Titania floated in front of Rumia and the other three mighty youkai; and grinned.
Her voice was both like Yuuka's; yet; at the same time; sounded different. Yuuka's usual tone was playful; with a hint of sinister intent. Titania's voice; however; dripped with nothing but pure malice.
"Youkai Sage? I know not who you mean. However; you will join her if you remain in my way; lowly youkai."
"Heh; lowly?" Remilia said. "I'll have you know that I'm a vampire! The other three aren't exactly weak either!"
"If you are the best the youkai of this era have to offer; then the youkai need to be exterminated as well; as failures of evolution." Titania remarked.
"Failures of evolution?!" Tenma roared angrily. "The Tengu are an ancient..."
"Exactly. Your evolution has become stagnant. You should have developed far beyond what you are. Replaced by something better. Mass Extinction tends to kickstart stagnant evolution." Titania said; before she cackled manically. "Trust me; I've done it before!"
"This is Mother Nature?" Byakuren said.
"Not very motherly. Eh; Byakuren? I'd take Shinki over her anyday." Rumia said.
"I guess what they say is true. Nature is a real bitch." Remilia spat.
"Are you trying to provke her?!" Tenma shouted.
"This thing was inside Yuuka all of these years Tenma. Her influence is probobly why Yuuka was... well... Yuuka. I think calling her a bitch is a compliment." Remilia remarked.
"Are you quite done?" Titania asked; before a blast of energy shot from in front of her. No pose; no charge; no warning.
"Divine Art: Lotus Barrier!" Byakuren cried; forming a beautiful barrier of light; that looked like interlocking Lotuses; that fended off the blast.
"That blast was on the level of Yuuka's Master Spark... and she fired it like it took no effort at all." Byakuren said; the barrier fading, before she put her hands together, and glowed.
"Divine Favor: Strength of Enlightenment!" she said; before Rumia and the others felt a surge of strength.
"Heh; Hijiri; your supportive white magic is as strong as they say it is!" Tenma said; glowing with a faint gold and purple aura; as with the others.
"Don't get distracted! Our power will still likely pale to Titania's! This isn't a fight I think we can win! We just need to buy time for the green fairy to calm the others down! One slip up; and you're probobly dead Tenma." Byakuren said seriously, causing the Tengu to laugh.
"We'll see. Let's show her we aren't failures of evolution or whatever she thinks!" Tenma said; raising his hands into the air; before he brought them down; as if he had grabbed the air. "Pressure of the Ruler: Times One Hundred!"
Titania looked a little surprised; and her wings buckled a little; as the very water of the lake under her parted; the ground being driven apart.
"Oh my..." she remarked.
Remilia gathered a familar lance of red energy; but then continued to collect power after the lance had formed. "I can't call upon Gungir as easily as Flandre can call upon Lævateinn; but that's because Gungir is a whole other level of power! Take this; Sure Hit: Spear the Gungir!"
As Remilia finished charging; an ornate lance of white and gold formed in her hand; a design most unsuiting of a vampire; before Remilia hurled the divine lance at Titania; spinning as it flew with the speed only one with the might of a vampire could hurl it with.
However; at the split second the spear made contact; but had not yet done any damage; Titania's hand grasped the weapon and stopped it.
"Gungir is just that. 'Sure Hit'. Not 'Sure Kill' or 'Sure Wound'. By exploiting that fraction of a second; one can prevent any damage being done to them at all." Titania said; holding the lance in her left hand, before she grinned; and turned the spear around.
"I wonder if you can exploit it!" she cackled; before she hurled Gungir back to Remilia; who; upon getting hit; dissolved into a swarm of bats; one of which was run through, before re-forming.
"You'll have to do better than that to kill me." Remilia said proudly.
"This isn't good though. She's that fast even when under 100 times the normal air pressure..." Tenma said.
"100 times is nothing for me. 100 times the pressure of the air is nothing for the life at the bottom of the sea. At the bottom of the Mariana Trench the pressure exerted is over 1000 times the normal pressure of the air! Multiplication of air pressure to 100 times is nothing but spitting in my face; when nature itself can perform more!"
Titania swung her hand; and the waters of the Misty Lake split under the group, parting and raising to above their height.
Then, with a casual flick; the water collapsed down upon the four youkai.
"Dark Surge!" Rumia cried; unleashing a barrage of dark energy spheres witch caused a chain reaction of explosions; repelling the water away, sending it crashing down around them instead of on top of them as well.
Then; a large amount of vines; like the ones being used the attack fairies; rushed from around Titania to the group. Byakuren formed a barrier; which slowed them down; but they quickly became more spear-like; and pierced through; only to be cut by a blade of air from Tenma; as the water finally finished falling.
"It feels like she's toying with us." Byakuren said.
"Good. We're just buying time!" Rumia remarked; as Tenma released his air pressure technique.
"I don't like being looked down on." Tenma said; taking a combat stance.
"I'll agree with you there; Tenma." Remilia said. "It would be an insult to my pride to not get in at least one good hit!"
Byakuren chuckled. "This isn't an enemy we can take lightly. I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it our all and try and hit her."
"You know; I was kinda made to kill a God. I guess attempting to hit one now wouldn't hurt at all." Rumia said.
Titania just looked blankly at the four youkai.
"You wish to attack me? Very well. I shall let you try. See how futile your struggles are. Just remember... it will be my turn to erase you from existence afterwards." Titania said.
"Now look what you two pride-driven idiots have done." Byakuren said. "I highly doubt we can survive her counter-attack."
"Then we'll just have to take her out of commission with our combined force!" Tenma said; gathering air around his fists.
Remilia began to glow with a scarlet aura; like flames. "I shall show her the might of the greater Vampire of Gensokyo."
Rumia closed her eyes; and focused; before she turned into the 'Shadow Form' she was in when she struck Nue; and darkness began to seep from her right hand. "I can't use Dark Energy or Chi in this mode yet; but the raw power of this attack is worth it!"
Byakuren formed a magical aura around herself; which looked like a butterfly; with blooming lotuses.
"My ultimate technique... it's not an origional technique like yours... but it shall suffice." the monk said.
Tenma's hands were lost to the eye within the spiralling winds around them; before the thrust his arms forward; and roared "Lord's Hurricane!". With that; he released the massive amount of swirling air he had built up around his fists; roaring towards Titania.
"Scarlet Gensokyo..." Remilia announced; before unleashing a wave of swift; scarlet energy. Everything before Remilia turned to Scarlet. The night sky. The vines of Titania. The lake. Even the other attacks took a scarlet hue.
"Devil's Recitation!" Byakuren declared; before firing a massive amount of magical projectiles from her battle aura; in an attack almost identical to one of Shinki's.
"Nacht der Morde!" Rumia said; as the claws of her hand literally extended and grew; like five massive blades; towards Titania. Darkness trailed off them; the darkness being the only thing not turned Scarlet. [Note: Nacht der Morde is German for 'Night of Murder'. I chose German because IT SOUNDED COOL.] It was unclear to everyone; even Rumia; if the attack was an extension of herself through the darkness; or the darkness itself being used to attack. That said; in this form; Rumia and the very Darkness were one and the same.
The four attacks all collided with Titania at the same time; and a massive blast of energy exploded as they made contact. It was clear that she had been hit; as the angles of her wings changed; as if recoiling.
The energy cleared; and the scarlet faded; and it was clear Titania was unharmed. Her clothes were ruffled a little; and she had been knocked back by the force; but she was unharmed.
Or so it seemed; until one tiny feature became clear. There was the tiniest cut on her cheek; which seeped... sap. A single drop rolled down her face; before the wound healed. She licked it off her cheek.
"Maybe I was wrong to say that you all are failures. The Darkness Youkai's attack... managed to deal the slightest bit of harm to me. For that I commend you. I was was going exterminate you in a painful manner. Instead; I'll spare you the pain and make you a mist of subatomic particles." Titania said, before she put her hands together in front of her; a small gap between them; and a small orb formed.
The orb was bright; emitting light which made Remilia start to smoke a little; and visibly in discomfort.
"This energy... it's like the Sun!" she hissed.
"You shall be granted the gift of dying knowing that you have been deemed worthy to receive this attack. Behold; the true form of what you know as the 'Master Spark'." Titania said. "The very energy of life shall extinguish yours."
"Everyone!" Byakuren said. "Form whatever barrier you can!"
"Wind Wall!" Tenma roared; forming multiple walls of wind; layered between barriers Byakuren conjured; one after another.
"Red Magic; Crimson Barrier!" Remilia remarked; forming a thin layer of red between each existing layer of the barrier; making about fifty layers in total.
Rumia turned back to normal; and sighed.
"I ain't very good with making walls. I break em. But I guess as a last line of defense... an explosion to try and lessen the force that gets through would help." Rumia said; forming a massive amount of Dark Energy spheres after the final barrier Byakuren made; before she also reinforced Byakuren's barriers with some Chi; just for good measure.
All the four could do was wait for the sadistically grinning Titania to launch her attack; as the light got brighter.
Then; suddenly; the fairies stopped flying around at random; for the most part; as a light; green glow came from behind Titania.
At the same time; the clock around Titania's neck began to ring. An alarm clock. Her wings suddenly folded over her; and she screamed; as in in pain.
"No! No! This can't be... I can't be running out of energy! How can they not fear me?!" Titania said; as Daiyousei appeared behind her; with Cirno; Lilly; and a large amount of other fairies; which included Sunny; Luna and Star; who must have returned to the area.
"I calmed them down. Emotions are part of nature; after all; and my emotion is calmness." Daiyousei said. "And without their fear; you're nothing Titania. A God needs worship; be it fear or faith."
The goddess looked furious; as the energy between her hands started to fizzle.
"Whatever; I'll kill you four at least! It may not be finished but eat this; Life's Spark!"
Everything turned white.
"Uuugh..." Rumia groaned; getting up on the bank of the Misty Lake. She noticed Byakuren; Tenma and Remilia doing the same; and Yuuka was also sitting on the bank; looking thoroughly confused... and worried.
Rumia couldn't help but notice Yuuka looked different. She had far longer hair; and looked a bit younger. She was also still in what seemed to be pyjamas.
"Where am I?" she muttered.
She looked over her back.
"Where did these holes come from?" she asked louder.
Then she looked around frantically.
"And where's my Parasoul?! I never go out without my Parasoul... ever!" she said; sounding outright worried. Her tone of voice was what Rumia would expect Kogasa to react like if she suddenly didn't have her umbrella.
Speaking of which; Yuuka lunged for and grabbed Kogasa.
"It'll have to do..." Yuuka said; despite Kogasa's protests.
"Should we tell her what happ..." Tenma began; only for everyone to say No at once.
"Yuuka-sama!" a voice cried out suddenly; which everyone looked towards.
A figure in a red dress flew over the lake. She had a fancy-looking hat; and blonde hair. In one hand; she held a scythe; which was curled around her in a fashion that no scythe should be bent. In her other hand; she held a closed parasoul.
The figure landed next to Yuuka; and her her her parasoul; which caused her to drop Kogasa.
"Yuuka! You had me all worried! I went to give you tea because you were due to wake up and then you weren't there and your parasoul was there and no-one entered or left... and... I'm happy you're OK!" the stranger said.
"Who is this?" Tenma asked. "And what kind of weirdo is she to LIKE Yuuka?"
"I've never seen her before." Remilia admitted.
"Me neither." Byakuren said.
"Nuh-uh." Rumia said, before she added; "Although I can guess who this is. It's that 'one underling' Yuuka mentioned."
"That's her?" Tenma asked. "I expected someone... scarier for someone Yuuka claimed was strong enough."
The stranger turned; and looked towards everyone else.
"Oh; hi everyone! Name's Elly!" she said happily, before she suddenly went serious; and gave off a familar; sinister energy. "None of you happen to know why Yuuka-sama got taken from her bed do you?"
"No." everyone said at once.
'That energy... it's not possible... but that scythe... she gave off the feeling of death... how can Yuuka have a Shinigami as a subordinate?!' Rumia thought.
Elly went back to her cheerful self.
"Well then; we'll be off on our way back home. Be sure to play nice with the Cutti- awwwh!"
At that point; Yuuka swung her parasoul like a croquet bat into Elly's rear; and sent her flying away.
"You're talking too much Elly. I know you don't get much chance to socialize; but really." Yuuka said in an annoyed tone, before she yawned.
"If you'll excuse me; I shall retire home to sleep."
After Yuuka' departure; everyone else left and returned home; after some light banter on some parts; until it was just the normal Misty Lake residents; Lilly; Sunny; Luna; Star; Wriggle; Kogasa and Mystia.
"Wriggle... have you ever seen that Elly person before? You go to the Garen of the Sun don't you." Rumia asked.
"Nope. Never seen her." Wriggle remarked; before she turned to Daiyousei. "That was awesome by the way Dai! You saved everyone!"
"If you hadn't managed to calm the fairies down in time; I'd be a gonner." Rumia said; before she winced. Even with the barrier; and the fact Titania's attack had not fully charged; it still hurt.
"We're sorry guys." Sunny said. "We didn't trust you Dai."
"You know we get all into our plans to beat the humans." Star said.
"Can you forgive us?" Luna asked.
Cirno was about to speak; but Daiyousei spoke before Cirno could say something stupid.
"Of course. Besides; this wasn't your fault; it was Nue's. And I'm sure Byakuren will see to Nue's punishment."
"Yeah!" Kogasa said cheerfully. "Sitting through Byakuren's lectures is so boooooring! I tried once. Never again."
Everyone laughed together as the sun rose.