A few months had passed since the events surrounding the feast and Suika's mist.
In that time, Chris's Japanese had improved dramatically. Not just fragments anymore — full sentences, spoken carefully, with that same polite, almost old-fashioned tone that still confused Reimu every time she heard it.
Marisa, naturally, celebrated this achievement by immediately teaching him words Reimu had specifically told her not to.
Reimu celebrated by nearly breaking a broom over Marisa's head.
Still, progress was progress.
More importantly, Patchouli had finally begun teaching Chris magic.
Cassidy joined him as well — mostly because she was still bound to the Scarlet Devil Mansion and couldn't leave even if she tried. That meant Reimu and Marisa ended up visiting the mansion far more often than they ever planned to, though at this point, no one even questioned it anymore.
What did confuse Reimu was how quickly Cassidy adapted.
Her Japanese was nearly flawless — natural, casual, effortless — far beyond what Chris could manage even now.
When asked, Cassidy had simply shrugged.
"About a third Japanese on my mom's side," she'd said lightly. "I picked things up here before I died."
That… explained enough.
For now.
---
The Patchouli Knowledge Library was quiet, save for the turning of pages and the faint hum of magic in the air.
Chris and Cassidy sat on the floor in front of Patchouli, the floating Grimoire hovering nearby, its single eye half-lidded but attentive.
Patchouli adjusted her hat and looked down at the two spirit children.
"Spell Cards," she began, "are not just attacks. They are expressions of identity, intent, and restraint."
She raised her hand, a simple magic circle forming in the air.
"In Gensokyo, power without form is meaningless. A Spell Card gives that power rules. Limits. Shape."
Cassidy leaned forward, wings flickering faintly with fire.
Chris watched in silence, blue eyes fixed on the magic circle as if trying to memorise every detail.
"You two," Patchouli continued, "do not generate magic the way humans or youkai do. Your energy is… memetic. Conceptual."
Her gaze flicked briefly to the Grimoire.
"That makes Spell Cards necessary — otherwise, your power will express itself in ways even you won't understand."
The circle split, reshaping itself into a structured pattern.
"Today," Patchouli said calmly, "you will learn how to give your power a name."
The Grimoire's pages fluttered.
Somewhere deep within it, something ancient watched — amused, curious, and very interested.
Patchouli then looked at Chris as she spoke. "Now, your Spell card will very unique".
She pointed at his Grimoire. "Do, to Nidhogg ability to Copy Power's from other".
Chris opened the Grimoire as he sent out a small copy spelled as he said in his mind. 'Master spark'.
Small harmless star left his had hit the ceiling with no damage.
Patchouli looked at him as she spoke. "And can weaken it or make it stronger, depending on what you want".
Chris Nodded.
Patchouli watched the harmless star fade against the ceiling, her eyes narrowing slightly behind her glasses.
"Good," she said at last. "That confirms it."
She turned her attention fully back to Chris.
"Your Spell Cards won't be original in the traditional sense. They'll be reinterpretations — reflections filtered through your soul and the Grimoire."
The book's eye blinked once, slow and deliberate.
"Because Nidhogg copies," Patchouli continued, "but does not merely replicate. It adapts. What you cast will always be yours, even if the source is someone else."
Chris looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers slightly.
"So… I choose?" he asked, carefully forming the words.
Patchouli nodded. "Power, scale, intent. You decide all of it."
She paused, then added, more firmly, "Which is why restraint is non-negotiable."
Cassidy raised a hand. "What happens if he doesn't?"
Patchouli didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she flicked her wrist.
A Spell Card ignited the air — complex, dense, overwhelming — before collapsing in on itself and vanishing.
"What happens," Patchouli said calmly, "is that reality starts paying attention."
Chris swallowed.
Inside his head, Nidhogg's voice stirred, amused.
'You hear that? Even here, they fear excess.'
Chris answered silently. 'I don't want to hurt anyone.'
A pause.
'Good,' Nidhogg replied. 'Then we will be very careful.'
Patchouli knelt, bringing herself level with Chris.
"Your first true Spell Card will be defensive," she said. "Low output. Stable structure. Something you can use without fear."
She tapped the Grimoire once.
"Name it when you're ready. A Spell Card without a name is unfinished."
Chris closed his eyes.
Golden light flickered faintly around him — not violent, not loud — just present.
When he opened them again, he spoke softly.
"Spell Card… Guardian Echo."
The air shimmered.
A gentle, circular barrier formed around him — thin, translucent, etched with faint golden symbols that felt more like memory than magic.
Patchouli stared.
Cassidy leaned back slightly. "That feels… warm."
Patchouli exhaled slowly.
"…A defensive Spell Card that reflects intent rather than force," she murmured. "Of course it would be."
The Grimoire's pages flipped once on their own.
And somewhere deep within it, Nidhogg smiled.
'An excellent beginning, little bearer.'
Patchouli slowly turned her gaze from the fading golden barrier to Cassidy.
"…As for yours."
Cassidy's grin widened just a little too much.
She tapped her Spell Card.
The temperature in the library dropped before it spiked.
From the air itself, fiery red chains tore into existence, each link glowing like heated iron, black tar dripping from them as they slammed into the ground, walls, and ceiling — not violently, but with deliberate weight. The chains coiled and hovered, twitching as if alive.
Cassidy tilted her head, smiling.
"Spell Card… Crimson Chain: Binding Agony."
The chains rattled softly, a sound halfway between metal and distant screaming.
Chris stiffened but didn't flinch — not this time. He just looked at her.
Patchouli adjusted her hat, very carefully.
"…You scare me sometimes."
Cassidy giggled, the chains dissolving into red embers that evaporated before touching anything important. The room returned to normal, save for a faint scorch mark on the floor that definitely hadn't been there before.
Patchouli sighed. "Your Spell Card is extremely focused. Confinement, suppression, emotional resonance."
She glanced at Cassidy's wings. "It draws directly on Agony rather than mana. That makes it efficient."
Then, more flatly, "And deeply unsettling."
Cassidy shrugged. "It's honest."
Patchouli pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's not a reassurance."
She straightened, addressing both children now.
"You two are opposites in expression but identical in danger," she said. "One protects. One binds. Neither relies on raw destruction."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"That makes you far more troublesome than most youkai."
Inside Chris's head, Nidhogg chuckled.
'Guardian and jailer,' it mused. 'How poetic.'
Chris glanced at Cassidy and spoke aloud, more confident now.
"…We won't use them unless we have to."
Cassidy looked at him, then nodded.
"Yeah. Only when someone really deserves it."
Patchouli muttered, already scribbling notes. "I'm going to regret teaching you both."
But for the first time, there was no irritation in her voice.
Only concern — and interest.
Reimu, who had been unusually quiet throughout the lesson, finally spoke.
"So… do I need to make Hollow Cards for Chris?"
Chris tilted his head, wings shifting slightly. "Hollow cards?"
Patchouli closed the Grimoire she had been writing in and looked at him. "Short answer," she said calmly, "empty Spell Cards."
She waved her hand, and a blank card formed in the air — no name, no pattern, no element, just a faint outline of spiritual structure.
"In Gensokyo, Spell Cards are normally predefined," Patchouli continued. "A fixed name, fixed rules, fixed output. Hollow Cards are different. They don't contain a spell."
She let the card drift down onto the table.
"They become a spell when activated."
Marisa blinked. "So like a wildcard?"
Patchouli nodded. "Exactly. They're unstable, inefficient, and usually pointless for normal people."
Then she looked directly at Chris.
"But for you, they're ideal."
Chris looked down at the blank card, then up at Reimu. "…Why?"
Patchouli folded her arms. "Because your power isn't elemental. It's adaptive. Nidhogg copies, reshapes, and internalises. A normal Spell Card would limit you."
The Grimoire's single eye blinked in agreement.
'Prewritten rules are chains,' Nidhogg murmured in his head. 'Hollow vessels suit us better.'
Reimu frowned, rubbing her temple. "So if I don't make Hollow Cards…"
Patchouli finished the thought. "He risks activating something he doesn't intend. A copied Spell Card reacting to emotional input is how you get incidents."
Reimu sighed deeply. "Of course it is."
She looked at Chris, who was now gently poking the blank card as if it might bite him.
"…So these cards," she said, "you use them, but only when you really mean it. Got it?"
Chris nodded seriously. "I understand."
Marisa leaned over, squinting at the card. "So what happens if he uses one without knowing what he wants?"
Patchouli didn't answer immediately.
Cassidy did.
"…Then the card decides."
The room went quiet.
Patchouli shot her a look. "That's not wrong, but you didn't have to say it like that."
Reimu exhaled slowly and placed a hand on Chris's head, ruffling his hair.
"Alright," she said. "Then I'll make them. Hollow Cards, rules included."
She looked straight at him.
"But you don't use them unless I say so. Understood?"
Chris met her eyes and nodded again, more firmly this time.
"Yes, Reimu."
The Grimoire fluttered, pages settling.
'A shrine maiden forging empty law,' Nidhogg mused. 'How very Gensokyo.'
Patchouli picked up her pen again. "Good. Then next lesson…"
She glanced at Cassidy.
"…is control. Before either of you accidentally rewrite a festival."
Patchouli closed the Hollow Card case with a soft thump.
"Enough of Spell Cards."
She lifted her hand, and a second book appeared — a normal grimoire, leather-bound, worn at the edges, its pages packed with dense formulae, runes, and handwritten annotations.
"This," she said, tapping it lightly, "is magic."
Chris and Cassidy both leaned forward.
"Spell Cards," Patchouli continued, "are structured displays. They are rules agreed upon by Gensokyo so battles don't become massacres. Beautiful. Fair. Predictable."
She opened the grimoire, pages flipping on their own.
"Magic is none of those things."
Marisa grinned. "Now that's more like it."
Patchouli ignored her.
"Magic is theory, practice, control, and failure. It's drawing power from yourself, your surroundings, or an external source, then forcing it to obey logic."
She glanced at Chris. "Which means this part will be… difficult for you."
Chris blinked. "Because… copying?"
"Because you don't cast the way others do," Patchouli replied. "You resonate."
She raised her hand, forming a small sphere of pure elemental mana — neutral, colorless.
"For a normal magician, this requires years of training. Mana circulation, incantation structure, output control."
She released it.
"For you—"
The mana sphere trembled, then slid toward Chris on its own, hovering in front of his chest.
Chris stiffened. "I didn't—"
"I know," Patchouli said calmly. "You didn't cast it. Your soul responded."
The Grimoire at Chris's side fluttered, its eye half-lidded.
'Passive absorption,' Nidhogg noted. 'Primitive, but efficient.'
Cassidy frowned. "So… what does that mean?"
Patchouli closed the grimoire with a snap. "It means Chris doesn't need to learn magic the way you do."
She turned to him. "You need to learn restraint."
Reimu immediately stiffened. "I don't like where this is going."
Patchouli continued anyway. "If he channels mana without structure, he risks triggering copied systems unintentionally. A fire spell when frightened. A barrier when hugged. A time distortion when panicking."
Chris swallowed.
"…I don't want that."
"I know," Patchouli said, her voice softer now. "That's why we start with basics."
She conjured three symbols into the air: Breath, Anchor, Release.
"Magic without Spell Cards begins with these."
She pointed to the first. "Breath. Awareness of your own existence."
Then the second. "Anchor. A thought, object, or person that keeps your power from running wild."
Her eyes flicked to Reimu without hesitation.
Reimu sighed. "Of course it's me."
"And finally," Patchouli said, pointing to the last symbol, "Release. Letting power go without letting it choose for you."
Chris looked at the symbols, then slowly placed a hand over his chest.
"…Can I try?"
Patchouli nodded. "Yes. But only Breath. Nothing else."
Chris closed his eyes.
He breathed.
The room didn't shake. No light burst out. No chains, no time distortion, no copied spells.
Just a faint golden glow — steady, warm, controlled.
Patchouli's eyes widened slightly.
"…Impressive."
Cassidy stared. "Hey, that took me three tries."
Chris opened his eyes, surprised. "It worked?"
Patchouli allowed herself a small smile. "Yes."
Then she added, flatly, "Which means next time will be harder."
Marisa laughed. "Poor kid."
Reimu pulled Chris closer, resting her chin lightly on his head. "You're doing fine. Just… don't turn my shrine inside out."
Chris nodded seriously. "I'll try."
The Grimoire hovered quietly at his side.
'Restraint learned,' Nidhogg murmured. 'Danger postponed.'
Patchouli reopened her book.
"Good," she said. "Tomorrow, we start casting."
Cassidy groaned.
Chris, on the other hand, looked almost excited.
To be continued
Hope people like this ch and give me power stones and enjoy