For the first time; Daiyousei and the others saw the other bank of the Misty Lake.
There were hundreds; possibly even thousands; of fairies gathered; all around what was now a towering pillar of light. They seemed to be praying, and Daiyousei and the others could feel waves of energy coming from the light pillar.
"It will not be long now! Titania is awakening as I speak!" the black fairy said.
"Then we've gotta get past you before then!" Cirno said angrily.
"Please; you won't even be able to scratch me." the fairy retorted, before she pointed her bow at the group. "In fact; you won't even get to attack me."
The fairy quickly launched several arrows; one at each of the six opposing her. Cirno deflected the one aimed at her with a chunk of ice she formed quickly; while the one aimed at Lilly was seemingly absorbed by a swirl of blossoms. Daiyousei materialized a rock in the path of the two headed for Mystia and Wriggle; while the one headed for Kogasa she just moved enough so it missed her umbrella; and passed through her avatar without harm.
The one headed for Daiyousei herself just bounced off her; causing the Black Fairy to look stunned.
"Hmm? That attack killed you in one blow before." she said, bemused. "Not only did you deflect my attack like nothing this time; but you protected two of your friends."
"That's because before it was a sneak-attack." Daiyousei said. "Maybe you shouldn't be so confident about a fight where we know what's coming! My magic may have offensive uses; but in the end; I am a White Mage, not a Black Mage like Patchouli. I am best with supportive or restorative magic; not offensive magic!"
"My my; it seems I may have under-estimated you a little." the fairy said; before she slung the bow over her back;and formed an energy arrow; which then changed to become more like a trident. "But let's see you handle this!"
She thrust her hands foward; and a large cloud of darkness surrounded the area; before a shower of danmaku came from the dark clouds; at close range.
"This is nothing we ain't seen before! Mysti can do similar things!" Wriggle said.
"Speak for yourself Wriggle! I can't practice against my own spells!" Mystia cried out.
"This attack; I've seen it before..." Kogasa mused.
"Yes; it's like one of Mystia's!" Cirno said.
The attack calmed down; before the fairy lunged with great speed at Lilly with her weapon; the fairy being wisked out of harm's way by a gust of wind conjured by Daiyousei.
"Ugh; things would be a lot easier if you were not here; Kogasa..." the fairy muttered.
"I don't get it!" Kogasa said. "I feel like I should know who you are but I can't quite pin it!"
"Of course you can't!" the fairy said. "It's impossible to identify my true nature."
"Hey... Dai?" Cirno asked.
"Yeah." Daiyousei said.
"I got an idea."
"What."
"You know you can use that fancy water magic stuff?" Cirno asked.
"Yeah..."
"Then do you think you could help pull off that attack I did with the Kappa when we fought Rika?" Cirno asked.
"Uh... Cirno; I was inside the robot. In a cage. I don't know what you did." Daiyousei remarked.
"Make a BIIIIG wave!" Cirno said.
"I get it!" Daiyousei said; before calling up a wave of water, and hurling it towards the black fairy. While it was nowhere what Nitori was able to create with all of the snow from Letty's Blizzard; it was still several times larger than the black fairy.
However; she stopped taunting Kogasa in time to notice; and flew above the wave as Cirno froze it.
"Do you think that is going to stop me? Something that slow could never..." she began, before suddenly Wriggle kicked her in the side; from an angle she should have been able to see it coming from.
"My... vision..." she snarled, suffering from Night-Blindness due to Mystia's singing; the magic of her song targeting only her.
The fairy slammed onto the top of the frozen wave; and quickly began to get back up; before Kogasa spun her umbrella around on it's side; and unleashed a barrage of raindrop like-danmaku randomly; her 'Rain Sign: A Rainy Night's Ghost Story' spell; keeping the fairy pinned and unable to take off due to the barrage of weak danmaku.
Lilly, meanwhile; collected energy behind the wave; cherry blossoms circleing around her.
"You'll have one shot at this Cirno! Don't mess it up! Dai; make sure she falls in!" Lilly said; before a cherry-colored glow emanated from her hands. "Warm Sign: Sunny Spring Morning!"
The light entered the frozen wave of water; turning it light pink for a moment; before it thawed completely; all at once. At that precise moment; the wave started to collapse; due to the complete loss of momentum.
Daiyousei blasted the fairy down with a powerful shot of wind; so; combined with Kogasa's danmaku; she splashed into the wave before it could collapse completely into the lake.
"Ice Sign: Perfect Freeze!" Cirno declared; as the wave froze; and; despite the black fairy's best attempt; she was frozen in it; only her head and upper torso escaping. Her arms in particular were frozen in the wave.
"We did it!" Mystia and Wriggle cried happily.
"We beat her!" Lilly said thankfully.
"I'm the Strongest!" Cirno announced.
Kogasa remained quiet; and floated over to the black fairy; while Daiyousei headed towards the pillar of light; feeling even more energy coming from it.
"It is too late to stop it." the black fairy said. "As soon as the pillar of light formed it was too late for you to stop it."
Daiyousei turned to the black fairy, and used water and fire magic to melt a small bit of the ice; and use the water to pop a small seed out of the fairy's pocket.
"This is a strange seed..." Daiyousei said; holding the seed which had dark and light brown stripes. "I feel a magic coming from it. No; two magics."
"Hey; I know that seed; and that pattern!" Kogasa said. "That's one of Nue's Seeds of Non-Identification; and that pattern is like Mamizou's tail!"
Kogasa looked in thought for a moment; before she looked like she had come to a conclusion.
"That means whoever this is musta stolen it from Nue and Mamizou!"
Kogasa; of course; was not looking at the fact that it was no longer the fairy trapped in the ice. In fact; the fairy; due to growing; how broken out. Nue was floating in the air; right next to Kogasa.
"You really are an idiot sometimes; you know that?" Nue said angrily. "And here I was almost impressed that you managed to pin me in so badly; even if I was holding back to maintain my disguise."
"Nue?!" Kogasa exclaimed. "Aren't you supposed to like humans? You're with Hijiri after all!"
"Just because I am one of Byakuren's friends does not mean I share her ideals. I was sealed underground with the ship; not far from where Shou and the others sealed themselves; for 1,000 years. And when I awoke; I found that the rest of my race had been hunted to extinction my the humans! Youkai and Humans always conflict; that much can be seen even today; with humans like Rika!" Nue said; surprisingly calmly.
The pillar of light formed a crack.
"But I do not have the power to perform such an act. In fact; if I tried to do so directly; I would only spur the cycle of hatred on. So instead I got Mamizou to put a bit of her power into one of my seeds; so I could disguise myself as a fairy; and use them to my own ends. Maybe by making the hate directed at the immortal fae; I could break the cycle of hatred between humans and youkai. If humans survived; of course." Nue explained.
Another crack formed in the pillar of light behind Nue; as a crossbow formed on her arm.
"I apologize; but I cannot have you survive knowing a youkai is the cause of all of this. It would ruin my plans if the humans found out this disaster was not of the fae's doing. I shall grant you death by the very bow that took the lives of my kin; the bow of Genzanmi Yorimasa."
Nue collected a massive amount of energy into the small crossbow; and pointed it up into the sky; as the cracks in the pillar of light spread.
Then; a dark streak dashed past Daiyousei and the others; leaving a pitch-black mist. Nue went flying into the lake waters; a notable amount of blood coming from her side.
The mist dispersed a little; and a being of pure black stood there. She looked like a creature from a nightmare. The shadow cast by random objects lined up in the wrong way at the night. The boogyman.
Then; the figure suddenly changed into Rumia; with an exhale.
"I already have to deal with one genocidal maniac Nue. My patience for dealing with a second isn't exactly high." Rumia said; before adding; as Nue surfaced; visible pained; "And Youkai on Youkai won't get the humans going like Youkai on Human violence would. It would be wiser for you to stay in the water and give up."
Nue for a few moments looked defiant; and pulled her trident out of the water, lifting her other arm; with the mounted crossbow; and Rumia just stared her down.
Nue lowered her weapons.
"Any more fighting between us is senseless anyway. Titania is about to awaken. She will unleash her angry upon the humans; and then she will seal again due to a lack of continuing faith from the fairies to fuel her."
"Wait... you think Titania will be re-sealed due to running out of faith?" Daiyousei said.
"Yes. Gods run on faith; but there is no way the fairies will remain focused enough to keep giving her enough to maintain herself." Nue said.
"You fool! Titania dosen't run on faith! She uses fear! She'll terrify the fairies! She's use them as nothing more than energy sources as she makes them; and everyone else; flee for their lives! You thought you were unleashing a natural disaster; you're actually unleashing an unstoppable extinction event Nue!"
Nue's face looked worried for a second; as the pillar of light shattered.
"Titania!" the fairies cried happily; as the god rose.
The body of the god was clearly similar to that of Yuuka Kazami. However; instead of her short hair and normal outfit; she had very long hair; and her outfit looked like... pyjamas; with a clock dangling from them. She had six massive wings; not too dis-similar to those of the fairies. Her eyes were closed.
Then; they slowly opened; golden instead of red.
"Lady Titania!" the fairies chanted.
The goddess put her hand foward; and fired what was clearly a Master Spark at a large group of the fairies; disintegrating them. The chants stopped.
"Fear me." she said simply. "Fear me and flee for your lives; or you will be next."
The fairies started to panic; and scattered. Confused and terrified. They were crying. Vines luncged from the ground; impailing more of them; making the massive remainder only panic more. The ground where the blast was fired was little more than an inferno.
"The... nightmare..." Daiyousei said.
"Oh god... what have I done?" Nue said. "I thought she would only be awake for a short time. An hour at most... ample time to get revenge on the humans; but not long enough she would cause too much damage. But if she can feed off terror itself... what have I done!"
"I don't even think the new move I learnt while training with Remilia will help here..." Rumia said.
"What was that thing you did anyway?" Mystia asked.
"Simple. Like Remilia can turn back into a bat; or you into a bird; or Wriggle into a Firefly... I turned into a being of pure shadow and darkness. I'm far stronger in that form; but it takes a lot of energy out of me; and then there's issues with her in my head." Rumia said.
"So it's a dangerous last resort move?" Kogasa asked.
"Yes. I guess you could put it like that." Rumia said; before she looked at Daiyousei.
"You said she feeds of fear; right?" Rumia asked.
"Yeah." Daiyousei said.
"Then you are the key to defeating her. If me and the others can hold her off for long enough for you to calm down enough of the fairies with your powers... she won't have any source of fear anymore; or at least enough to sustain herself!"
"But; this many fairies..." Daiyousei said. "I've only used my power on one at a time before..."
"It's our only shot!" Rumia insisted.
"She's right." Remilia said; joining by Rumia's side; just as the sun set. "You lot should stay out of this fight. It's way out of your league."
"Hmph. Shoulda' figured Kazami would go wild after the recent events." Tenma said; flying into the area; and getting the instant attention of Mystia.
"Nue; what have I told you about attempting to get revenge on humans... I'll deal with your misguided goals later." Byakuren said; picking Nue out of the water; healing her wound.
"What are you doing here; Hijiri?" Nue asked.
"We all came here because we have to be here." Byakuren said simply. "We're amoung the strongest youkai in Gensokyo; you see. If anyone is going to hold a God like this back for long enough for that fairy to do her work; it is us."
"I for one am willing to bet on Rumia's buddy!" Tenma said; taking a swig from a sake jar on his obi sash.
Rumia chuckled and looked at the other three powerful youkai.
"She sure planned ahead; didn't she?" Rumia said. "I have the feeling she knew something like this would happen."
"Would you expect anything else of the Late Sage?" Byakuren admitted.
Author Note: Basically Nue wanted a way to get revenge on the humans for hunting the other Nue down in a way that humans wouldn't take it out on youkai; making hate lead to more hate. So she used the fairies. However; she also knew she was playing with something too powerful to be allowed to run rampant; and expected the faith to only keep her going a short time; due to the attention span of the fairies. Of course; she didn't count on fear...
Nue's never been shown to be particularly fond of humans. She called Mamizou over to help 'balance the scales' and to fight Miko; after all. She has a reason to hate humans; Genzanmi Yorimasa being one. And the TD Extra Stage Theme is even called 'Raise the Flag of Rebellion'. When I think of an 'Anti-Human' youkai; despite her affiliations with Byakuren; Nue comes to mind. So while at first glance Nue being the 'villain' of this arc seems out of her character because Byakuren; when you look deeper; it really isn't.