All six looked up as the moon deepened into an even darker crimson, the sky shifting like spilled wine.
Then—
FWOMP.
Something descended.
Graceful. Elegant. Regal. Terrifying.
Like a noble child trying extremely hard to be dignified.
Remilia Scarlet floated down with perfect theatrical timing.
Her wings flared.
Her dress glittered.
Her presence screamed "I rehearsed this entrance."
She landed lightly on her heels, hands behind her back.
"Mais que signifie tout ce bruit ?
(What is the meaning of all this noise?)"
She said it with the tone of someone who believed the world owed her silence.
Sakuya bowed. "My lady, forgive the disturbance. Also— these people don't speak French."
Reimu muttred. "…I barely speak English."
Chris also mutty"I understood."
Marisa, already pointing an accusatory finger. "HEY YOU!
Short vampire!
I think YOU are the reason the sky's bleeding!"
Remilia blinked.
She turned her head, one slow, aristocratic movement.
"…Short?"
The air dropped ten degrees.
Sanae whispered, "Marisa, WHY would you say that—?!"
Marisa shrugged. "I mean she is—"
"Youmu slapped a hand over Marisa's mouth.
"WE WOULD LIKE TO LIVE."
Remilia cleared her throat, smirking dangerously.
"Oh, me?
Responsible for a magnificent, dramatic, atmospheric red sky?
Is that what you think?"
She giggled.
"Well… you're absolutely right."
Everyone froze.
Reimu squinted. "Wait—you're admitting it?"
Remilia spread her arms dramatically like she was presenting a grand stage show.
"The Scarlet Mist incident is a marvelous production, is it not~?
A perfect display of my power."
She tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Although… the chains of blood-fire are new.
Even I did not do that."
Chris hugged Golden Freddy tighter.
Remilia blinked innocently.
"I simply wanted to block out the sun."
She said it like she was talking about changing curtains.
Reimu pinched the bridge of her nose.
"So… it was literally a sunscreen problem."
Remilia shrugged with perfect smugness.
"Vampires must moisturize their safety, you know."
Marisa had a deadpan face. "Girl. You could've worn a hat."
Remilia just gave her a small smirk. "I do wear a hat. Not the point."
Mokou pinched the bridge of her nose, stepped forward, and talked to Remilia like she was negotiating with a very stubborn, overly dramatic ten-year-old.
"Okay. So.
Can you return the sky back to normal?
Especially the giant fire chains up there?"
Everyone looked at Remilia.
She put a hand to her chin.
She thought.
She pondered.
She made a cute little "hmm" face.
Then:
"No."
She said it cheerfully. Like she was politely declining more tea.
Reimu's soul left her body for a moment.
Marisa: "Bro didn't even pretend to try—!"
Sanae: "Is that a no-you-can't or a no-I-won't?!"
Remilia pointed at the flaming chains.
"That part?
Not mine.
I only did the mist.
The chains are someone else's mess."
Youmu massaged her temples.
"Wonderful. Something we know".
Reimu took a long, deep breath.
She held it.
She exhaled slowly.
Then she raised her gohei.
"Why… must everything in our lives… be solved with a fight."
The universe immediately provided an answer:
Because this is Touhou.
The air shimmered into spell card borders.
Remilia smugly crossed her arms. "I suppose this is the part where you challenge me, dear shrine maiden?"
Reimu grumbled."I don't want to. I'm tired. I was having a nice day before all of this."
Marisa patted her back. "You were not."
"Marisa, please."
Sakuya, standing behind Remilia, whispered. "Milady, I recommend you take this seriously. They are not… ordinary this time."
Remilia laughed.
"Oh Sakuya, dear.
I'm a descendant of fate itself.
A little shrine maiden tantrum won't—"
BWOM.
Reimu's spell card activated with enough force to ruffle Remilia's hair and slam the doors of the mansion shut behind them.
Remilia's eye twitched. "…Okay.
I see we're starting strong."
The moment Reimu lifted her gohei, Remilia's wings unfurled fully, scattering red motes like embers drifting through the night. "Spell Card — Scarlet Shoot!"
A spiraling helix of scarlet bullets burst outward, painting the sky in a twisting pattern. They weren't just danmaku — they moved with Remilia's elegance, like a waltz of crimson lights.
Reimu darted upward, weaving effortlessly through the slow, swirling maze. "Easy. I've dodged worse on a Tuesday."
Marisa wasn't nearly as calm. "Why is your basic attack already this flashy!?"
She barely slid under a cluster of danmaku that looked suspiciously like rose petals made of plasma.
Mokou simply tanked a bullet."Ow."
Remilia blinked.
"…Why didn't you dodge that?"
Mokou: "I don't feel like it."
Reimu countered. Her ofuda glowed bright pink. "Spirit Sign — Fantasy Seal -Spread-!"
A ring of homing orbs shot outward, weaving around Remilia's barrage and piercing through the gaps.
Remilia dodged with a delighted laugh, her afterimage trailing behind her. "Yes! That's the spirit, shrine maiden!"
Marisa charged forward. Her broom flashed as she spun. "Love Sign — Master Spark!"
A massive laser cut straight through the scarlet sky, shaking the air like thunder.
Remilia smirked. She snapped her fingers "Time for something more refined. Noble Sign — Red Magic!"
A dome of crimson energy bloomed around her, the Master Spark smashing against it and dispersing into glittering fragments.
Marisa stared. "You BLOCKED it!? No fair! That's supposed to delete bosses!"
Sakuya, appearing behind her
"Please don't complain. Milady is simply built differently."
Marisa screamed as Sakuya threw knives at her.
Mokou intercepted, melting them mid-air with a wave of flame.
Remilia soared higher.
Her silhouette framed against the red moon. "Moonlight Sign — Silent Selene!"
The moon itself pulsed, and white beams rained down like falling stars — silent, cold, elegant death.
Reimu clicked her tongue, dodging gracefully. "Seriously!? Using the moon as a laser grid?"
Remilia she had a smirk. "I AM a vampire, dear."
Marisa dodge her attack spat back. "So?! I'm a magician, but you don't see me shooting books at people—"
A stray beam clipped her hat.
Marisa: "HEY!"
Mokou stepped forward.
Her hair ignited, wings of flame unfurling behind her. "Fine. I'll get serious too.
Fire Bird — Houhou Phoenix Dive!"
She shot upward like a flaming comet.
Remilia's eyes widened — just for a split second — before she twirled out of the way, the heat distorting the air. "My, my…
You're chasing me quite aggressively."
She then send attack at her
Mokou blocked her attack."You turned the sky into a barbecue pit. Pay up!"
Reimu, Marisa, and Mokou surrounded Remilia in a loose triangle.
Remilia's wings flared.
Their spell circles glowed.
The fire chains overhead resonated, pulsing in rhythm with the tension. "I must admit…
You're all far more entertaining than I expected."
Reimu just looked at her annoyed.
"Remilia.
End this.
Or the next spell won't be under rules."
Remilia smiled — fangs just barely visible.
"…Then I suppose it's time.
Let me show you a spell worthy of the Scarlet Devil."
Her aura surged.
Scarlet lightning crawled across the air.
The red moon blazed. "Scarlet Sign — Scarlet Meister!"
The final phase begins.
Meanwhile what nobody notice, was Chris covering his ears.
Sakuya noticed as she landed down. "Are you ok?"
He looked at her, still covering his ears and said in English. "Too Loud".
Sakuya was confused she couldn't understand the langues he spoke. "I am sorry, can you say in a way I can understand?"
Chris didn't say something in was reacting, he closes his ears tighter before It activates he took heavy breath.
Meanwhile in the Library
Patchouli looked up seeing the Book trashing, she tryed to make a new Chains but all of them broke and broke to the libery was Patchy felt on her ass.
Patchouli saw the Grimoire going of. "Well shit".
As it flyed out, it came to the battle field, as it came to Chris side, as it floated around him.
Something spoke in his head. 'Oh, a Golden Soul, Mine'.
Chris felt his energy match with the Book, as he removed his hand from his ear as he felt his power be drawn in the Book as he saw one of his many power's he didn't want to use and then.
Chris let out scream. "Stop figthing!"
Everything stopped. Literally.
Remilia's Scarlet Meister froze mid-cast.
Reimu's ofuda halted mid-air.
Marisa's broom sputtered like it forgot how physics worked.
Mokou's flames dimmed to embers around her fists.
And Sakuya — the time-stopper herself —
felt time stop around her.
All because:
Golden chains erupted from the ground.
Not violently.
Not harshly.
Just… inevitably.
They snaked around ankles, wrists, spell circles, weapons —
binding everyone gently but completely, like divine restraints.
The entire battlefield went silent.
A scream echoed beneath the red moon.
Chris, tiny, frightened, with tears at the corners of his eyes, shouted:
"STOP FIGHTING!!"
And reality obeyed.
At Chris's side, the Grimoire shivered.
Pages fluttered wildly.
Runes rearranged themselves.
New glyphs carved into pure gold formed with every pulse of Chris's aura.
Patchouli arrived floating on a book like she usually did —
and immediately almost fell off it when she saw what was happening. "…That's not good.
That is the opposite of good.
That's 'seal-the-universe' level bad."
She reached toward the Grimoire—
And the book hissed, an inhuman, ancient whisper rolling from its cover:
"Golden Soul… Mine."
Patchouli yanked her hand back. "Oh lovely, it's sentient.
And hungry.
Sakuya we may need—"
She froze as she realized:
Even her magic wasn't responding.
Back on the ground
Reimu strained against the chains. "I can't purify them… I can't even float!
What kind of spell is this!?"
Marisa tryed using her power but failed. "Reimu, the actual child just sealed us like discount Pokémon—"
Mokou felt her flamed being cancelled. "I can't regenerate…
This isn't human."
Remilia, surprisingly calm, tested the golden chain on her wrist.
It glowed, resisting her vampiric strength.
Her scarlet aura fizzled the moment she tried to access it. "…I cannot access a single drop of power.
This is beyond divinity."
She turned her head toward Sakuya. "…Sakuya.
Who is this child?"
Sakuya shook her head, genuinely rattled. "I don't know, Milady.
But… he stopped my time-stop.
And yours."
Chris stood in the center.
The golden chains pulsed from him like light reflecting off water.
His small body trembled.
The Grimoire orbited him like a hungry moon.
Words began appearing on the pages faster.
Old ones erased.
New ones carved themselves in.
Like a contract rewriting itself.
Like a being evolving.
Patchouli stepped a few feet back.
Her voice was barely above a whisper "…This isn't magic.
This is Authority."
Chris exhaled.
The golden aura dimmed, the chains pulsing once—
But not breaking.
The Grimoire's whisper slithered into his mind again:
'More. More. Give me more.'
And Chris winced, fighting something none of the adults could see.
Patchouli went to the Grimoire, as she summoned a Bottle of Sparkling water as she drooped in the book, it Hitch, closed and went back hiding behind Chris. "
Patchouli rubbed her temples.
The Grimoire, now sulking behind Chris like a misbehaving cat caught chewing furniture, snapped shut with a metallic CLANK the moment she sprinkled sparkling water on it.
It hissed once.
Then hid behind the boy's legs, peeking out like a guilty gremlin. "Good. Stay. I am not cleaning up another dimensional tear today."
She turned to the others — all still wrapped in shimmering golden binds. "These chains aren't the book's doing. That thing—". gestures at the Grimoire, which sticks out its tongue (or something like one)
"—only amplified what Chris already unleashed."
Reimu, stuck flat like a taped-down anime character, groaned. "We noticed… Can you please explain now?"
Patchouli inhaled deeply, bracing for the inevitable disappointment. "Have any of you ever heard… of Nidhogg?"
Everyone blinked.
Silence.
Then in perfect, dumbfounded unison:
"Who?"
Patchouli's face hit her palm so hard Sakuya winced on instinct. "Of course. Of course none of you know the cosmic devouring wyrm that gnaws at the roots of the world tree. Why would you? Why would anyone study instead of… punching things and throwing gohei around?"
Reimu glared.
Marisa pouted.
Mokou rolled her eyes.
Sanae looked personally offended as a shrine maiden.
Remilia raised a polite hand. "Is it a type of wine?"
Patchouli nearly collapsed.
Patchouli slowly, like explaining math to toddlers. "Nidhogg is a primordial being.
A cosmic devourer.
An eater of souls, worlds, and occasionally time itself."
She pointed at Chris. "And something in him resonates with its magic. That book is Nidhogg's Grimoire — a fragment of it."
The Grimoire thumped proudly like a pet wanting praise.
Chris just blinked, still sniffling from sensory overload.
Remilia tugged gently but her chain didn't budge. "So… the child just borrowed the power of a cosmic soul-eater?"
Patchouli nodded."Borrowed?
No. He suppressed it."
Everyone froze.
Even the chains seemed to hum in tension.
Patchouli continue explaining
"These bindings aren't the book's.
They are the boy's.
He did this on instinct alone."
Marisa's jaw dropped. "H-He sealed us… by accident?!"
Reimu paled. "He wasn't even trying!"
Sakuya looked at Chris, genuinely terrified for the first time. "…Milady, should we evacuate the basement?"
Patchouli took another long sip of her tea. "We should evacuate the universe if he sneezes."
Patchouli was mid-sip when Chris, still rubbing his ringing ears, looked around at all the trapped people.
The Grimoire bumped gently into his arm, flipping open to a page covered in glowing runes.
Chris blinked."…Undo?"
The book chirped.
Yes, chirped.
Like a smug magical pigeon.
A golden pulse spread from Chris' hands.
And the chains all shattered at once.
Not vanished.
Not dissolved.
They exploded into a shockwave of golden resonance that rattled the entire Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Books fell over in Patchouli's library.
Tea cups shattered in the kitchens.
Flandre, two floors underground, perked up mischievously.
"Big boom!"
Patchouli's hair frizzed.
Remilia staggered mid-air.
Sakuya had to time-stop just to avoid faceplanting.
Even Reimu was knocked backward a few steps.
Then, silence.
Reimu rushed forward, grabbed Chris by the shoulders, and glared at him with the burning intensity of a mother scolding a child for nearly blowing up the shrine. "RYUSEI! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!"
Chris shrank under her stare. "…un…d-did?"
Reimu's eyebrow twitched hard enough to count as a danmaku attack.
She scooped him up and hugged him so tight he squeaked. "You can't just—just—DESTROY REALITY because your ears hurt!"
Chris mumbled into her shoulder. "Too… loud…"
Reimu's anger instantly melted into panic and guilt. "Oh gods—are you hurt? Are you dizzy? Are you overheating?! Sanae get over here he's overheating—"
Chris wasn't overheating.
He was just Really Embarrassed™.
Everyone Else Tries to Process How They Almost Got Atomized
Marisa:
"He didn't break the spell.
He nuked the spell."
Sakuya just looked at Remilia
"…I must politely request he never cries indoors."
Remilia just blinked
"Patchouli, did we adopt a baby elder god?"
Patchouli just sighed.
"No.
Worse.
He's a child with elder-god potential."
Koakuma, floating behind her, whispered. "He's like if you gave a toddler a nuclear button."
Patchouli slowly nodded. "Yes. Exactly that."
Meanwhile the Grimoire… It hopped into Chris' arms like a pet asking to be held.
Chris hugged it awkwardly.
Reimu glared at the book like it just kidnapped her son.