"So you're telling me that you already found him?" I asked Yukari.
"Mhm." She offered a tiny, unbothered nod.
"And he's heading here right now?"
"Mhm," she repeated,
Miku's lips curled into a predatory smirk as she locked her gaze onto me. "Say... why don't we just ambush him?"
A sudden, sharp chill raced down my spine. Whenever Miku got that specific look in her eye.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, a young man was marching deliberately toward the hotel where Sakuya and Miku were staying. He made no effort to conceal his presence; the sheer, oppressive weight of his aura radiated outward in violent waves, drawing the attention of nearly every supernatural person in the area.
"Hey, Perez, look at that," a girl called out, pointing toward the looming outline of the hotel in the distance.
"This... we need to investigate this. Tell everyone!" she commanded, her fiery red hair blowing wildly in the rising wind.
High above the city streets, dark wings snapped open against the clouds. An angelic figure paused in mid-flight, sensing the massive surge of energy rippling from the hotel below. Frowning, she tucked her wings and dove down toward the target to investigate.
Back in the hotel suite, the self-insert protagonist burst through the doorway, his weapon already drawn.
"Alright, where are you?!" he yelled, scanning the room.
Before he could react, the walls dissolved around him into a surreal, shifting space. Dozens of mind-controlled puppets surged from the shadows, charging at him in a synchronized tide.
"Eh!? What the hell are you guys!?" he shouted, scrambling backward in sheer confusion.
Above the chaotic fray, Miku stood triumphantly atop a hastily constructed, glowing stage, striking a dramatic pose. I took my place beside her, slipping seamlessly into the role of her flamboyant announcer.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" I declared, adopting a theatrical French accent. "Presenting our gorgeous hostess Miku!"
"Alors! Finally, the finals of mon super-tournoi!" Miku purred into a floating microphone, a dangerous spark in her eyes.
"My heart begins to race when my plan falls into place!"
An energetic, fast-paced electro-swing beat resonated out of nowhere, pulsing through the air.
"Well, you're fashionably late," she sang, stepping to the rhythm. "But now, you're here to play!"
The brainwashed crowd surged forward at her command, overwhelming the person.
"A magical, lavish wonderland! Every detail, I have planned for a sweet midsummer night's soirée!" Miku twirled as the beat dropped, her voice carrying over the sound of clashing steel. "Come on, come on, dance with me! In my eternal reverie, join my battle jubilee 'til the moonlight fades away! Perfect, all by design!"
I stepped forward, joining the melody to keep the rhythm going.
"Sit, stay, obey! Let the mistress have her way, or you'll rue the day you ever tangled with the fae!"
"Do as you're told," Miku chimed in seamlessly, "or her riches and her gold will crush you underneath its weight! Here, the mistress owns your fate!"
She thrust a finger forward, locking eyes with the struggling protagonist. "It's the people with the money who can play the puppeteer! With a handshake and a smile, what I want, I make appear! Oh, once I set my sights on you, there's nothing you can do!"
With a snap of her fingers, a storm of razor sharp silver knives materialized in thin air and launched straight at his throat. He barely managed to duck and parry, the blades grazing his jacket.
"C'est magnifique!" Miku cheered, unbothered by his survival. "Your power has a place among the elite!" She dramatically turned and pointed at me.
I sighed, adjusting my outfit as I took my cue.
"Used to be I fought and rocked the beat, now I dress up prim and properly! Treated like a piece of property of your host, Miku!" I sang, making sure my deeply annoyed expression was visible to everyone in the room.
"Mon amour, you're made for me!" Miku blew him a teasing kiss.
"Trust me, she can go all night," I added with a sly smirk.
Miku's face instantly flushed a bright, crimson red, breaking her theatrical composure for a split second.
"What is this?! Are you mocking me?!" the protagonist roared, his face twisted in utter bewilderment as he slashed through another puppet.
Suddenly, a dimensional gap slit open right behind his head. Yukari leaned out, blowing a soft gust of air into his ear.
"I heard you like trains~" she whispered playfully.
FOOOOOOOOOSH!
A full-sized locomotive slammed out of the boundary gap at top speed, threatening to flatten him into a fine paste. Acting on sheer instinct, the protagonist channeled his energy and detonated the train from the inside out. Shrugging off the wreckage, he drew his katana and lunged at Yukari, slicing through the smoke. Yukari simply smiled, opening small gaps in space to absorb and redirect every lethal stroke.
"Miku, the plan went sideways!" I called out, pulling a fresh handful of silver knives from my sleeves. "You focus on buffing us while me and Yukari kill this guy!"
I hurled the weapons high into the air.
"Illusion Sign: 'Killing Doll'!"
Thousands of gleaming knives multiplied in mid-air, raining down upon him from every angle. While he was frantically blocking the barrage, I teleported directly into his blind spot and slammed a reinforced fist straight into his solar plexus, knocking the wind completely out of his lungs.
He staggered back, wheezing, but instantly retaliated by summoning massive fireballs and crackling bolts of lightning.
"Useless. Za Warudo!"
The world inverted into grayscale as time ground to a absolute halt. The flames froze in mid-air; the lightning locked into static geometry. I casually stepped out of the trajectory of his spells, pulled out a massive magical cannon, and aimed it straight at his chest.
"Time resumes."
"Master Spark!"
BZZZZZZZZZT!
A colossal beam of devastating white light consumed the corridor, incinerating everything in its path and blowing out the side of the hotel. When the smoke finally cleared, I peered into the smoldering crater.
"Tsk."
A glowing, iridescent barrier had enveloped him at the last fraction of a second, absorbing the blast.
"Time to die!" he yelled, his eyes glowing with rage as space itself began to warp around his blade. "I am the storm that is approaching!"
A storm of dimensional slashes erupted across my body, dicing me into pieces.
Or so he thought.
The shredded pieces of my body dissolved. "Heh. Just a clone," echoed my voice from the ceiling.
Before he could turn around, Miku raised her microphone high. "Gabriel! March!"
An angelic halo flared above her head as a surge of radiant energy washed over me, multiplying my speed and output exponentially.
"What!?" he stammered, his eyes widening.
"Muda, Muda, Muda, Muda!"
I materialized directly behind him, stopped time for a fraction of a second to stack dozens of heavy blows across his back, and stepped away.
"Time shall resume."
SNAP.
The accumulated kinetic energy detonated all at once, sending him flying like a cannonball straight through three concrete walls.
A gap opened beside me, and Yukari stepped out, casually munching on a stick of tri-color dango.
"Ara, ara," Yukari observed, taking a bite.
"You really did a number on the poor guy."
I stared at her, my expression utterly deadpan. "...Did you seriously just walk away to go buy snacks?"
"A delicate woman like me needs her nourishment," she replied smoothly, chewing away.
"Old hag," I muttered under my breath.
PAM!
Yukari's fist slammed down on my head with the force of a falling meteor, raising a visible bump.
"Ara ara~ I don't think I heard you correctly..." she purred, a dark, suffocating aura pouring out of her body.
"Wait, wait, hold on—!"
BOOOOOOM!
The entire front wall of the floor blew inward.
"What in the world is going on here?" demanding a voice from the smoke. Perez stood in the breach, flanked by a squad of heavily armed warriors, her red hair fluttering wildly.
Before anyone could answer, the ceiling caved in with another deafening explosion as dark-winged angels descended through the dust, weapons drawn.
I slowly turned my head toward the boundary mistress. "I really hope you brought reinforcements, Yukari."
"Okay, hear me out..." Yukari offered a sheepish smile, held up a two-fingered peace sign, and promptly faded into a gap, leaving only a few cherry blossom petals behind.
"What!? Oh, come on!" I yelled into the empty air.