"That wasn't the actual, true Spell Card of Ms. Yuyuko Saigyouji; Flandre merely simulated its aesthetic appearance."
Naturally, it was Patchouli Knowledge who was the most intimately, thoroughly familiar with Flandre's baseline skill level and magical capabilities. She saw completely through the visual trick after just a few brief glances from her folding chair.
It was only because the low-level nature fairies down below fundamentally didn't understand advanced magical signatures that they were so thoroughly intimidated by Flandre's sudden presentation. If they had possessed the capacity to observe the ambient energy closely, they would have quickly realized that while Flandre's move looked visually identical to Yuyuko Saigyouji's legendary technique, it strictly possessed only the outer form and lacked the true, death-inducing spiritual essence.
But Rumia didn't know a single thing about that technicality; she only knew that the sheer, staggering amount of pale pink Danmaku exploding directly in front of her face was several times greater than her own output, and it was incredibly dense, overlapping, yet breathtakingly beautiful.
The dark Youkai twisted her small body frantically inside the tight pockets of air, desperately trying to dodge through Flandre's cascading attack. Ultimately, caught completely off guard by Flandre's stolen move and temporarily paralyzed by a sudden wave of instinctual fear, she failed to clear a tracking lane and suffered a swift, regrettable technical defeat at Flandre's hands.
"Using someone else's signature Spell Card to win isn't being a true hero at all!" Rumia huffed a few bitter words with a thoroughly flushed face before unceremoniously flying straight back down to the ground.
After all, Sunny Milk had only made a proud, regrettable exit from the sky after single-handedly defeating two prominent adult opponents back-to-back. Meanwhile, she had been soundly beaten back the exact second she went up; it was a severe, public failure for her record.
Fortunately for her pride, the rest of the nature fairies were also quite visibly shaken by the terrifying scale of Flandre's recent Spell Card, collectively feeling that the sudden defeat wasn't Rumia's personal fault at all, but rather because Flandre was being far too sneaky and unpredictable with her roster.
After loudly comforting the dejected Rumia for a brief while, Cirno grandly stepped forward, declaring to the group that she would personally defeat Flandre and single-handedly secure the final, historic victory for the fairy alliance. With that boastful shout, her icy wings flared, and she shot straight up into the sky.
"Evil Flandre! I have already completely discovered your secret plot; your wicked schemes won't succeed today!"
Cirno's aggressive, righteous accusation left Flandre hovering in the air with a look of utter, total confusion on her face. What plot did she supposedly have?
Forget about it, it doesn't matter in the slightest Flandre thought, shaking her head. Anyway, the final Spell Card is already perfectly prepared!
The moment Eirin Yagokoro announced the official start of the final round, Flandre looked happily across the boundary at Cirno, who was standing not far away.
Cirno's scalp instantly tingled with a sudden prickle of dread from Flandre's wide, eerie smile. To cover her anxiety, she quickly waved her hand to activate her absolute signature, most famous Spell Card: Ice Sign [Icicle Fall].
This specific Spell Card was incredibly famous across Gensokyo. However, it was also the exact reason why Cirno was forever associated with the unflattering term 'idiot,' due to its notorious, glaring blind spot directly in front of her face.
Yet, Flandre didn't use the traditional, well-known method of getting face-to-face with the opponent to easily evade the static pattern this time around. Instead, she simultaneously deployed her own native Spell Card, Taboo [Cranes in a Cage], to cleanly counter it, weaving a grid of light to intercept the icicles.
As for the ultimate visual weapon currently charging in her hands, she fully planned to save it for the very end of the bout. The reason for this prolonged stall was that Remilia had secretly informed her via a silent communication technique to intentionally engage Cirno for a few more consecutive rounds, allowing Yelena down below to see much more of Cirno's raw, instinctual ice manipulation style.
Seeing the signal from her sister, Flandre put away the finishing Spell Card she had prepared and began to playfully spar with Cirno. The two figures went back and forth across the upper atmosphere, with various ice shards and colorful Danmaku flying all over the sky.
Down on the grass, Yelena stared intently at the magical battle raging in the clouds, her long ears alert. She knew deep down that this unique teaching opportunity was incredibly hard-won and crafted specifically for her benefit. So, she rapidly absorbed and learned everything she could from the display, analyzing how Cirno seamlessly condensed moisture into projectiles without a casting tool.
Flandre and Cirno clashed in the sky for nearly half an hour. By the time Cirno was so thoroughly tired from the exertion that her small body was almost sweating, Flandre felt it was finally about time to wrap things up. She looked at the panting ice fairy and shouted loudly over the wind:
"Cirno! Since neither of our small tricks can do anything to break the other's defense and we are both getting tired, how about we settle this match once and for all with one final, ultimate move!"
Cirno thought about it for a second, wiping her brow, and realized it was entirely true. She and Flandre had been fighting in the sky for quite a while now. Winning or losing the tournament wasn't a massive deal to her mind anymore; after all, it was completely clear to all the onlookers that she had given her absolute all.
"Fine! Let's do it!" Cirno agreed loudly.
After a long moment of intensely charging her internal energy, the ice fairy unleashed her ultimate Spell Card—Freeze Sign [Perfect Freeze].
Just as Cirno triumphantly thought this freezing wave would completely defeat Flandre, Flandre also pulled out the massive trump card she had been quietly charging for the past half hour.
To Cirno's shocked, wide-eyed gaze, a massive Yin-Yang Orb that was so incredibly gargantuan it occupied almost half the entire visible sky descended heavily from above.
"Aba... aba...!"
Seeing the massive, crushing artifact Flandre had unceremoniously pulled out of her pocket, the triumphant light instantly and completely vanished from Cirno's eyes.
The onlookers on the ground couldn't help but desperately stifle their laughter. After all, who among the residents of the mansion hadn't suffered immensely from Reimu Hakurei's terrifying [Yin-Yang Ghost God Orb] whenever they were causing trouble in the village and made the shrine maiden snap?
Seeing Flandre pull it out now—though it, exactly like her previous ghost mimicry, only possessed the outer visual form and lacked the true, barrier-shattering shrine maiden essence—was an entirely different story. When it appeared across the horizon, an absolute idiot like Cirno simply couldn't tell the real thing from the fake version at all.
She immediately raised her hands high into the air in a standard French military salute of complete surrender, right before being forcefully knocked clean out of the sky by the massive move Flandre had spent half the day happily preparing.
Down below, Daiyousei quickly flew forward, reaching out her arms to safely catch the dizzy, swirl-eyed Cirno before she could hit the dirt.
Flandre crossed her arms proudly over her chest, floating downward. "Wah-ka-ka! Fairies, you lost completely this time! Work extra hard and come back to challenge my team next time!"
The nature fairies shouted their classic, unwilling collective cry of "We'll be back!" before fluttering off in a rowdy group toward the southern forests.
Watching the group of fairies who looked thoroughly frustrated on the surface but were actually quite happy as they left the arena, Remilia rubbed her brow with a sigh.
"I deeply apologize to everyone for the childish display."
"These nature fairies are incredibly innocent and romantic; it is honestly our absolute honor to be friends with them," Yelena spoke up gently, before pausing for a moment. "I wonder... do you think it would be alright if I went to find that Cirno later to learn about the practical application of ice-type abilities?"
"If you approach her with an enthusiastic attitude for learning, that idiot Cirno will definitely agree to show off," Remilia answered, before offering a realistic caveat. "But a fairy's elemental abilities come entirely from their raw talent and nature instinct; she might not possess the capacity to explain the theory clearly to you. If you genuinely wish to learn the structured manipulation of cold air, I actually highly suggest you learn directly from Letty Whiterock during this time."
Flandre landed lightly beside her just in time to hear Remilia's suggestion to Yelena.
Speaking of the matter, Remilia continued with a slight frown, "But Letty won't be staying here in this territory for very much longer. The ambient temperature in this region is simply far too high for her comfort; she already explicitly informed us of her departure a couple of days ago. Considering the changing seasonal weather, we plan to send her up to the far north where the temperature remains consistently lower."
"The North? Why exactly does she need to go all the way up there?" Flandre asked, tilting her head.
"Because the climate here is far too warm and entirely unsuitable for Letty's biology. As you well know, she is a Yuki-onna. Under normal circumstances at this baseline temperature, her physical form would have already completely faded away into mist if not for Patchy's constant stabilization spells," Remilia answered, clarifying the situation for her sister.
Hearing her explanation, Flandre shook her head. "I don't think the far North is suitable for her at all. Instead, there is a specific place located to the South that Letty should absolutely love."
"Oh?" Remilia raised an eyebrow, knowing that Flandre had been exploring the geographical texts of this world for a long time.
"Kjerag, located to the west of Victoria," Flandre voiced her proud suggestion. "It is a massive, isolationist snow-mountain nation bordering both Kazimierz and Columbia. The terrain there is extremely high in elevation, and the sacred peaks are completely covered with thick snow year-round."
"Kjerag? I have actually heard of that specific place before; it is known across history as the land protected by the gods," Talulah spoke up, her interest piqued. "For thousands of years, it is the only distinct region on the continent that has never once suffered from a natural Catastrophe. However, the mountain terrain is extremely treacherous, and it remains heavily snow-covered all year long, so ordinary people living in the plains know very little about its internal affairs."
Talulah finished speaking her piece and then looked down at Flandre with a warm, surprised smile. "I truly didn't expect Flandre to know about such a distant, isolated place."
"Of course I do! I, Flandre, have specifically and meticulously learned about the unique geography of all regions across the entire map of Terra!" Flandre said, puffing out her chest proudly as her crystal wings shimmered in the evening light.