"Hey, is anyone else beginnin' to feel kinda chilly?" Marisa asked as she had her arms wrapped around her, the magician protégé letting out a shiver. "Seriously, feels like someone turned it down by a few degrees."

"Now that you mentioned it, I do feel kind of cold." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden unable to stop a shiver and a rattle of her teeth.

"Look forwards, girls." Mima said, the ghost pointing towards where the four were flying towards. Reimu and Marisa looked, seeing Pandemonium... and a large pile of ice sculptures with a ton of snow on it. As they stopped, the four took in the sight of the place more, seeing an area of Makai that was completely covered in ice and a few blankets of snow, save for a small river that was carrying large cubes and shards of ice.

"What is this, Madam Mima?" Marisa asked her mentor.

"I have no idea." Mima responded shamelessly as she continued to look at the area of ice and snow. Her spectral face scrunched as she looked at the area. "This was definitely not here the last time I came here, that is for sure. Though, granted, the last time I was here was when I was still alive, that of which has been at least a millennium. I'm frankly surprised, I always thought that Makai wouldn't really change that much, and it hasn't really, but this is something else entirely."

"Ah, I see." A mysterious voice said enthusiastically. "Are you amazed by Makai's new line of defence, and general area of interest?"

"Oh look, we have a new punching bag~" Yuuka said, the youkai keeping a happy and cheery expression. "Why don't you come show yourself, it will save us a hassle of finding you."

"It's no problem, I ain't shy, and neither is my friend." The mysterious voice said. In a flash, two woman appeared. One was a blonde with yellow eyes, wearing a red hat with a white bow, and a red-white dress, the red on both of them being so dark they could have been easily mistaken for black, she had an excited and happy expression, a large grin on her face as she kept her hands akimbo. Next to her was a woman with light-blue hair and blue eyes that were darker, having a bow in her hair, a dress on her body, and demon wings on her back, all that were a shade of pink so light that they looked white. Her expression was a lot different from that of the girl next to her, looking shy and calm. The first girl smiled and gave the humans and non-humans a wink. "Welcome to The World of Ice and Snow; a new line in Makai's defence, and a winter wonderland for the average Makai resident."

The girl had a large smile on her face as she stretched out her arms pridefully, like she was trying to get Reimu, Genji, Marisa, Mima and Yuuka to take in the sight of the vast area of land with ice sculptures, covered completely in blankets of snow.

"I am Yuki, a local fire demon with an exceptional amount of power; very few in Makai are stronger than me, or even a match for me." The girl, Yuki, said without hesitation, closing one of her eyes and snapping her fingers, a small flame setting alight above the digits before dying, as to prove her powers. Yuki then pointed her arms towards the girl next to her, the two keeping their respective expressions of energetic and calm. "And this person here is Mai, my best friend and a local ice demon. She's one of the few demons here that are a match for me, so you better not mess with her, even though she is shy."

"...Hello." Mai said quietly, the demon shuffling behind Yuki.

The Black Flames

Yuki

The White Frost

Mai

"Ah, I think I've seen you two before. You two were honestly pushovers, even when my magic was much weaker back then, this honestly shouldn't be that hard." Mima said, unintimidated by the two demons in front of her. She merely pointed her crescent staff towards the fire-ice duo, lightning appearing around the moon at the end. "I'll obliterate anything that gets in my way. I am Mima: one of the cruellest, most powerful magicians to have ever existed. Begone, you little... Huh?"

Lightning was no longer sparking around the crescent of Mima's staff, ice growing on the end and spreading around the staff, like some sentient bacteria.

"What the...?" Marisa said as the ice continued to cover more and more of the staff until it was basically a spear of ice with a sceptre within it. Even then, the ice continued to grow and spread, eventually turning into a large rectangle of ice, which fell down to the ground. Marisa looked at the rectangle before looking up at Mima, and unimpressed expression on her face. "Mima, I don't know what you're doin', but it's kinda lame."

"That wasn't me." Mima responded. The ghost looked at the demon duo in front of her, Yuki keeping a smug expression as she had her hands akimbo, Mai hiding behind the blonde. Mima glared at the latter demon, causing the 'shy' thing to hide even further behind her friend.

"Ha, ha, ha, told you that Mai here is tough." Yuki said as she kept a large grin that stretched from one ear to the other. "She froze the sceptre all by herself, and that's barely even the full power of her Ice Magic. You'll better give up and accept defeat right now."

"You think that little magic trick is enough to scare me?" Mima spat at the two demons, keeping her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at them. "I was more upset that she had the nerve to do that, and that she actually thought that would do anything. I can recreate that staff with a mere thought and a bit of magic, and I have countless ways to free it from the ice block you put it in. Observe..."

Mima held out a hand, the crescent sceptre in the ice rectangle bellow suddenly shooting out of the ice without problem, the ghost catching it in her hand without effort.

"Don't forget what I am." Mima said, "And that is one of the worst magicians... No, one of the worst beings, to ever get on the bad side of."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh." Yuki responded boredly, giving off a dismissive wave. "It doesn't matter, we'll still make you regret meeting us."

"It doesn't matter. I'll just blast you two and your little line of defence into nothing with a simple Master Spark." Yuuka said as she pointed her closed parasol at the duo. "Though if you two give up now, I won't have to do that."

Yuki suddenly shot fire in Yuuka's eyes, the globular organs exploding as the fire burned them. Yuuka had dropped her parasol as she put her hands over her eye sockets until the eyes themselves healed, which was thankfully only a few seconds.

"That was very rude of you, you know." Yuuka said, looking a little miffed at the duo. The parasol rose back up to Yuuka, though not by telekinesis, but instead a vine that came out of the snow-covered ground, the youkai grabbing hold of the item. "You're lucky damage to my eyes isn't something that annoys me too much."

"Geez, this is like some bad comedy setup." Marisa said, the magician pointing her magic wand at the demon duo. "I ain't gonna let you burn or freeze me, let's get to the point."

Marisa suddenly zipped in front of the fire and ice duo, firing a large wave of multicoloured star-shaped danmaku at them. Yuki lost her smug face and Mai let out a small scream, the two demons flying away, grazing most of the danmaku, though still getting hit by some of the stars. Marisa just smirked, the spellcaster flying closer, creating magic circles by waving around her magic wand, the wand shooting lasers at Yuki and Mai. The demons retaliated as Yuki fired multiple fireballs of gigantic size at Marisa while Mai shot out countless icicles that were much like spears.

Marisa flew away, dodging the fire and ice attacks.

"Wow, you're actually pretty strong, I'll admit that." Yuki said as she remained where she fired her magical attack. "But of course, a duo like Mai and myself aren't one to be trifled with."

"Yeah right, Eggplant 'n I are more than enough to beat both of you demons, 'specially when we get serious." Marisa said, keeping a large and sure grin on her face. "Hell, I can beat both of you right now, on my own. I'll just show you the true power of my magic."

"Are you really sure that you can win in a two-on-one battle?" Yuki asked, a smirk on her face.

"Of course I do." Marisa responds, her eyes glistening with excitement. "It means I get two chances to beat someone, two chances to escape from danmaku, and two chances to win."

A large bead of sweat fell down from the temple of everyone present, except for Marisa herself. "...That doesn't make an iota of sense...!" Mai mumbled.

"Well, whatever, if you can make it further, you can come after us." Yuki said, the blonde demon and her blue-haired friend flying away from the quartet, the duo distancing themselves from each other. "However, you'll have to either stay in your pairs and go after one of us as a single team, or split up and have two teams go after each of us respectively. It's one way or the other."

"Hmm, looks like we'll need to split up and fight both of them." Reimu said as the two floated further away.

"Or we can simply fly by without fighting them." Genji suggested, the ancient turtle-like entity frowning in annoyance. "Time could very well be of the essence here. We shouldn't waste our time by fighting these demons, we should make a beeline to Pandemonium, especially as we are so close to it now. We'll lose a lot of time when we fight Shinki, so we must be quick to make it there, before its too late for Gensokyo to be saved."

"I don't really know what you're talking about, but I don't really care." Yuki said, the demon closing one of her eyes, whilst keeping the other pointing towards her friend. "Come on, Mai. Let's have some fun~."

"Okay..." Mai responded, the demon holding out a hand. "But, before we go, this will make it harder for you all to find your way around."

Mai raised her hand high into the air, making a small snowstorm appear above the World of Ice and Snow, causing a colder chill to come across the area, as well as make a small piece of mist appear over The World of Ice and Snow.

"If you want to make your way out of here, then you're going to have to beat us~." Yuki said rather playfully, letting out a wink. "And don't think of escaping, 'cause we'll just fly after you and shoot you down~."

The two demons then flew away in different directions, meaning that the four would have to do either of the options that Yuki gave them.

"Looks like we'll need to split up." Mima said, the ghost looking back at the others, her hair waving from the gust of wind caused by the snowstorm Mai had casted. She had her hands on her hips as she looked at the others; Reimu's kimono and hakama were flapping around the loose areas as her ribbon looked like it could end up flying off, Genji didn't show any signs of feeling cold but had to keep shaking his head to get the piling snow to come off, Marisa was keeping a hand on her hat to keep it from being sent flying off by the blowing wind as her bare arms shivered slightly from the coldness brought out by the snowstorm, Yuuka's hair was also blowing against the wind but she seemed to have little notice of the snowstorm - at least outside of the parasol she was keeping up to keep the snow from falling on her. "Who wants to go with who?"

"My, there's five of us, so I don't know how we can..." Yuuka mumbled, the youkai widening her eyes as she seemingly noticed something, looking at the holy duo. "Oh wait, since Genji can't really fight, and Reimu has an inability to fly, they're technically one. Okay, four of us, so we can split up in an even pair."

"Exactly." Mima said, the ghost and Yuuka ignoring the glares being sent towards them by Reimu and Genji. "Now, how do we split up?"

"A game of rock-paper-scissors?" Marisa suggested. "Or how's 'bout we start drawin' straws? The two with the smallest straws have to team up together."

"We can't exactly leave it all up to random chance to decide." Yuuka said, the youkai suddenly looking serious as she had a stern look on her face. The youkai cast out her hand, quickly speaking something in an alien-sounding language, making an invisible barrier around the youkai, the humans and the other non-humans, stopping the snow or cold wind from touching them again. "Reimu isn't good with magic, so she doesn't seem like a good person to pair with me or Mima, and even though I know Mima and Marisa work together well, I am more close to Mima's level and skill of magic than Marisa is, sorry."

"Where are you goin' with this?" Marisa asked in impatient annoyance.

"I think Reimu and her pet turtle should team up with Marisa, while I team up with Mima." Yuuka suggested, losing her seriousness as she had a flippant expression on her face. "Reimu and Marisa show that they are a good team, even though they sometimes quarrel. As for Mima and myself, we are both very well versed and powerful in magic. I don't doubt that with these pairs, one of us could defeat one of those demons before the others, and then all four of us could go against one demon... provided that she hasn't lost by then to the other team."

"Wait... are you trying to make it some sort of race to see who could defeat one of the demons first?" Reimu asked. an embarrassed bead of sweat falling down from her temple.

"Ha, you got it!" Marisa said, suddenly shaking hands with Yuuka. "It doesn't matter if you got Mima herself on your side, Eggplant and I'll sniff out one of those demons and beat them up before you can find your own demon. We'll probably even find and defeat both of them before you can find even one."

"My, that's very haughty of you." Mima said, the ghost leaning against the air with a smirk on her face. "Do you want to put a wager on-?"

"Enough of this!" Genji yelled, the turtle growing annoyed. "The more we talk, the longer we wait until we fight Shinki. Come on, Lady Reimu, Marisa, let's go and find one of the demons already. Let's just stop them already!"

Genji flew away with a surprised Reimu on top of him. Marisa watched and blinked as the flying turtle was starting to disappear from where he was flying with the faint mist made by the snowstorm Mai created, the magician protégé letting out a small sigh before she went flying after the duo, leaving Yuuka and Mima on their own.

"Well now, they sure are an energetic bunch." Yuuka commented, the youkai dispelling her little barrier to protect against the snowstorm, as it had little effect on a youkai and ghost in the first place. She let out a little chuckle, keeping her parasol above her to block out the snow. "The children nowadays sure can be overzealous. Let's hope that zeal won't make them do something they'll dearly regret in the future."

"Mmm-hmm." Mima responded, a distant look in her eyes. "Uh-huh, uh-huh."

Yuuka gave Mima a blank look, the youkai regaining her usual pleasant smile. "Is something on your mind, Cactus?" The youkai asked playfully, the green-haired moving closer towards the spectral being. "Are you thinking about some spells that you can use to defeat one or both of the demons in a flash?"

"No." Mima responded simply, the ghost looking towards the youkai, her green eyes dull and emotionless. "It's just a simple question of if I can trust you."

Yuuka was taken by surprise from the ghost's question, however she quickly regained her composure, albeit she started to let out a bit of a dark laugh. "Oh... I see. You don't trust me because of my past don't you?" The youkai asked, 'stepping' closer towards Mima, the ghost not showing any signs of fear, even as the top of Yuuka's face was completely shadowed, except for her red eyes, the girl leaning her head close to Mima's. "Do you not trust me because I was once The Ultimate Sadist Creature? A monster so vile and evil that even those that were willing to kill and sacrifice even children and babies for their goals were considered to be far more likely to find redemption than I was? Beings such as yourself~?"

"Yes." Mima responded flatly.

Yuuka suddenly lost the tense air around her, the shadows around the top of her head disappearing. She was making a small laugh, her fingers covering her mouth as she kept laughing softly. "Mima, did you forget about the grimoires I gave to you and your student?" Yuuka asked seriously, though kindly, acting completely different from how she was a few seconds ago. "Did you ever feel something happen to you upon touching it? Did your student show any signs of being attacked by some force that she couldn't fight back? Don't forget that back in my Ultimate Sadist Creature days I had cursed my grimoires to make it that anyone that stole them, or were given them by me, would be attacked right down to the soul? I think it is more than clear enough that I'm a completely different Yuuka than the Ultimate Sadist Creature from the days of yore."

"Yeah you're right." Mima responded, looking calm as she held her hand tight around her crescent sceptre. "Let's find a demon and make her regret tempting us to fight her. We'll show her what the cruellest magician and the former Ultimate Sadist Creature can do, especially with our knowledge and power of magic."

"Yes, let's." Yuuka agreed, the youkai and spectre flying deeper into the World of Ice and Snow, not caring about the almost meaningless snowstorm.

"Jeez, if I w-was a boy, I wouldn't b-b-be one anymore with how-w-w cold this p-place is." Marisa complained as she and Reimu flew deeper into the World of Ice and Snow, the girl shivering and regretting the lack of sleeves on her witch costume, her teeth making a rattle as she couldn't control it with how cold she was getting. "Yo, E-Eggplant, Fossils, how a-are you two-o-o not feelin' c-cold?"

"I am cold." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden hugging herself as she tried to keep herself warm. "It's useful sometimes to have a nice kimono like this. You're not wearing an sleeves, don't be surprised when you get cold in a zone covered in snow and cold winds."

"Y-yeah, I know." Marisa responded, the magician hoping that her legs wouldn't freeze fuse with her broomstick, glaring at Genji. "And h-how come you are-e unbothered?"

"I am not a natural turtle." Genji answered as he flew through the air, the turtle peering at the mist to see if he could find one of the two demons, mostly wanting to find them so he can get himself and the others out of there and stop Shinki before it's too late to save Gensokyo. "I am a spiritual being, I am not of real biology, so only really cold magical winds or ice or snow can properly freeze me."

"A-ah, I get it." Marisa responded sarcastically, the girl letting out a growl with her next shiver. "D-dammit! Why do I have to be s-so godsdammned cold?"

"Don't you know some sort of spell to protect yourself against the cold?" Reimu asked, the purple-haired shrine maiden looking at the blonde magician. "You seem to have a spell for everything else, like magical glasses that allow you to see things from far away and all that other junk, surely something like that shouldn't be out of your scope of abilities."

"It shouldn't." Marisa responded, the girl making a big grin as she shrugged. "But it is."

Reimu and Genji stopped, the two looking at Marisa, completely dumbstruck at the mage. Reimu slapped her own face, Genji just cringed.

"Aww c'mon, it can't be that hard to believe." Marisa responded indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest and puffing out her cheeks, seemingly forgetting about how cold she was. "So I prefer to learn spells that blast the living Hell outta everythin' that moves. Stop judgin' me!"

Reimu just sighed as she removed her hand from her face, the purple-haired shrine maiden looking at the Yin-Yang Orb half floating next to her. She pressed her hand on it, the orb glowing as an image of a priest appeared in front of the maiden and her turtle, the spirit on his knees with his hands folded in prayer.

"What is it that you request, Lady Reimu?" Gyoku asked calmly.

"Do you know any ways that I can make a charm to negate the cold?" Reimu asked, her eyes half closed as she was still miffed about the apparent spell that Marisa had no knowledge of. Reimu even pointed her thumb at the aforementioned protégé. "Apparently, even though she is trained by someone as great at magic as Mima, she doesn't know any spells to protect herself against the cold of this place we're in."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it!" Marisa responded grumpily, flailing her arms about angrily before crossing them once again. "Marisa Kirisame doesn't know jackshit 'bout spells for the cold an' all that crap! Tell the entire freakin' neighbourhood. Hell, just tell the entire freakin' world! You know wh-?!"

"If you would please stop it with your vulgar language, young lady...!" Gyoku grumbled at Marisa, causing the spellcaster to stop her little rant. Gyoku looked back at Reimu, his eyes more calm as her kept himself in his prayer position. "Luckily, I do know a way to create charms against the cold, however they will require using an ofuda."

Reimu reached into her sleeve, pulling out the holy talismans. She grumbled as she looked at the limited amount of ofuda, however considering the chill that she felt, she didn't doubt that Marisa was feeling it worse, as she completely lacked sleeves of any sort. How Marisa's skin wasn't freezing off was a miracle in of itself, but Reimu knows that miracles can only last for so long. She'll just have to be careful to only use her ofuda on a dangerous threat, should she come across one.

"Okay." Reimu said plainly as she looked up at Gyoku. "Tell me how to make them."

Gyoku merely nodded, the spirit ready to tell Reimu how to make charms to ward off the cold and snow. Genji flew to somewhere next to a large pillar of ice, protecting himself and Reimu from the snow and cold air, Marisa and Gyoku following after him. Gyoku told Reimu the process on how to make cold charms, step by step, the shrine maiden doing as told until she finally made two: one for Marisa, one for herself.

Reimu put the changed ofuda in Marisa's hair, the amulet's power working as Marisa no longer felt cold. "Is that better?" Reimu asked as she placed her own winter charm into her hair.

"Yep." Marisa responded, a large smile growing on her face, though she quickly began to frown. "I gotta remember to learn some spells that work like that...!"

"A thank you would have sufficed." Reimu responded as the charm in her hair began to work its effects.

The two girls were completely warm now, thanks to the holy charms that Reimu made with her ofuda. They both let out a relaxed sigh as they enjoyed their warmth, and their brief moment of not being attacked by Makai demons.

There was suddenly a little cracking sound deep beneath the ice pillar the two maidens were next to, the giant structure suddenly leaning towards them. Reimu and Marisa flew out of the way, letting the ice pillar continue to fall, hitting other pillars and statues of ice, which then fell down and hit even more pillars and statues of ice, like the pieces in a game of dominos.

"Hmm, I shouldn't have been too surprised." A meek voice said, the voice barely being familiar because of how little they heard it earlier. The two humans and the holy entity looked towards Mai, the blue-haired ice demon looking towards them with an impassive expression and innocent blue eyes. "You two must have flown out of countless danmaku that go at incredulously high speeds if you were to come here. And there is everything that Yuki described, about you dodging the other demons' danmaku."

"Awww crap, we got the shy bucket of ice." Marisa complained, the magician sighing and pointing her magic wand at Mai. "Just stand still, and it'll be quick as I blast you into nothin'."

Mai blinked, keeping her innocent expression as she pointed her hand towards the human. Multiple giant shards of ice appeared around Mai, the ice shooting towards the two humans. Reimu and Marisa flew out of the way of the giant chunks of ice, firing lasers and danmaku at the giant diamonds of ice that the demon kept on summoning and shooting towards them.

"'Kay, you're more than you seem." Marisa admitted, the magician summoning eight magical circles that flew around her, four circles in a pattern of a square, the four other circles in a pattern of a diamond, spheres of pure light appearing within the eight golden circles that surrounded the magus. "But you're still no match for me~!"

The eight magic circles fired lasers of pure magic at Mai, the demon flying out of the way rather easily.

"You have yet to see my full power." Mai said, all shyness that she had shown earlier having completely disappeared. In fact, a smirk appeared on her face. "If you want to see what I have at my disposal, you must defeat my troops first."

Multiple fairy-like demons suddenly flew out of nowhere, firing danmaku at Reimu and Marisa in an instant. The two Gensokians fired back immediately, though it didn't change that Mai flew even deeper into the World of Ice and Snow, making it harder for Reimu and Marisa to see or find her.

"Dammit, we gotta catch up with her." Marisa said in annoyance, the magician waving her wand around as more demons got in her way. "Get in my way and you'll see the unrestrained horror of my love-coloured magic! Stardust Reverie!"

Multiple giant star-shaped danmaku fell from the sky, moving down at speeds that made them seem like a blur to most. The stars hit the demons and caused the many pillars and statues to fall, causing only more chaos as the demon flew around, bumping into each other as they were scared out of their minds by the stars that were coming upon them.

"You sure do have a habit of causing mayhem, don't you?" Reimu commented as she and Marisa flew further into the cold area in front of Makai, chasing after the ice demon.

"If you don't criticise my methods, I won't criticise yours." Marisa responded simply with a shrug as she and the shrine maiden had completely left the area of the Stardust Reverie, and the demons that were in an utter bedlam because of the spell. "Now let's beat up a demon~!"

The two girls flew even further into the World of Ice and Snow, trying to either find Mai again, or find Yuki, or possibly just reaching the gates of Pandemonium and fighting Shinki and ending this incident earlier than expected. The last option was obviously the least likely to happen. The small mist began to clear, the snowstorm ending as there was no longer even a flake falling from the sky. The snowstorm had ended, though neither Reimu, Marisa or Genji knew if the temperature rose or not.

"She's got to be here somewhere...!" Reimu mumbled as she peered at the pillars and the statues, her eyes narrowing as she tried to look closer, a grumble coming from her throat and a frown growing on her face. "Come on! We have to find and defeat her if we want to get to Pandemonium!"

Reimu then felt a cold, sharp pain in her arm, the girl unable to stop the whine of pain that broke through the barrier of her mouth.

Reimu looked at Genji and Marisa, the turtle-like entity looking at her in horror as the magical human looked at her with shock. Reimu diverted her eyes to where she felt the unwelcomed sensation; the pain having vanished into a small throb, but the coldness remained. Reimu widened her eyes as she saw an icicle that had pierced in her arm, the piece of ice and her kimono having gained a red taint from the blood that flowed from the small space in her wound.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Mai laughed from behind Reimu, the shrine maiden turning around to look at the demon. Mai's expression was now completely unlike the shy and calm face she had, now having a dark smirk on her face, looking more like what one would expect from a demon. "You shouldn't have chased after me, you know. If you decided to go for the ol' ball and chain, you wouldn't have the misfortune of facing me. Oh well, I'll enjoy turning you into my next ice sculptures."

"There's somethin' really different about you." Marisa said as she flew between Reimu and Mai, the blonde keeping a large grin on her face to hide her anger and wrath towards the demon for using a more serious attack against her friend. "You're definitely not the shy wimp you were earlier. Did'ja finally grow a pair and stopped being such a scaredy cat?"

"No, it's not like that in the slightest." Mai responded as she moved her hand through her short hair, keeping her evil smirk towards the two humans and the turtle with them. "This is what I'm really like, you see. I have to pretend to be so shy and weak, 'cause Yuki is a weak idiot who won't stop clinging to me and stalking me. I'm honestly happy to now be separated from that annoying ball and chain."

"Wait, so you don't really care about your demon friend?" Reimu asked, surprised that the blue-haired demon would say that.

"Me? Like her? Don't kid yourself!" Mai responded, seemingly sitting on the air as her smirk just got worse and worse. "I only really put up with her. I'll admit that she's strong, but she's a complete weakling compared to me. I honestly can't believe that Shinki forced me to be with her; she's a fire demon, for gods' sakes, she's basically the complete opposite of my kind of demon. I swear, Shinki is almost as dumb as that dumbass Yuki herself."

Genji and Reimu looked at Mai in surprise, not expecting her to lack the same level of respect that all the other demons showed towards the Demon Goddess.

"But anyways, enough talking about how stupid everyone else is, that'll take forever." Mai said as she outstretched an arm towards the maidens and entity, making countless sharp icicles appear in front of her. "I'll turn you into pincushions, and then into ice sculptures."

An army of Makai demons, mostly in the forms of little girls in dresses, with demon wings and horns, flew through the air of the World of Ice and Snow, only to almost immediately fly away, screaming terror as the two non-humans they were trying to strike down would instantly retaliate with dense and powerful danmaku.

"Honestly, it almost brings a tear to my eye to see such cowardly demons." Mima said as she casually waved her crescent sceptre towards a group of large eyeball demons that were firing lasers towards her and Yuuka, the aforementioned Makaians being hit with a large stream of star-shaped danmaku that left them as nothing more than atoms of what they once were. "I know I'm the fearful and powerful Madam Mima, and I am with a youkai of immense power that was once feared by even gods, but I still suspected more than this. These demons are just a bunch of crybaby cowards, they clearly need a war like this to shape up."

"That's actually a rather rude thing to say." Yuuka said as she casually fired a Master Spark at some brave demons that tried to hit the youkai and ghost from behind. "Regardless of if the people of a certain realm are weak or not, you shouldn't say that they deserve a war to come their way. However, I won't lie that they do seem to be rather weak. Either I'm just becoming used to all these Makai demons, or they've sent all of their strongest to us already."

Yuuka's eyes suddenly widened, the youkai looking worrisome as she put a hand in front of her mouth, generally looking like she was anxiously panicking.

"Oh dear, I hope that doesn't mean that they sent their strongest to the capital when we first attacked." Yuuka muttered worriedly, not even noticing the Makai demons that were flying towards her with scythes, the youkai only being saved from decapitation (not that it would matter much) by Mima, the ghost summoning multiple magical circles that fired various danmaku of a wide range of elements. "If I were to have sent powerful demons to attack them, even inadvertently, and then just leave them to fight the demons... I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if something like that were to ever happen!"

"Oh geez, calm it down, will ya?!" Mima yelled as she summoned a large fireball, throwing it at a group of demons that tried to hit her and Yuuka with a giant magical attack, the magical attack being no match for Mima's spell. "One of them is literally a being that can regenerate as long as her mind is intact, and the other is basically an embodiment of death! How many times do you need to be reminded before you stop needlessly worrying?!"

"Well excuse for caring about my friends." Yuuka responded angrily, snapping her fingers, summoning multiple magical beams that shot out of the sky, striking down any nearby demons that still thought they would have a chance against Mima and Yuuka. Yuuka looked at Mima angrily, though it wasn't a threatening kind of angry, like she was going to go on a rampage. "I bet you have those that you care about, that you worry for. What about that magician you have been training? You seem to care about her."

Mima paused, only unpausing to attack any demons that fired danmaku at her, or tried to get near for some other sort of attack. It is true that she came to care for Marisa more after she was defeated by Reimu a second time. Even when alive, she was obviously not one who let most other humans come close to her; they were mostly ever just pawns for her true goals, cannon fodder for her ambition. But Marisa, and quite possibly a few others, managed to sneak their way into her heart.

Jeez, she's really gotten soft, hasn't she?

"Fine then, you make a point." Mima responded calmly as she waved her sceptre around, casting a Stardust Reverie. "But stop it with all the verbal worrying, everyone is probably worried about someone else, but they don't talk about how worried they are all the time."

"Very well." Yuuka responded calmly, turning into a ball of light that shot across the air, firing out danmaku that was golden and shaped a bit like a cross, the danmaku bouncing off the pillars of ice and even invisible walls, the Makai demons trying desperately to avoid the danmaku, though it was honestly rather hopeless. Especially when someone as powerful and merciless as Mima is also attacking them. Yuuka had eventually stopped as all of the other Makai demons had either flown away in fear, or had simply just lost the energy to fight and lowered and laid on the snow-coated ground. The ball of light had stopped, the glowing sphere turning back into Yuuka. "It is actually rather sad when weaklings try to fight the exceptionally strong, one of the biggest tearjerkers, actually."

"Yeah, it's sad... But it sure is hella amusing." Mima responded.

Countless fireballs suddenly shot out of the mist as the snowstorm began to mysteriously die down. Mima and Yuuka were quick to react, the two former villainesses mostly dodging them with ease, though a few fireballs managed to hit them in the odd area or so. Luckily, outside of some magical damage, the fireballs didn't do anything particularly painful or bad.

"You two are honestly kinda sadistic." Yuki said as she appeared, the snowstorm vanishing completely, the fire demon being the only Makaian present as all the other Makai demons had flown away, or were defeated. The blonde demon had a rather mad expression on her face, even clicking her tongue in disappointment as she kept her knuckles pressed against her hips. "I really hope that neither of the two humans are like that, they could scar Mai for life. I'm going to defeat you two, and then I'm going to find my friend, and then we'll defeat both of those girls before anyone could do something to frighten my friend... more than usual."

Yuki immediately began to wave her arms around, shooting out many fireballs that went in many directions, the balls of fire exploding whenever they touched a surface. Mima and Yuuka flew out of the way of the danmaku and fired back.

They could at least give Yuki credit that she is able to take the danmaku that they shoot towards her, that's credit for her durability. They could also credit her ability to make danmaku patterns that were actually kind of difficult to avoid, and even then that danmaku had some power behind it whenever it hit them.

"I bet Pansy and Dandelion are having a far easier time than we are." Yuuka said causally as she blocked some of Yuki's fireballs with her parasol, Mima beside her and hiding behind the tool, charging up a magical attack. "I mean, this isn't really all that difficult, but with how shy the ice demon was, she should be a cinch for the both of them."

"Ha, ha, ha! Fear me, weaklings~!" Mai said as she continued to send countless sharp icicles towards Reimu, Genji and Marisa. The two maidens were shooting danmaku towards the icicles and Mai, the holy and magical bullets doing an adequate job in destroying the ice attacks, but they weren't doing so well for hitting Mai herself. And the demon noticed this and was in complete joy of the feeling of superiority she has over the humans, her malevolent grin growing huger and huger. "Fools, you are no match for me. It is rather disappointing, I thought that someone who could be a threat to Makai itself would be really tough, but I forgot that this place is rather dismal."

"She's a lot different from all of the previous creations that I've seen of Shinki." Genji commented as Mai continued to summon and shoot countless icicles, the ice demon even summoning large chunks of ice that fell from the sky.

It was truly absurd. All of Shinki's creations that Genji has seen in the past have always been kind and respectful towards their creator, revering her as their god and ruler; seeing Makai as their infallible, flawless home. Furthermore, Genji was almost certain that the Ultimate Magic not only allowed the caster to create their own entities, but that they could also decide what their personality would be like.

Did Shinki create this demon specifically to spite her? To be disrespectful and different?

Or is she is somehow different, like Shinki forgot to create the personality, so she developed something else entirely?

"Genjiiiiii…!" Reimu yelled as the magic turtle continued to fly further. Genji blinked as he was brought back to reality, the turtle looking to see that he was flying straight towards a pillar. "Please stooooop…! You're going too fast!"

Genji skidded to a halt, stopping just before he and Reimu went splat against the giant pillar. Before either could let out a sigh of relief, they were both pelted by hail, Mai's loud laugh being heard as they were mercilessly attacked by her ice magic.

"Wow, you two are a lot more stupid than I thought." Mai laughed as she continued to shoot hail and icicles towards both of the Gensokian maidens that she was fighting against. "At least you aren't weak, that's a bit of a step up from what is usually in here."

"Wow, even I think you're kinda obnoxious." Marisa from behind Mai, the demon having gotten too caught up in laughing and tormenting the holy duo to notice the sorcerer getting behind her. "I mean, I appreciate others havin' and attitude and all - doesn't hurt to bite back and not let people walk all over ya - but you're just a completely different level of rude."

"Oh cry me a river, you overgrown, magician-cosplaying baby." Mai responded, making a mocking gesture with her hand. "If you can't handle what I'm really like, then you clearly just don't have the guts to insult and mock others."

"And you don't have the power to face against me." Marisa said as she suddenly spun around very quickly on her broomstick, allowing the piece of the wooden body near the tassels at to hit the demon in the face. Before Mai could properly recover, Marisa pointed her magic wand directly into her face, the little star at the end lighting up before a beam of magical power shot out into Mai's face, causing the demon to lunge back by the force of the attack alone. Mai managed to stop her falling body, the demon letting out an annoyed growl as she glared at Marisa, flying away to create more of a distance between her and the human. "Aww, what's the matter? Too much of an overgrown, demon-cosplaying crybaby?"

"You must be a unique kind of thief to steal other peoples' words." Mai said, the demon glaring at Marisa as she continued her icicle and hail attack, though now she was now focussing on the magician.

Mai kept her focus on Marisa as the blonde continued to dodge her attacks; the more Mai looked at her, the more the human looked like Yuki... which meant the more that Mai wanted to hit and hurt her. And, as Mai was no longer looking at Reimu and Genji, she didn't notice that attack that the shrine maiden was charging.

As Mai was once again confident, knowing that Marisa's star-shaped danmaku could barely even come close to her because of all the icicles she shot towards the magus. Even the hail got in the way of some of the stars, destroying them in the process, like with the icicles.

And that confidence was shattered in an instant, like a window that just got hit by a rock that was thrown against it with great strength, as she was suddenly surrounded by yin-yang that were glowing colours.

"What the...?!" Mai said as she saw the yin-yang circling around her. The blue-haired demon glared at Marisa, the magician's smirk even bigger than usual. "What is this?!"

"Don't ask me." Marisa responded simply, crossing her arms behind her head causally as she sat on her broom, seemingly leaning back against the empty air behind her. Marisa then moved one of her arms and pointed towards Reimu, the young shrine maiden glaring at Mai as she kept her Fantasy Seal active, the icicle that pierced through her skin and flesh remaining where it was on the arm, the blood having dried and caking the arm and piece of ice. "Mai, is it? You're a demon, right? Well this is going to suck for you, 'cause not only is Reimu a shrine maiden that can harness holy energy, but that there is a Fantasy Seal, and those are her strongest attacks; made specifically to exterminate youkai, and you demons aren't much different."

"What?!" Mai outburst incredulously, looking at Reimu with eyes that showed an amalgamation of anger, horror, and fear. "Damn you...! Damn you to the deepest, hottest level of Hell!"

The Fantasy Seal shot towards Mai from every which way, making a loud explosion of holy energy; a charred humanoid falling down from where the explosion came, landing on the ground with a loud and painful thud; the humanoid being featureless, either due to all features being burnt off and destroyed by the holy energy, or it was just simply the distance that Reimu and Marisa were from the ice demon.

"Heh, that was easier than expected." Marisa commented as she looked at the defeated demon, still remaining charred and featureless as her regenerative capabilities had yet to kick in. Marisa looked back at Reimu, the magician throwing upon seeing the icicle that was still embedded into her arm. "Reimu, we gotta do somethin' 'bout that icicle and the wound it caused."

"I'm not sure about removing it." Reimu commented, the purple-haired putting a hand over the slightly crimson piece of ice. "I think it's stopping more blood from coming out. We're going to have to find some bandages or some way to heal the cut, I don't think and open wound is good when we're against demons, even if they are kind of weak."

"Why don't you use one of your ofuda as a bandage?" Marisa asked. "I mean, I still don't know any healing spells, and your ofuda are sorta capable of anything, so wouldn't it work like that?"

"No, that is rather improper use of the holy charms." Genji said, shaking his head from side to side. "They are meant for youkai extermination and for protection against curses. They're not meant to be used as bandages."

"Well, that's almost a kick in the teeth." Marisa said grumpily, the spellcaster dangling her legs as she sat on the flying broom. "Well we can't keep that icicle in there... doesn't sound like a good thing to keep in a wound to stop bleeding."

Marisa leaned forward and rested one arm against her legs, resting the elbow of her other arm against the first arm's wrist, pressing her fingers against her lips as she tried to think of a way to help Reimu with what the icicle did.

"Hmm... what to do... what to do..." She mumbled, closing her eyes as she tried to concentrate her thoughts more. Marisa then opened her eyes wide as she remembered something, the girl having a large smile on her face as she snapped her fingers. "Aha, that's it!"

"Hmm?" Reimu and Genji responded to the blonde's sudden change in mood, the human of the two continuing further, "What are you talking about?"

"Doesn't Flower Power have some weird flower that can heal wounds an' whatnot?" Marisa asked Reimu with a confident smile on her face.

"Oh yeah... I remember that..." Reimu said, her face turning red as a blush formed from the odd thing that Yuuka did before she fought the two humans. "That was really weird."

"I know, I kinda put it out of my head as well." Marisa said, the girl looking like she would rather not talk about it before smiling again. "But nevertheless, Green Thumbs can just summon a flower to get that wound healed and we can get the icicle outta ya."

"How's about I put more icicles in her~?" Mai could be heard asking in a sing-song voice. "In fact, why don't I make you become the next target~?"

Before Marisa or Reimu could react, Genji suddenly tossed the latter over to the former with a swift vertical spin of his body. Marisa manged to catch Reimu, the shrine maiden being saved from having to fall to the ground, the two looking at Genji.

There was a flash of light where the non-human was, the light vanishing quickly to reveal Genji was completely frozen in a block of ice.

Genji fell to the ground, the turtle landing in the snow, still completely frozen in ice.

Reimu was shocked at first, the young maiden soon growling angrily as she glared at Mai, the demon nearly having completely healed from the Fantasy Seal that Reimu had used against her; even her clothes were repaired.

"Hey, who do you think you are, turning Gramps into an ice statue?!" Reimu yelled at Mai, pointing her gohei at the demon, holding out her ofuda with her other hand. "You're really making me mad! If you turn Gramps back to normal, instead of leaving him as an ice statue, I'll just seal you and not exterminate you forever!"

"That? An ice sculpture? Pfft, yeah right." Mai responded, a dismissive wave of her hand. "He's just frozen in ice, that doesn't make him and ice statue. Besides, the ice'll probably thaw eventually, and since I can tell he's supernatural, I know that he won't die from the temperature. Now, with that out of the way, it's time I showed you what the real process is to turn a living being into a frozen statue for all eternity; and you two will know first-hand as you become my next sculptures."

Mai raised an arm above her demonic form, making a light-blue sphere glow above her open palm. The sphere immediately shot out lasers every which way; even though none of them managed to hit either of the two maidens, they did graze their bodies, in which they were extremely cold. It wasn't doubted that these were somehow lasers of ice magic, especially considering Mai's abilities.

Reimu was sitting alongside Marisa as they both floated on the spellcaster's broom, the blonde flying to object around as they avoided the lasers and multiple razor-sharp snowflake-shaped danmaku that Mai was releasing, the ice demon keeping her smug grin on her face. Marisa made magic circles appear around her while Reimu focussed on her link to the Yin-Yang Orbs, the two maidens shooting danmaku that was star-shaped and holy respectively towards Mai, the demon flying out of the way most of the time, though she kept on getting hit by the two maidens' danmaku.

"So, you think that you can defeat me now?" Mai asked smugly, even though it didn't seem like the battle was in her favour, even though she got her two targets to remain close to each other and thus allowed them to fire their danmaku together, she was still confident in her victory. "It doesn't matter. In the end, humans are the insects of the worlds of demons."

There was suddenly a large explosion in the distance, a loud bang breaking through the air, being loud enough for Reimu, Marisa and Mai feel their eardrums throb in pain.

"What was that?" Mai asked, utterly flabbergasted about what just happened out of the blue.

Marisa smirked at Mai, utterly loving that the demon was no longer so smug that Marisa herself wanted to punch her right in the face. "That is Madam Mima." The blonde magician protégé said with confidence. "And she's doin' what she does best: being a master of magic and being utterly awesome at it."

Yuki was sweating as she released a large wave of fireballs that moved out in a spinning sort of motion, the demon firing lasers of pure heat as she also released fireballs towards the youkai and ghost. It seemed as though they are stronger than she expected. Far stronger, in fact. They were regularly shooting spells of fast speed and tremendous strength towards the Makai demon, Yuki could only escape the danmaku attacks by the skin of her teeth, trying everything she could to hit the ghost and youkai, but they just kept on dodging and blocking her attacks.

"You two are unreal!" Yuki yelled as she brought her fire magic to its full power, the heat around her becoming incredibly hot as she was surrounded by fires, some of the ice sculptures and snow that surrounded her had even began to melt, despite the World of Ice and Snow otherwise always being extremely cold. Yuki growled as her pressed her hands together and pointed them towards the two green-haired females, a magic circle appearing in front of her open palms. "Just give up and let me win already!"

The magic circle in front of Yuki fired even more fireballs at Mima and Yuuka, the two counterattacking with their magical danmaku.

"Hmm, it seems as though water and ice-based danmaku would work best of her. She is a fire type, after all." Yuuka commented as Yuki tried desperately to hit and defeat them, summoning magic circles that shot out lasers of fire while creating larger, stronger fireballs than before, the giant orbs of fire seemingly homing towards the two Gensokians. Yuuka just cast a red eye towards Mima. "Did you think of that, Mima?"

"Yep." Mima responded without shame, waving her sceptre around and casting a freeing spell that covered the large fireballs in ice completely, though Yuki just sent more towards the ghost and youkai. "I just didn't use them to make this more fun."

Yuki gawked at the ghost. "How dare you toy with me!" The blonde demon yelled angrily, "I am a mighty demon of Makai, even the ghosts of magicians should be afraid of me."

"Well then, it's a good thing I'm something completely different from your average magician ghost." Mima smirked, the spectre waving her sceptre high in the air, conjuring a large sphere of water, which quickly froze into ice, either as a part of the spell, or as a side effect of the World of Ice and Snow's extreme coldness. Yuki found herself stopping in her tracks, the demon unable to move her body or use her magic.

What was this? Another spell used by the ghost, or possibly the youkai?

It can't be that she... that she is paralyzed by fear... No! That is absurd! She knows how to dodge and even melt large blocks of ice like this, it should be a cakewalk for her to defeat this ghost and her equally green-haired friend.

So why can't she move?

"What's the matter? Too afraid that you now understand that you're fighting against the awesome Madam Mima?" Mima asked as she made the water orb grow as large as possible, the orb completely freezing over. Mima just snickered. "Don't worry, if I were you then I would know to be afraid of me as well~!"

Mima swung the sceptre towards Yuki, the large ice orb above her shooting towards the helpless demon, to frozen in her fear to dodge, getting hit by the large sphere as it slammed into her at high speeds. The ice sphere made a loud thud against the snow-covered ground, sitting there and becoming covered in the light snow that began to fall down from a cloud; the only cloud in Makai, possibly remaining above the World of Ice and Snow for the rest of eternity.

"My, I barely even got to do anything against her." Yuuka commented, the youkai looking at the giant sphere of ice that Mima made, presumably keeping the crushed remains of the demon there... for a limited time. Yuuka looked towards Mima, the ghost having a smirk for her easy defeat of such a weak enemy. "I guess I'll have to put my back into it when we face off against Yumeko, or Shinki. Maybe I'll have to face them by my ownsome when we go up against them."

"I wouldn't recommend Shinki, or even Yumeko for that matter, to be someone that you face on your own, unless you're about as powerful, or stronger, than the Gap Hag." Mima said, the ghost certain that she wasn't watching, as there were no tears in reality that randomly appeared with a train heading right towards her. "Though it would rather be proffered to not fight them nevertheless... though I do have a bit of an axe to grind with them. With the help of my protégé and Reimu, we should defeat them."

There was a rumble where the snow covered ice orb was, an loud explosion happening as Mima and Yuuka saw a large fireball where the orb once was, glowing a bright, hot orange. Yuki was in the centre of the fireball, damage done to her clothing and cuts on her body repairing as she glared up at Mima and Yuuka.

"You shouldn't talk about facing others when you're still fighting someone in front of you!" The blonde demon said, continuing her attack of fireballs and magic circles shooting fire lasers.

"Well now, looks like you've got your chance to do more in this war." Mima said as she generated a tremendous amount of electricity around her hand, preparing a bomb of pure, destructive lightning magic. "Though you should be quick, I don't feel like pulling my punches against someone like this."

"Very well." Yuuka responded, closing he parasol and pointing it towards Yuki, shooting a vast and dense barrage of blue danmaku towards the fire demon. Yuki made the fireball around her disappear, trying to not waste her finite energy, the demon trying to fly through the danmaku that the tremendously powerful youkai kept on sending towards her. "Mima, it seems like you're charging up a powerful attack. It would be best to use it now, as she's unable to escape while trapped in my tight maze of danmaku."

"You don't need to tell me twice." Mima responded, making the lightning surrounding her hand become huge, turning into a giant cloud of thunder that cracked and sparked above her and Yuuka. Mima swung her hand towards the trapped demon, the cloud of lightning hitting Yuki, the demon having no chance as such a powerful spell was cast by someone of Mima's calibre; more importantly, Mima herself.

There was a large explosion of lightning, a bang breaking through the air, being heard throughout the World of Ice and Snow, and possibly more of Makai.

"Damn, that demon is determined, I'll give her that." Marisa noted as she used her broomstick to fly both herself and Reimu away from Mai. As the ice demon was still processing the spell that Mima used, Marisa had hit Mai with a barrage of star-shaped danmaku before flying them both away, escaping to a large area of ice sculptures. It was clear that Mai was truly stronger than the regular demon, thus she kept on regenerating from the spells Marisa used against her.

Thus now there they were, both riding Marisa's broomstick as the magician protégé flew them both to an area that was crowded with large and complex ice sculptures, the general area looking like a good place to hide from the evil and crazy demon.

Reimu looked back - the shrine maiden having her arms wrapped around Marisa's body in order to keep herself from falling off, especially with the many twists and turns that Marisa made as she flew around - worried about the attacking demon that was still after them, and about Genji, the purple-haired girl knew that he would survive, but she still worried of if he would be able to thaw out of the freeze spell Mai put him in. As her purple eyes looked back, Reimu saw a faint dot in the distance, undoubtedly Mai, the demon having recovered and already gotten back to chasing them.

"Marisa..." Reimu said, a faint tone of worry in her voice.

"Let me guess, Frosty the Snowman's crazy daughter is already after us." Marisa said without looking back, the spellcaster making more twists and turns as she started to hide in a giant ice sculpture that was a clam on its side.

"I have no idea who this Frosty the Snowman is, or how evil and powerful he is, nor about his daughter, but I can tell you that Mai is definitely after us." Reimu responded, confused about the existence of this Frosty and his evil daughter. All she cares is that if he's a threat to Gensokyo, she'll do everything in her power to stop them.

"Jeez! I really need to teach you more 'bout Outside World culture, Eggplant." Marisa responded, looking back at her holy friend with a slight glare, slamming the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Whatever, so Mai is after us, whatever. I... We can use this moment to start up a surprise attack on her. Somethin' that'll make her give up and eat her own fat words."

Reimu and Marisa suddenly felt their skin turn as cold as ice itself, an extremely cold gust of wind blowing on both of the maidens, with small fragments of ice making small cuts against their skin. Luckily, the ofuda that Reimu put on both of the maidens began to work its effects, allowing both the shrine maiden and magician protégé warm up and no longer feel like they were being frozen to death, or even just cold at all. Though they did nothing to protect them from the ice fragments of the sudden wind that came in.

Marisa flew herself and Reimu into the clam, keeping them safe from the little hail that kept on pelting them.

"Alright, this ought to keep us out of that demon's eyes for a while." Marisa said, the magician looking at her wand as she was thinking of a useful spell that would not only hit Mai, but put her out for good. "I think you can use that Fantasy Seal again, maybe this time she'll learn to stay down."

Marisa cast her eyes towards the girl next to her, the organs widening as she saw a look of uncertainty on Reimu's face, the shrine maiden looking away. Marisa paused for a moment, unsure if Reimu was like that because she was worried about her losing the battle and her life to an ice demon of all things, or if Reimu no longer wanted to fight against those of Makai.

"Hey, Eggplant the Short Maiden, is somethin' bothering you?" The magician asked, catching the attention of Reimu. The shrine maiden was shocked that she let her emotions show.

"Oh, it's nothing, Marisa." Reimu responded, trying to shrug off the conversation. "I am just worried if my hair and eyes will turn back to normal; it has been months, and there still hasn't been any changes."

"Yeah right...!" Marisa responded as she narrowed her eyes at the human. Marisa grabbed Reimu's covered arm, the magician pulling Reimu closer to her. Reimu was caught up Marisa's tight hug, the other female starring Reimu down. "Okay, I know things are off with ya; not only are you acting odd, at least for you, but you're also a pretty terrible liar and actress. So how's about you tell me what is suddenly bugging you so we can go back to fighting and show that ice bitch her true place."

"O-Okay,,, I guess I can..." Reimu started, the shrine maiden looking at the snowy ground beneath her and her friend, having to wipe away her tears before they ended up freezing against her skin. "W-Well... it's just that after we fought Alice... or someone before that... I... I have felt that we're doing something bad here. Even though these demons are poisonous to Gensokyo... it feels clear that many of them still live here, with homes and families. W-what if our attack... means that we are hurting otherwise innocent demons."

"Innocent demons? Never heard of such a concept before..." Marisa mumbled, the magician still trying to keep an eye out for Mai.

"I'm serious, Marisa." Reimu said, looking at her friend. "It... I'm not used to this sort of thing. I still know that I'm not going to let anything stop me from fighting Shinki, I can't just let her keep on sending those demons into Gensokyo. But I think this might be the first time where I'm fighting against people who could just be trying to keep themselves and those that they care about safe."

"Eh, guess you might have a point there." Marisa responded as she let go of Reimu, the shrine maiden sitting back up. "But that doesn't matter right now, 'cause I'm sure that ice demon is just callous and wants to fight and kill us for her own amusement."

"Well I'm not really subtle about it." Mai said, the demon nowhere to be seen. The ice sculpture that the two maidens were taking shelter in suddenly cracked and broke apart, letting a powerful gust of (presumably) freezing wind hit Reimu and Marisa. The cold of the wind wasn't something to fear, but within the wind was hail that was being carried and pelting Reimu and Marisa. The two maidens looked up at the ice demon, seeing her looking down at them with a malefic grin. "Say, aren't one of you the Hakurei shrine maiden? And the last of the Hakureis at that?"

"Yeah." Reimu responded, the Yin-Yang Orbs floating by her side, prepared to unleash a barrage of holy danmaku against Mai, the girl glaring at Mai. "What does it mean to you?"

"Oh, nothing much, really." Mai responded, the demon making a shrug with a grin. "It's just that I've heard a rumour that if you kill a Hakurei shrine maiden, and that maiden is the last of her bloodline, her powers of Hakurei are forcefully bequeathed onto you. I may be a strong ice demon, but imagine what I could do with those powers, especially since I'm immortal~"

Mai was suddenly hit square in the face by a giant yin-yang, the demon being pushed back by the force of the impact, her nose utterly crushed and her face broken in her head. Mai was sent spinning through the air, the demon stopping herself, her face and nose naturally regenerating through her demonic abilities. Mai blinked as her eyes repaired - the soft organs having been crushed when she was hit by the orb - seeing that Reimu and Marisa had vanished once again.

Mai growled in anger, clenching her fists so tightly that they turned pale. "Those cowards, running away once again." Mai growled, an evil smirk suddenly appearing on her face, the demon outstretching both of her arms out. The winds around the area of ice sculptures began to augment, the hail becoming more and more rapid, though there was still no evidence of either of the two humans being. "They'll show themselves. Especially when I do this~!"

Mai began to release multiple lasers from her hands, the lasers piercing through the pillars and large statures of ice, shooting every which way and sending them shattering.

Reimu and Marisa were watching the demon from out of her sight, though the pillar they were behind wasn't safe, as Mai's lasers had already cut through some of it, albeit above where the magician and her shrine maiden friend sitting on her broomstick.

"I think she's startin' to get off her rocker." Marisa commented, waving her wand around to make a small shield around the two humans on the broomstick to protect them from the hail. Marisa looked towards Reimu. "Alright, just get her off guard, and then unleash a Fantasy Seal on her. And even if your big damn holy explosion doesn't beat her, I'll give her a few good stars to finally make her give up."

"I guess that sounds like a good idea." Reimu responded, the girl looking towards Mai and glaring. "I can definitely tell that she isn't one of the innocent demons, so I won't regret what I do to her."

"Aight, get ready for this then. You're gonna be sent flyin'" Marisa responded, the girl clasping at the tip of her broomstick. The otherwise ordinary item shot forwards, towards Mai as she wasn't looking - shooting lasers blindly. Without warning, Marisa suddenly stopped, pressing down on the tip, making the front dip downwards. Reimu was sent flying off the broom, airborne and rushing through the air, towards the ice demon. Reaching into her sleeve, Reimu pulled out an ofuda, charging her holy energy into the paper charm.

"Where are you, insects~?" Mai asked in a sing-song voice, the blue-haired turning around, her eyes widening in utter confusion and shock upon seeing one of them flying towards her. "What the fu-?!"

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, unleashing the holy yin-yang.

He shivered, the skin of his vessel freezing. He let out a shaky breath. Technically, he is a being that has no real form or body, merely incorporeal. How that demon was able to successfully freeze him is a surprise, and how it was able to freeze even his mind was also a surprise.

But as long as Reimu is safe, then he is content.

…Wait, how is he aware of what was going on?

The world was in ripples, blurry colours that bounced around without solidity. Taking shape, the colours turned into Reimu, Marisa and the World of Ice and Snow, the two maidens looking at the hoy creature, the same non-human unable to stop his shivering from the cold ice that surrounded him.

Marisa smiled. "I knew that fire spell would thaw him." The girl said pridefully, leaning back on her broomstick as it floated beside her, her arms crossed behind her back. "It's a good thing you were paired with someone who knows more than a few cheap tricks for her magic."

"Uh huh, uh huh, I know. You're awesome and all that." Reimu responded with a bored wave of her hand, the girl then looking happily at Genji. "Are you now better, Gramps?"

"I am fine, Lady Reimu. Regardless of how cold I was within that cube of ice, or for how long I was in there, I would still survive nevertheless." Genji responded. The turtle then squinted his eyes as he looked at the two maidens, seeing that not only was the long piece of ice still in Reimu's arm (at least it seemed to block snow from entering the wound... or so Genji hoped), but the two girls were covered in bruises. "I'm more worried about you two, you look like you just went through a hail storm while I was frozen."

"Technically, we were." Reimu responded. The shrine maiden looked at the small, purple patches on her skin, the girl letting out a little chuckle. "It seems like Mai didn't go down without a fight. At least we defeated her in the end."

"Yeah, it's nothin'." Marisa agreed, once again looking smug and proud of her achievement. "What we did Ice Cube there was far worse than what she ever got the chance to do to us. 'Sides, we can just get Flower Power to heal us, and this time we won't have to worry out ol' Snowy Crazy popping out like a Whac-A-Mole."

"Please stop, I don't get your crazy Outside World references." Reimu asked.

"Yeah, you don't get 'em, but they ought to." Marisa responded brazenly. Reimu gave Marisa a confused look, the magician letting out an annoyed huff. "Don't act like you're out of the loop, you were the first one to break through that wall like that livin' pitcher of red juice. You know enough who they are."

"Will anyone even get that reference?" Reimu asked flatly.

Genji just chuckled at the two maidens, causing Reimu to aim her flat stare towards him while Marisa just chuckled along with her.

"Honestly, if I had even the slightest of expectation for you, then I would be disappointed." Mima said as she held the unconscious Yuki by the back of her dress' neckline. The blonde demon herself was, as said earlier, unconscious, most of her clothes were torn and damaged while also covering certain areas of her body. Her body was covered in many wounds that had yet to heal; coated in blood that made her hair and remaining clothing stick to her skin like glue. Mima let out a faint snort, the ghost merely letting go of the neckline and letting the demon drop into the snow. Mima turned around to towards Yuuka. "I think it's time we searched for the other weakling, as well as my protégé and Reimu."

"We have no need to look for either Dandelion or Pansy, because they are coming right here, along with Genji." The youkai responded, pointing towards somewhere in the distance. "Look, see?"

Mima did indeed look, seeing that the two humans were coming towards the green-haired women on top of their respective flying objects. Mima and Yuuka widened their eyes as they saw the damage on Reimu and Marisa, the two humans covered in bruises like children with a severe case of chickenpox, and the former even had an icicle in her arm that was slowly melting.

"Goodness! What happened here?" Yuuka exclaimed. Yuuka's demeanour suddenly changed from shocked and worried to happy and casual, the youkai making many lotus flowers appear in the air, the little flowers pouring a familiar golden liquid on the two girls, being absorbed into their skin, making their bruises and other wounds disappear. Reimu pulled out the icicle, the gash on her arm also closing and healing from the magical liquid. "There, much better."

"So I guess the quiet one was more fun than that fire demon, huh?" Mima asked.

"She definitely wasn't quiet when we got her away from that firecracker." Marisa responded, looking a little miffed before smiling again. "But it doesn't matter, 'cause Eggplant and I kicked her ass~!"

"Ah, that is good, that is very good." Mima responded approvingly.

Yuki suddenly rose from the snow, the demon and her clothing still damaged, though she was in a noticeably battered state. She let out a pained groan as she rubbed her temple, looking around the World of Ice and Snow from where she sat.

"Very good...?" Yuki mumbled, having apparently heard Mima, albeit not completely. Reimu, Genji, Marisa, Yuuka and Mima looked down at the blonde demon. "What is very good? Did we win against the Gensokians?"

"Why would I call my defeat a good thing?" Mima asked as she crossed her arms over her spectral chest, the ghost suddenly letting out a laugh. "No, what I called a good thing was that my protégé managed to defeat your demon friend.

"W-what?!" Yuki exclaimed, the demon climbing out of the snow and immediately flying away, no doubt to look for her friend. Reimu felt the need to tell Yuki what Mai is really like, but she decided to just swallow that thought. It would be pointless, especially at this point. She most likely wouldn't even believe Reimu, proving the former point even further. "Maaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…!"

"So how was she?" Marisa asked, casually pointing to where Yuki disappeared off to with her thumb. "Was she hard, or was she easy?"

"A lot more towards the latter." Mima responded. "Now c'mon, the longer we wait here, the more demons of Makai could invade Gensokyo. We've already been very gung-ho about finding and defeating Shinki, so there is no point in just flying here and talking."

And with that, they were off again, heading straight towards the gates of Pandemonium, blasting into the castle without trouble...

Unaware of what challenge faces them along the hall.

She felt something all around her. More particularly all over her; not quite heavy, but not light either. Mai sat right up, getting the snow off her clothes and out of her hair, the demon even spitting out some snow. The demon sat there, processing what happened; she was firing down the ice sculptures, then she saw that Hakurei maiden, and then...

Mai widened her eyes, the demon letting out an angry and annoyed growl before she slammed her hands against the snow, releasing some of her magic, covering some of the snow around her in ice.

"Damn those two humans...! Damn them both to a life of misfortune and misery!" Mai growled with clenched fists, the demon eventually calming down. "No matter. Either they get killed by Yumeko or Shinki or someone else, thus earning their karmic retribution, or they manage to defeat Shinki. I guess I can call either outcome a win."

Mai then picked up a sound in the distance, the sound becoming louder and louder as the source came closer. The ice demon started to recognise the sound, letting out an annoyed growl as she recognised who it was.

"Great, it's the annoying firecracker once again. Better put my façade back on." Mai grumbled, the demon taking in a deep breath through her nostrils, before letting it out calmly, and regaining her calm and shy guise. "Yukiiiiiiii! I'm over hereeeeeee!"

Yuki then appeared through the faint mist, the demon rushing towards her friend and hugging her upon sight. The hug was tight, and Mai honestly wanted to just impale the blonde for it, but the ice demon just hugged the woman back for the sake of her façade.

"Oh Mai, are you okay?" Yuki asked with tears in her eyes, looking straight at the ice demon. "I heard that they beat you up. I-I was so worried. I tried my best to defeat the ghost and the youkai, but th-they were just too strong for me. If it was just me against one of them at a time, I would have won. I'm sooooooo sorrrrrrrrrrrry…!"

Yuki's tearful babbling began to become nothing more than incomprehensible sounds, the blonde demon rubbing her face into Mai's chest, getting it covered in her tears. Mai looked away in disgust as she was certain that Yuki was no longer looking at her, the ice demon knowing that she would have to force on a comforting face. Mai gently removed Yuki's face from her chest, showing the blonde demon that mask of comfort.

"It's okay." Mai cheered with a soft voice, all faked because of the persona that she has to keep alive. "What matters is that we're both alright. And I know that either Yumeko or Lady Shinki will defeat those humans, they're both practically undefeatable, especially if they were to team up together."

"Y-yeah, you're right." Yuki said, doing a pumping a gesture with both of her arms, a suddenly triumphant smile on her face. "Even if we've failed to protect Our Goddess, she'll surely be able to blast them all into nothing more but a pile of atoms, even the ghost. Oh... I just hope that Lady Shinki will forgive us."

"You know, in one of the other worlds, the world of humans, there is a religion where there is one god, and that god will forgive you as long as you repent for your sins." Mai said. "Or something like that, what's the point in learning about other gods when you already have one as your ruler?"

"Yeah, good reason." Yuki agreed happily. The demon suddenly made a serious face. "But those other Gensokians are still attacking, aren't they? We gotta go and stop them with the others. We could beat those other Gensokians, and maybe Lady Shinki will forgive us quicker."

"That is a good idea." Mai lied, giving Yuki an encouraging smile.

"You're right~!" Yuki said as she floated in the air, the fire demon shooting off towards the area of the Capital that the rest of the Gensokians were at. "C'mon, Mai!"

Mai made a disgusted expression, sticking out her tongue like she just tasted something awful, before regaining her calm expression again and flying after her 'friend'. At the very least, maybe taking the lives of those other Gensokians will give her some catharsis.

I'm just going to get to the point and say this: I'm sorry.

I know this chapter took a lot longer than any of the previous chapters have to come out. I honestly don't know what happened, I just like gained a big increase in procrastination, and it has been annoying me to an extent, because I want to write like normal, but I've been finding myself to end up writing less, for some reason. It's mostly just annoying procrastination.

As for this chapter... I'm not quite sure what happened. I intended to make Mai and Yuki come off as stronger than the previous demons, but I still needed to keep them from being too strong, as Yumeko, Shinki and Ex Alice are meant to be even stronger.

The previous few paragraphs above are meant to set up the next chapter (or a few) as they are meant to be more chapters that are focussed around the other characters, especially since they are all left on their own little cliffhangers since their last appearances.

Don't think that Mai's comment about Yumeko and Shinki fighting the quartet is foreshadowing; if I got those two to fight the four heroines all at once, the 'battle' would probably be five-to-ten paragraphs Curb-Stomp Battle.

Hopefully I'll get over this increased procrastination soon and get back to my regular update schedule. I take all the blame for any problems with this chapter.

All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.