about the spear of longinus. It shoots holy energy laser beams so I've heard. That'll probably hurt like a bitch. Maybe even kill me. But the holy grail is more utility than it is useful in direct confrontation. I've heard it can make modifications to people... such as making dragons resistant to dragon slaying weapons... or vampires immune to the light of the sun." 

"That is... vaguely interesting, but I'm not seeing a real... issue here. I'll take her regardless. As a noble descendant to Tepes, I suppose we are related. It wouldn't do for my distant cousin to be treated like a tool by that... that... incompetent branch family." The corner of Remilia's mouth turn upwards briefly. 

Another person to have tea with. She bets Flandre would enjoy having another vampire around. Even if it's merely a halfling. 

"On the surface, it doesn't sound that good." The boundary youkai admits. "But my brother has one of the other longinus. The boosted gear. Something that supposedly can double his strength every ten seconds. The boosted gear is 'average' amongst the Longinus. Perhaps six or seventh place. Debatable on who you ask as it has a rival which can half the power of anyone he touches every ten seconds and they're neck and neck." 

"Oh... hm." Remilia relents.  

Such an ability does sound mildly worrisome. These 'Longinus' must have quite annoying abilities if doubling the users power every ten seconds is considered middling. That puts into context the sort of modifications this 'Sephiroth Grall' might be able to do to a person. 

She'll treat her new family member well.