The Race of Time

In the forest by the Misty Lake within Gensokyo, the head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion—the loyal dog of the vampire child lord and the perfectly elegant servant, Sakuya Izayoi—had set out with grim determination to pursue the discourteous priestess and wash away the humiliation dealt to her master. She never expected to encounter the most surprising challenge of her life.

A time acceleration contest!

Sakuya was shocked to find that the priestess before her possessed the exact same type of ability: the power to accelerate her own time, making the world around her appear to slow down or even stand still. But that wasn't the most important part. What truly mattered was that the priestess's acceleration rate and final speed were so staggering that even at fifty times normal speed, Sakuya couldn't perceive her at all. That was terrifying.

'If 100x speed isn't enough to see you move, then I'll just have to increase it tenfold! How about 1,000x speed?!' Sakuya muttered grimly, looking at the priestess who stood frozen again, her azusa bow drawn. She pulled out her silver pocket watch, the Lunar Clock. Upon pressing it, not only did the second hand begin to spin at high speed, but the minute hand also blurred into a whirlwind. Sakuya’s time acceleration factor climbed higher and higher, finally reaching the world of 1,000x speed.

The surrounding environment showed no fundamental change. The biggest difference was that at 100x speed, Sakuya could still hear distorted, strange sounds. At 1,000x, moving far beyond the speed of sound, she could no longer hear any noise at all. Whether at 100x or 1,000x, the movements of the mundane world were virtually stagnant to her. For Sakuya, the only proof that she was in a 1,000x speed world was the frantic spinning of the Lunar Clock’s hands and the rapid drain on her spiritual power.

'In a world of 1,000x speed... you shouldn't be able to catch me this time...' Sakuya panted heavily. Even while gasping for air, she stared seriously at the frozen priestess. She gripped her silver knives and slowly walked forward. However, just as she took a single step and reached the priestess's side, the world changed once more.

Suddenly, the scene shifted before Sakuya's eyes. The priestess holding the azusa bow vanished, replaced by an empty patch of forest.

"Wh-what?! Again..."

Sakuya suddenly realized she was sitting on a rock. The knife she had been holding was gone. As she looked around in bewilderment, she saw the priestess sitting on a stump not far behind her to the side. The priestess was holding the missing silver knife, leisurely peeling an apple—the very apple that had been on Sakuya's head earlier.

"Hmm, your knife is actually quite sharp. It peels apples very smoothly. It's so exquisitely made, it looks quite nice too."

Sitting on the stump, Miketsu watched as Sakuya’s stunned expression froze. But before half a second passed, Sakuya’s face hardened again. Without a word, she sprang up from the rock and pressed her Lunar Clock, preparing to launch a new round of "THE WORLD" to trigger her time acceleration!

Shock and surprise were beyond words in Sakuya's heart. She knew clearly that she had just been overtaken by the other party's time acceleration again. Even at 1,000x speed, she hadn't detected a single trace of the opponent's movement! Just like before, she hadn't felt the acceleration process at all; the opponent's movements were like a badly edited film, cutting from one scene to another with no logical transition.

'Even at 1,000x speed... I'm still too slow for you? What a terrifying priestess! Where is your limit?!'

Sakuya thought to herself. 'If you can reach 10,000x speed, then I can go even higher!'

By now, Sakuya's primary concern was no longer Remilia's mission, but the outcome of this time-speed race against the priestess. Her pride as a time-user had been ignited, and she desperately wanted to challenge the opponent's limit with her own! After the previous two failures, Sakuya couldn't guarantee victory, but no matter what, she had to see the opponent's movements clearly this time.

"Take this! This is my ultimate limit... 50,000x speed, THE WORLD!"

In the world of speed in Gensokyo, there were many different perspectives. One popular topic was Aya Shameimaru, the tengu reporter. Her excellent speed allowed her to escape any pursuit after breaking news about people's privacy. Another hot topic was the half-phantom gardener of the Hakugyokuro in the Underworld; legends said she could use her phantom traits to prune a hundred-yojana-wide garden in an instant. Thus, she was often a contender for the title of the fastest.

But in reality, the truly fast powerhouses of Gensokyo did not display their abilities so loudly. Compared to riding the wind or spirits, or relying on wings and footwork, they were holders of true high-level abilities—often involving time and space. Sakuya was one of these low-profile, high-level ability holders.

Pressing the silver Lunar Clock, Sakuya activated the limit of her ability. As the hour hand joined the others in a frantic spin, Sakuya's own time was accelerated by 50,000 times!

In Sakuya's vision, the colors of the entire world began to undergo strange changes. The hues and brightness of everything deviated from the normal world, becoming grotesque and otherworldly. In a world of 50,000x speed, any high speed achieved through wings or feet was a joke. The so-called candidates for the fastest in Gensokyo were children in front of this speed. This was a realm where even light perception became abnormal. Under normal circumstances, if a human or yokai reached this speed by accelerating their physical body rather than time, the friction of the air would burn them to ash. Even with a powerful body capable of resisting the heat, they would be launched directly into space. Only a time-user could move as if everything were normal at such speeds.

This time, Sakuya was not in a hurry to do anything to the oddly colored priestess peeling an apple on the stump. Instead, she stood in place and waited quietly, waiting for the opponent's counter-acceleration to trigger.

But this time... nothing strange seemed to happen. Seeing this, Sakuya couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

'It seems my limit is higher—'

Before she could finish her thought, everything in the world before Sakuya's eyes changed again in the blink of an eye.

As if a poorly edited movie had suddenly jumped to a new scene, the grotesque, alien-colored world in Sakuya’s eyes vanished. The color of time returned to normal in an instant. Sakuya, who had stood up, found herself sitting back on her original rock. The priestess, now in normal color, was still in her original position, though her posture had changed from peeling the apple to eating it.

Witnessing this, Sakuya could only open her mouth and eyes in shock, unable to say a word for a long time. She sat there like a statue. Opposite her, the priestess eating the peeled apple gave her a smile and spoke easily.

"Fifty thousand times self-acceleration—quite impressive. For a human... no, for any mundane time-user, you are already top-tier. Even more commendable is that your intuition is very sharp; you noticed that I used time-related means. You aren't like that Eldest Lady you serve, who holds an ability related to fate but is still complaining today about how things happened because of bad luck."

Looking at the stunned maid sitting on the rock, Miketsu spoke with a smile as she sat cross-legged and ate her apple. Her words expressed a certain appreciation for Sakuya, at least noting that she wasn't like Remilia, who still hadn't realized that Miketsu was manipulating fate just as she did.

"What was... your limit?" Sakuya asked hoarsely. At this point, she only wanted to know what the opponent's limit was. How much speed had she actually lost by? She wanted to lose with a clear understanding of the gap between them.

Hearing Sakuya's question, Miketsu couldn't help but chuckle. She shook her head and spoke to Sakuya.

"Hehe, how much did I accelerate to? Actually, I can't answer that question. To you, it looks like my ability is the same as yours—time acceleration. But in fact, unfortunately, you were wrong from the start."

"What? I was wrong? No, the phenomena caused by your ability are clearly only possible through time acceleration!" Sakuya said in disbelief. After all, she was a time-user herself; everything she had just experienced felt exactly like how she used her ability to toy with others.

Hearing Sakuya's words, Miketsu shook her head slightly. She scanned the surroundings again and spoke.

"You can look around."

Following Miketsu's words, Sakuya began to observe the environment. She was shocked to discover that the space around her was in a state of stasis.

Birds were suspended in mid-air, waves were frozen, and falling leaves were fixed in place. Everything looked exactly like the world she observed after her own time acceleration.

'Am I still under time acceleration?'

That was Sakuya's first thought. Then she realized that she could talk normally with Miketsu, which meant they were at the same acceleration factor. Was her ability perhaps to make others accelerate with her? But that was still acceleration.

Suddenly, Sakuya wanted to see what the current acceleration rate was, so she pulled out her Lunar Clock. This pocket watch also had the function of recording her current acceleration factor. However, she was horrified to find that the gears inside her watch were no longer moving. They were completely stopped, as if broken.

"Wh-what? The Lunar Clock... has stopped?"

Sakuya spoke slowly with a shocked expression. Her Lunar Clock would work like a normal timepiece even at normal time speeds. Seeing it completely still, even the second hand frozen, was a first. This could only mean one thing.

Seeing the abnormality of the Lunar Clock, a bold guess about the priestess's ability slowly surfaced in Sakuya's heart.

"Your... your ability isn't time acceleration, but time stop... You've stopped the world's time. And not just a simple pause! Since we can talk here, what you can do is definitely more than that!"

Sakuya spoke with a trembling voice. She finally understood. The priestess's ability was to stop the world's time rather than accelerate her own. Before a time stop, no matter how much she accelerated, she would be stopped... just like now. Her Lunar Clock showed that the time of the current world was no longer flowing forward. She and the opponent were not under any time acceleration at all.

What was even more terrifying was that in this frozen world, Sakuya could communicate normally with the other party. That proved the opponent's ability was not just a simple pause. Being able to move in this stopped world meant the opponent could selectively designate what was stopped and what could continue to flow. For example, the fact that they could talk meant the air hadn't been stopped to a certain extent; it could still transmit sound. Being able to see normally proved that light's time hadn't been stopped either.

Being able to arbitrarily manipulate the time of every single object... able to stop or accelerate them at will... an ability of this level could no longer be explained by simple time stopping. It could only be called 'time control.' Sakuya herself was still unable to apply time acceleration to other objects, yet the priestess before her could manipulate the time of everything around her at will. It was beyond ridiculous; it was the pinnacle of absurdity.

'Eldest Lady... just what kind of being have you summoned?'

"...As expected, you really are much sharper than your vampire master. You truly are an excellent talent." Miketsu continued to look at Sakuya with a smile. Hearing this, Sakuya spoke solemnly.

"May I ask... who are you?"

Sakuya's tone now carried a note of respect. She realized the ability the opponent possessed meant her true identity was absolutely not simple. It certainly wouldn't be as Remilia said—a familiar summoned by chance.

"Me? I'm just a god passing by. Taking you away without the owner's consent was my fault. My apologies~" Miketsu smiled and waved at Sakuya. Hearing Miketsu's words, Sakuya was momentarily stunned, then quickly replied.

"Ah... I am the Eldest Lady's maid, not some... please do not misunderstand. The Eldest Lady will always be my master. Please do not insult her."

"Haha, isn't it the same? I'm usually kept by someone too. It's not embarrassing~"

Miketsu chuckled as she looked at Sakuya. She tossed the apple, now eaten down to the core, aside. Then she stood up slowly and snapped her fingers, restoring the flow of time to normal.

"Alright, now I should continue my walk. By the way, vampire maid, I quite appreciated your performance just now. So, I'll give you a little reward~"

As Miketsu spoke, she looked at Sakuya and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, Sakuya felt a wave of abnormality in her body.

To her shock, Sakuya found her body starting to feel slightly warm, and she began to shrink at a pace visible to the naked eye. The hands on her Lunar Clock, which monitored her own time, began to spin frantically—this time in the opposite direction.

Within a few seconds, Sakuya's frame had clearly shrunken. Her entire maid outfit became loose and baggy. Her collarbones were clearly visible beneath the neckline. Sakuya, originally a young woman of about seventeen or eighteen, had suddenly lost two or three years, becoming about fifteen years old—only slightly taller than Miketsu.

"This... what is this...?" Looking at the changes in her body, the shrunken Sakuya said in alarm. Miketsu answered with a smile.

"It's nothing. I just helped your personal time, which was out of sync with the world, synchronize again. In other words, I returned you to the age you should be at now. Time acceleration is a fine ability, but you know the consequences of overusing it, don't you?"

Miketsu said with a smile. Although the ability to accelerate time was powerful, it wasn't without side effects. The most typical one was that because the user's time was frequently accelerated, they would age faster relative to the world. After all, while only one second passed in the eyes of an ordinary person, the time-user might have experienced several dozen minutes. Such time differences accumulated, causing the time-user to age or grow at an abnormal rate from the perspective of an ordinary person. This might not mean much to a yokai with a long lifespan, but for a human, a hundred-year lifespan cannot withstand much depletion.

For example, Sakuya before her: although she looked like a young woman of seventeen or eighteen, Miketsu could see at a glance that her actual chronological age was only around fifteen. This was clearly a sequela of long-term time acceleration.

The Scarlet Devil Mansion was large, but from the fairy maids at the bottom to the Eldest Lady Remilia at the top, none of them were reliable. Consequently, almost all the mansion's affairs, large and small, were handled by Sakuya. She took care of every task personally. Because there was too much work and not enough time, Sakuya frequently used her ability to work. She worked seven days a week, surpassing any overworked corporate slave, while simultaneously overdrawing her future time.

For a human, this was absolutely life-consuming behavior. Thus, Miketsu had just returned all the time Sakuya had overdrawn in recent years. Sakuya had become two or three years younger in one breath.

"...Is such a thing even possible? Truly... thank you so much!" Seeing her shrunken self, Sakuya immediately understood Miketsu's intention. She thanked her with a heart full of respect, while also marveling at the advancement of Miketsu's ability. Miketsu, however, spoke non-committally.

"It's nothing, just a small matter. However, I still want to remind you that time acceleration is an ability played with your life. Humans are too short-lived; using it is dangerous. You should find your Eldest Lady for the First Embrace sooner rather than later, lest you regret it in the end. Don't worry too much about pointless things."

Hearing Miketsu's words, Sakuya was momentarily dazed. After hesitating for a while, she spoke slowly.

"Yes. I will... I will give it serious thought."

"Yes. I am truly sorry for offending you this time. I apologize on behalf of the Eldest Lady!" As she spoke, Sakuya gave Miketsu a final, deep bow. However, as she stood up straight, something unexpected happened.

Because Sakuya's body had shrunken, all her clothes had become loose and baggy. This was not limited to her outer layers, but included her undergarments as well.

As Sakuya bowed deeply and then pulled herself back up, certain straps slipped from her shoulders. Consequently, at the very moment she stood straight, two white, soft objects popped directly out from inside Sakuya's loose clothing. They fell in front of her and bounced on the ground, rolling right to Miketsu's feet.

They were clearly items used to add height and volume to the chest.

Witnessing this scene, both Miketsu and Sakuya froze in place for a moment. Neither of them moved a muscle. Although the falling leaves drifted, birds soared, and water splashed around them, restoring movement to all things, the two of them seemed to still be trapped in the stasis of "THE WORLD."