There stands she, behind Marisa, who gazes up and into her eyes to quietly exclaim, "Yu-Yukari!?" And so it was; she towers above Marisa with an existentially horrifying frown, her gaps in space blotting out the sun and casting a deep shadow on the alleyway. It only takes a stark second for Marisa to turn and bolt the other way, leaving behind nothing but a trail of smoke. However, something's wrong: she isn't being pursued. Marisa turns back to look at Yukari, who is still sitting there on the edge of a gap, staring at Marisa from afar. She isn't giving chase or simply pulling Marisa back, but in fact is waiting patiently to see what happens. Even though she could very easily do it, she doesn't. Marisa suddenly changes her mind and figures that if Yukari is so sure that she would trust her, there must not be that much to worry about. Perhaps that's exactly what Yukari wants her to think and is just being deceptive again, but the chance between those is immeasurable and probably unimportant regardless.

Marisa takes a deep breath and starts to calmly walk back towards Yukari, or at least trying as hard as she can to look calm. In reality, she should be sweating. When the two meet face-to-face once more, there is a long silence. Yukari ends up being the one to break the silence, "You're scared, aren't you? That's suspicious, you know."

Marisa makes an odd face, like a twist between frustration and surprise; she mutters, "You never appear without a good reason."

Yukari chuckles the chuckle of a haughty hag, "Well now, straight to the point? I suppose that's like you, but don't test my tolerance."

Marisa scoffs and thinks to herself, "Look who's talking, bitch! I oughta punch you in your smug face. You know wh-"

Her thoughts are interrupted by Yukari's hand suddenly grazing right past her cheek, hard enough to leave a red mark right on the edge and leave a gust of wind to blow past her. Marisa freezes in place, looking startled but not quite frightened at this development. Yukari retracts her hand and loses her smile, "You didn't even flinch. How odd, most kids your age would be terrified to die, but you just seemed to be surprised that I didn't do it. I guess that's all, then."

Yukari begins to leave, halfway passing through a gap. However, she stops a moment before departing and reminds Marisa, "Oh, and you should pay a visit to the Moriyas. They're still recovering from when you and Ms. Kazami beat them up a few months ago." And with that, she vanishes without giving Marisa anything but a split moment to respond. So, she is left standing there, completely unable to comprehend what just happened. Had she done something terrible? Maybe made the wrong person mad? Maybe Yukari just wanted information out of her, but about what; did she get what she wanted? These questions run through her head several times, letting about 20 minutes go by before she remembers her current objective and continues for the mansion in the hopes that they won't try to destroy her.

Turns out her suspicions on their attitude were well-placed. When she arrives at the mansion and makes it past Meiling, she encounters a downtrodden Sakuya at the front door who tells her, "Come back some other time. I'm afraid we've got our hands full at the moment."

"Wait, what? The place was fine just recently!" Marisa argues.

Sakuya sighs and looks practically resigned at this point, "It seems Lady Knowledge is having quite the fit with something, and has told us not to let anyone interfere, even the mistress. I fear that if I let you in, she would end up destroying half of the building."

"Strange," Marisa remarks "I was just on my way to ask for her help with something. Maybe the two are related?"

Sakuya now looks disgruntled, "I doubt that. Now please, leave before I have to make an example out of you. I won't go as easy on you."

Hesitantly, Marisa agrees and walks away into the center of the courtyard, where a fountain lies. When she hears Sakuya close the door behind her, she waits for just a few moments before mounting her broom once more and taking into the sky, going straight up and gaining as much altitude as possible. "Well, I have always wanted to try this!" she exclaims while several hundred feet from the ground and looking down at the SDM. She turns and plunges straight into a nosedive, aiming at the ceiling of the area that houses Patchouli's library. In just a few seconds, she descends at a velocity so great that she can barely keep her broom from shaking or her hat and various hidden potion bombs from flying off. She pulls out her Mini Hakkero and points it forward, screaming, "This is such a bad idea! I love it!" moments before blasting a huge hole in the ceiling and crashing through the rubble, into the dark library and onto the floor with a very audible thud.

It would be completely inexcusable if Patchouli couldn't hear that commotion as well, and it pisses her off. Patchouli puts down the chalk she's using at the moment to draw some sigils on the floor in an explicitly satanic fashion and heads over to the crash site to investigate. There and about five minutes after, Marisa is just recovering from slamming through the roof and almost into the much harder floor. Luckily, she doesn't appear to be too badly damaged besides some cranial bleeding. And some internal abdominal bleeding. And a couple broken arms. And a dislocated shoulder. Okay, so she isn't very "alright".

"Uuuuuuuuhhhhh..." Marisa groans in pain while she lies mangled on the floor.

In a bout of sadism, Patchouli spends the next few minutes silently casting a healing spell over Marisa, allowing her to remain alive for the moment albeit in a very, very large amount of pain.

"Aaaaaaaatatatatatataa!" Marisa stands up, stretching and making weird noises that further disgruntle Patchouli, who slaps her in the face in the middle of her stretch. "'Ey, what's your...?" she's about to complain, but notices that it's Patchouli and quickly switches her attitude, "Oh, Patches!"

Yet another slap to the face. Patchouli grumbles at her, "Don't call me that. What are you doing here?"

Marisa endures it, "Well, I actually meant to come and ask for your...help..." she hesitates, then takes a quick step back to anticipate the reaction before continuing, "...but Sakuya wouldn't let me in." She goes from faux-glad to worried in just a glance.

"You..." Patchouli starts to groan, hunched over and nearly steaming "...you want my help? After everything, and this?"

Before she can blow, Marisa starts begging for mercy, "Wait, wait, wait! We're just wasting time here, you won't get anything out of killing me! Please, just calm down and listen!" she backs up with her hands in the air, gesturing surrender.

Patchouli doesn't listen; she starts to levitate off the ground very slightly, opening up her tome and glowing very dimly while whispering in tongues. Marisa summons her broom, hops on it as it flies towards her, and starts to back up with it, rising in the air, prepared to reluctantly duke it out. Just as soon as she can get enough distance from Patchouli, the latter spits out the words, "Rage Trilithon, High Level."

"Oh, come on." Marisa thinks to herself about how unlucky this is. Following the words, the ground begins to rumble as a whirlwind of stone begins to orbit around Patchouli. Her entire form is covered in the debris that conjures itself into existence and is risen from the ground below, when the shell suddenly shatters and sends boulders the size of Marisa's entire body hurling forward into all directions! It begins to form a tornado like shape while all of the boulders fly forward in a cone towards Marisa, who just barely manages to get out of the way of the first wave of rocks! Several more come close to her, but change direction mid-flight and edge away from her. Another comes in from the diagonal right, so she dives down but almost slams into one! She grazes by it, when another seemingly comes out of nowhere and almost smacks her in the head! She does a half-flip to dodge it but ends up upside-down and witnesses another boulder fly right past her vision. She flies that way, away from Patchouli while entering an empty spot where she rights herself and takes a look at what Patchouli's planning. That is, until she turns around and aims the vortex of rocks at her again. "Come ON!" Marisa screams "I told you I don't want to fight!"

"You brought this on, yourself." Patchouli coldly argues, preparing another card in case this fails. The barrage of rocks starts to slow down over the next ten seconds, but Marisa is still having a fairly hard time keeping up with the pace of the attack. Eventually, several rocks from the front sides close in on Marisa, then suddenly switch and fly towards her! Marisa makes a bold move and does and Aileron Roll directly into them, squeezing through the tight space left between them while edging upwards and making it through just in time for the rocks to collide with one another. She then looks back, sits forward even more, and charges upwards with as much force as she can muster! Within seconds, she's out of the range of spell and Patchouli's line of sight for the moment. She takes out her Mini-Hakkero and points it downwards, contemplating whether or not to attack. It doesn't take long for Patchouli to notice her up there, though, so Marisa abandons the thought and flies back down and to the right, hoping that she can outrun Patchouli's turn speed. This isn't so; she can keep up and then some. Within moments, another storm of boulders is heading right towards her! She dives down and onto the floor, taking cover behind a bookshelf that absorbs all of the damage for her.

"Hmph." Patchouli scoffs, smirking ever-so-slightly at making Marisa become so defensive. "I know you can't hold out like this, witch. We both know your defense is horrible, and that you can only beat me because of your counter-attacks. But since you seem so intent on losing, let me speed up the process!" Rage Trilithon finally wears out, with all of the rocks hovering around her and slowing to a stop. Patchouli pulls out another card, then announces, "Earth and Fire Sign: Pyroclasm!" The rocks still floating around, as well as those embedded in the walls and floor from the previous attack all catch on fire! They quickly morph into giant balls of blazing, charred rock that rise back up, around Patchouli, and wait for Marisa to come back up.

"Poor defense, huh? I guess that's what someone who didn't know the value of speed would say!" Marisa retorts, picking her broom back up with a renewed vigor and riding straight up! Immediately, the pyroclastic meteorites begin to rapidly spin, giving off massive and lingering embers, then charge right at Marisa from multiple angles! Marisa slows to a stop, then reaches under her skirt and pulls out a jar! She casts it into the air and, just before the rocks hit, blasts it with a simple star shot, making it explode in a huge ball of light! The pyroclasts are incinerated by the blast, yet Marisa flies out of the light unharmed, prompting several other rocks to zip towards her, spraying out fire and fragments of rock that linger behind while they give chase. Marisa dives back down into the bookshelves as they all begin to line up behind her, yet more seem to erupt from the walls and fly towards her, forcing her to change direction constantly. As she randomly skims through the maze of shelves, the rocks crash into them and start to topple each one over. The explosions from each impact almost reach her, but she's too fast!

Meanwhile, the devils that maintain the library are witnessing the destruction and staring dumbfoundedly while all of their hard work is immediately undone. Not to be underminded, they begin (altogether) to leap into the air and start attacking Marisa as well! They unleash large volleys of violet bubble shots that end up nearly walling up against Marisa, who looks towards them and thinks, "Oh, now these I can hurt." With that, she takes out her Mini-Hakkero and spins it around on her finger, letting the thing build up energy before snatching it in one hand and aiming towards the wall while yelling, "Master Spark!"

Her giant, thick, pulsating, hot beam pierces the wall of bubbles and pops each one simultaneously, then goes through and coats each one of the devils in its cleansing, boiling light; they all scream and drop like flies, all falling one by one with the residue of the blast coating their bodies entirely. Their smoldering bodies crash into the ground, then are further pelted by Patchouli's own attack! She berates them, "You idiots! Don't interfere with my battles - furthermore, you failed despite having the advantage! You're all lucky I don't stockade you for this!" Marisa takes the time she's wasting on them to try to hide in the bookshelves and darkness to avoid the pyroclasts long enough for the spell to time out. Patchouli looks around after berating her servants, exclaiming, "You can't hide from me, witch!" She starts to berserk, sending rocks flying in all directions like a volcanic eruption! Marisa keeps herself upright and confident, letting the shelf protect her no matter how many rocks smash into it. Eventually, Patchouli runs out of energy and has to cancel the spell. Marisa comes back out at last and reveals herself with a small burst of danmaku. Patchouli glares over at her as she approaches, but is practically exhausted by now.

"You know, there's a reason nonspells exist." Marisa reminds her, approaching while standing on her broom.

Patchouli snaps at her, "Shut up."

"Look at you, you're about to keel over!" Marisa argues. No response. "Come on, sit down. I just needed to talk." Marisa extends her hand.

Patchouli looks at her, the hand, then looks away. She closes her eyes and tries to catch her breath, but struggles and ultimately decides against her interests to take a break. "Fine, but you better...better be gone...by the time I...recover." She takes Marisa's hand, and the two drop down to where she was previously working on some sort of magical circle.

Patchouli floats down to and sits in a large, antique-looking rocking chair absolutely covered in blankets and pillows and other fluffy objects while Marisa simply stands next to her. In front of them and on the floor is an enormous and intricate, but also quarter-unfinished magical circle made of chalk and covered in candles with a stack of books in the center. They stay idle for a minute or two, with Marisa trying to think of how to start, and Patchouli slowly becoming more aggravated. Finally, Marisa manages to think of it, "So I've had this problem lately. I think it's magical, so I came to you..."

Before she can continue, Patchouli interrupts, "Stop. How long has this been going on?"

Marisa stammers a bit, "Ah, um...well, I think it's been a few days? It's kind of hard to keep track."

Patchouli lies silent in thought, but eventually tells her, "Go on."

"Well, I can't really...die." There's a long silence. Marisa eventually explains, "Well, it's that each time I do die, it just sends me back to the last time I slept."

"...that could be it..." Patchouli wonders. Marisa seems inquisitive, but Patchouli simply shoos her away, "You should go now, I have some things to do."

"Wait, I didn't come here just to get beat up and thrown out!" Marisa exclaims, forcing Patchouli into her seat from which she was about to rise.

Patchouli isn't pleased by this, but she sighs and asks, "What else did you want?"

Marisa holds her by the shoulders and looks dead on, "I need your help. I don't think I can get to the bottom of this myself."

"Obviously." Patchouli snidely remarks. "I think I was going to do that anyways, but if you insist on doing something..." She takes a moment to think, "...Go and visit a few people."

Marisa raises an eyebrow and lets go of her, "What people?"

Patchouli stands up and raises her arms, projecting a light picture of shinigami, a cherry blossom, a stopwatch, a bat, and a scroll, "There are several people you should speak to: The one who carries the departed across Styx, the embodiment of passing, the trickster who controls time itself, the lord of fate, and the keeper of all records." The light pictures disappear, "Take your leave, I have nothing else to say." She steps backwards skulking into the darkness; one swip of her hand puts out the candles around them and leaves Marisa alone in the darkness.

Marisa departs, understanding that she won't get much else out of this visit. While cruising out, she thinks to herself, "It's a good thing I can tell people about this. Makes things a lot easier. Now, who to go after first? I think she mentioned...Yuyuko? ...I know Sakuya was one, but she isn't in a good mood. I think I'll just go after her first..." With her mind made up, Marisa makes her way out of the building through the front door and flies straight up, aiming for the clouds! A minute into driving upwards, she starts to rapidly lose speed and breath, plateauing near the cloudline and barely able to breath from the sudden drop in air. Despite this, she chugs on and makes her way above the clouds, then starts to search for the gate to the Netherworld. On the way, she's able to at least admire the view apart from the colorful spots that appear in her vision from time to time.

Above the clouds, the sun is blazingly bright and hangs near the west, with just a few hours before it sets on the horizon. No coloration has approached yet except for a vague darkening in the east, where a few dots of light can be made out. Amongst the light, she can see the bright glint of Venus ahead, which makes itself seem able to be reached. The clouds below that she flies past like a bullet reflect the sunlight and end up being almost as bright, if not for their depth. Thankfully, they haven't accumulated massively and have thinned since the last storm, making the entire landscape seem like a huge plain of cotton. The closer she gets to the sky, however, the more polarizing it gets. Marisa can feel her limbs stiffening from the sheer cold, yet her skin almost burning from the sun, and both mixing into a feeling of undeniable pain that could almost take away from the experience. Aware of how close this could put her to a death flag, she shakes away her infinite gazing into the sky and focuses on searching for the gate.

In fact, it happens to have appeared right in front of her while she was sidetracked. With a glint in her eye, Marisa kicks her broom and forces it into a burst of speed so great that it immediately sends her hat flying, then falling into the clouds below. She doesn't mind and only focuses on getting there. Upon arrival, she skids to a halt and hovers in front of it, waiting to see if anyone was going to ambush her. Luckily, the coast seems clear. The gate is still practically destroyed from last time, so getting in is about as easy as breaking a window. Going through the gate makes the entire landscape instantly change, and the heat to totally disappear from the atmosphere. She comes to the Netherworld's steps and finds herself still pleasantly surprised by the gentle snowfall. She feels like wasting time here to play around in the fluff, but has to stay on track, so she starts to slowly scale the steps on foot rather than by flight just to savor the pale background.

Eventually, she runs into Youmu on a jogging routine down the stairs. They wave at each other, although Youmu's isn't a warm and friendly one. She stops right beside Marisa and asks, "What are you doing here? I though we told you that it's dangerous."

"Ah, well...!" Marisa throws a hand behind her head and stretches her back out while she thinks about how to respond. "I think I need to speak to Yuyuko, that's all."

Youmu gives her a dirty look as soon as she says the name. After a moment of silence, she responds, "She's out at the moment. If you have a message, give it to me."

She's about to continue jogging, when a voice arrives from behind, "Don't be so sure about that..." An ethereal hand places itself on Marisa, who's turned to face down the steps now. She whips around and yells, "Hey, what's up with you guys and sneaking up on me!"

Yuyuko begins to materialize before their eyes, completing in mere seconds. Youmu bows and apologizes, "I'm sorry, Master, I didn't notice you."

Yuyuko waves it off, "Don't be so tense! Just go do your thing and I'll talk to our guest." She turns her gaze to Marisa as Youmu nods and runs off. Yuyuko seems almost as serious as the first time they met and gives off a dreadful aura unlike what one regularly feels from her. She puts a mask on it, but anybody could see that her ditzy exterior is utterly transparent by now. "Come." she beckons, floating up the stairs "I'll have to talk with you...privately."

Marisa gulps nervously, but ends up following her up the stairs and into the white mist that shrouds Hakugyokurou.