[x] Destroy Astana.
- [x] Start with Yuna, because he's within arm's reach and not paying attention. His loss!
- [x] Talk to Elina.
-- [x] Any last words?
-- [x] Then kill her with the Dragonslayer, preferably with gloves or something similar on.
- [x] Then blow up the Carronade, and work your way out.
[x] Break the Dragonslayer.
Elina whimpers again as you stand up and take a step back. A smile creeps across your face as you stretch – you're finally getting around to initiating the first step in your grand plan! First, however, there's the matter of the man across the bed from you. You lunge at him, throwing yourself over the Wyndian while he's preoccupied with his gloating. At least, that was the plan. Perhaps he has precognition, or a defensive spell. Maybe he was faking not paying attention, or maybe he just has really good reflexes. Whatever the reason, he starts to stretch and lean back as a teleportation spell grabs him.
Not that it does him any good, of course – you're much too fast. Instead of your hand carving through his neck and jaw, you rip him in half below the rib cage and send him flying. His upper body flops and slides along the floor while his legs crash into the wall and the sword skids under a dresser. He screams rather prettily, at least until you stomp his head into a broken ruin. You giggle a little and start to turn to the princess, but the sound of a gong echoing from outside reins you in. Something changes in the air, and you feel … a little weaker. You walk out of the shrine – those magicians and guards were down there, weren't they? You can't see the magicians' faces, but you can see a little of the guards' below their helmets, and they look worried. And still they ready themselves to fight, setting themselves between you and the magicians and preparing to advance. It's pointless, though, because you hurl yourself down past them. The magicians have that same kind of barrier that the sword-room did, but not as powerful – yet, at least – and you smash through it effortlessly to tear them apart before spinning around and dealing with the spearmen. You consider the ringing sound you'd heard; it probably means you'll be fighting your way out, but that's hardly a problem. Maybe Deis will be having some fun, too? You head back into the shrine. You have a little bird to talk to. She looks at you sadly.
"Hello," she says quietly. For a moment, you wonder what the past couple minutes must have been like from her perspective, then shrug to yourself and curtsy. Nothing wrong with being polite, after all, and she is a princess.
"Hi! You probably figured it out already, but I'm going to kill you. Anything you want to say before that?" She stares at you, wide-eyed, then gives a small, sad laugh.
"I … had almost begun to hope …," she murmurs, almost inaudible, and you tilt your head. "No, it's alright. My last words …? If you see my sister, could you please tell her that I'm sorry? Her and … and Cray. I'm sorry, and I wish I could have seen them once more." You give her a surprised look before looking around for something to pick up the Dragonslayer with. Of course, Yuna's right there, and he's not using his robe for anything, so you use that. A shame Ershin and Deis didn't come down with you.
"… Really? I may not even see them, or know who they are, and the last words you'll ever say are an apology? That's it?" She smiles sadly and tears gather in her eyes.
"I … there's so much I want to say, but … that wouldn't be fair to you. Words to Cray, to Nina, my father, my fiancée … so many people I want to say things to." She coughs and the building shudders. "So I'll pass on simple words to those I love the most, and hope they receive them." Hand wrapped in the bloody cloth, you gingerly drag the god-sword out of its scabbard. The impromptu mitt doesn't help, and you wince as the shrieking drowns out your thoughts. Elina says something else, but the sword's keening drowns it out, and you give her a puzzled look. She sits up as much as he can and closes her eyes. You plunge the sword into her chest, and the sword's shrieking dies away to almost nothing. Maybe a blood-soaked robe wasn't the best choice? Rattled, you take the quiescent blade out of the room after her body fades away and fly up to jam it into the ceiling of the outer room. Then you dart down to the base of the stairs, grip the sword's eye, and crush it. Rocks fall from the ceiling as it explodes, smashing the shrine, and relief surges through you – not only your own, but Headless and Giltless's as well. You wonder if Remilia and Patchouli could have fixed Elina's body. Well, even if they couldn't, and no one in Gensokyo could, yanking her soul out and putting it in another body should have been possible. Deis ought to know. Of course, that would have to rely on them wanting to, and on Elina not going crazy because she has a human mind trapped in an immortal body that's not her own. Oh well – she's dead now, no sense wondering too much.
You make your way back toward the lab, humming cheerfully, and send your clones to scour the passages for anyone or anything that needs killing while you deal with the monsters. A section of the lab that you didn't see is open, and a true horde of the twisted hex-creatures is rushing out, swarming over the monsters in the pits as well as a few human soldiers who are unfortunate enough to be in the room. You watch the havoc for a few moments, reveling in the destruction as hundreds of the hex-creatures swarm out. The armor-golems are their first targets, of course, and even though the bulky suits are slow, their huge claw-gauntlets are capable of tearing through several hex-creatures with each swipe. The numbers arrayed against them are too much, however, and they're brought to the floor and their segmented plates ripped apart. The strange … things … seem to do well, at least while you watch, but your attention is caught by the lizard-creatures. Six meters long, not counting their thickly-muscled tails, and appropriately massive, what impresses you is their teamwork and coordination. They swarm up out of their pits, assisting each other, and seem to be trying to withdraw toward the corridors. Your clones finish clearing those hallways, reporting only some hex-creatures and a few others that seem related, and you take out Laevateinn. You bring the flaming blade down on the lizard-creatures first, then sweep it to the side to start clearing away the hex-creatures and the things. Each swipe burns away dozens of the hex-creatures, and it's not long before you're the only moving thing in the lab. Before you return to Astana, however, you investigate the newly-opened area. Unfortunately, it seems to be nothing more than a huge, empty room. You turn back and make your way through the halls, heading back to the Carronade. While you don't encounter any of the hex-creatures, evidence of their passage is extensive, including several fallen Imperial soldiers.
You quickly reach the control chamber and hop out the window to fly up above the massive cannon. You glance down as you try to decide how you're going to destroy it and see Ershin, covered in hex-creature mush, surrounded by the Imperial soldiers. It looks like it decided to help fight them off, but the fox-woman captain blames it – or you, which amounts to much the same thing. You grin as you gently cup the Carronade's eye in your hand, and then you squeeze it. The barrel explodes and the building mount shatters, sending debris raining on the camp to the south. The buildings beneath the Carronade simply vanish with the weapon, and the nearest troops – the ones surrounding Ershin – are bowled over by the shockwave. Laughing gleefully, you hurl yourself into the shocked soldiers and clear a path to Ershin.
"What did you do?! Says Deis." You giggle at the inanity of the question and flick the armor's helmet.
"I destroyed the Carronade, of course! What does it look like I did?" The nearest soldiers rise to unsteady feet, and you cock your head at the glaring captain as she levels her pistol at you. Her weapon fires and you dart forward, under the blast, and rip her arm off before she can try to line up another shot, but you hesitate to continue. On the one hand, the more people you kill, the more seriously the Empire has to take you; on the other, leaving competent, powerful people alive will make the upcoming fight even better! And the more people of rank who can give honest testimony to your abilities – even though you aren't going to show off all of them – the more force they'll bring with them! Several of the soldiers gather their courage and charge at you, trying to rescue the officer, and you dash into them, stopping to make your attacks. Yes, that's what you'll do! Pretend your speed isn't usable in actual combat! You don't want them getting too afraid of you, after all …. You start to turn back to the fox-woman when a crossbow bolt zips past your face. You jerk back as more bolts chase you, and you jump up – no flight, just a massively strong jump – and land amid the shooters. As you begin tearing them apart, another distraction rears its head: floating snails. You can't think of anything else to call them, even though you know it's wrong, and you're still stunned as the nearest trooper riding one tries to cut you with his sword. A well-aimed vortex of wind cuts both him and his mount, however, and you smile as Deis and Ershin join the fight.
With them helping, even with your handicap, the 'battle' is over fairly quickly, and you hum cheerfully as you methodically destroy the barracks. A fair number of soldiers made it away, and you didn't find the captain's body, so she was probably recovered. You don't recall seeing the general, either. Other officers, sure, and you didn't spare them just because they were officers, so a good few of them died, and you probably did a real number on their leadership. You learn quite a lot about the Imperial Army as you wander through it, leaving Ershin back by the entrance. Spearmen seem to be their primary infantry, with crossbowmen making up another significant portion. Cavalry seem to be lancers for the most part, and while you do find some horses, the main mount seems to be the … floating snails. They also have a selection of artillery – magical cannons like the captain's pistol, but larger. Good to know. You head back to Ershin.
"What are those floating snail-things?" The armor turns to face you.
"They are called whelks," it says. You nod and look around at the ruined camp. "Would you please elaborate on what happened? Says Deis." You shrug and tell them about Yuna's laboratory and what happened down there. The armor remains silent after you finish explaining, and you sigh. Well, it might take them some time to get ready ….
What do you do?
[ ] Wait for the Imperial Army at Astana.
[ ] Head toward the Capital.
[ ] Wait for the Imperial Army in the mountains to the west.
[ ] Wait for the Imperial Army in Kyoin.
[ ] Other?