Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Ah... I never expected this ailment, which hadn't bothered me for so long, to show signs of resurfacing. I want to grasp everything, I want to plan everything perfectly. How long has it been since I felt this anxious, hesitant, and fearful state?

People often do many foolish things, and it's especially foolish to clench their fists desperately because they don't want to lose what they have. Because often, the more you try to grasp the present, the easier it is to lose the future.

The last time he was in this state of mind... was two hundred years ago, before he engraved this message within his body. He had already paid a heavy price.

The promise she made to Zhang Jie should indeed be kept, but that was merely an excuse, a demon manifested through her possessiveness and desire for control. This demon had already shown signs of itself during the Ju-on arc, and now it was like a venomous snake, eroding her thoughts and actions.

I have become foolish, and foolishness is a harbinger of defeat.

[Giving up the initiative to others, letting myself be driven by the tide instead of driving it myself... I really did something stupid.]

The strategy must be changed immediately.

She took a deep breath and drastically adjusted her mindset, switching back to the 'serious' state she had been in when she first arrived in the world of reincarnation. Just then, she saw Xiao Honglu casting a pleading look at her.

....................................

“Sister Alice, we need fire support. Do you have a strategy to take out those armored divisions quickly? We must leave this city immediately… I suspect this place will soon be covered by heavy firepower,” Xiao Honglu asked. He wasn't without a way to break through the American blockade, but that would take time; the previously planned direct confrontation strategy hadn't considered the time factor. However, now… he had to hurry.

"The method..." Alice pursed her lips, looking at the sky shrouded in dark clouds, and thought seriously.

"Of course there are methods. The simplest method is to use lightning to induce changes in the positive and negative charges in cumulonimbus clouds to generate thunderstorms... Although I've used it once before, it wouldn't have the desired effect even if I used it again. But it's still fine for emergencies."

"but……"

"I've changed my mind." She looked up at the sky.

The torrential rain was caused by a massive cold current surging from the ocean and the more than 20,000 weather missiles deployed by the US military. The thunderstorms and overcast skies prevented her from using satellite networks to cast wide-area curses on living beings in North America. Simultaneously, for unknown reasons, all her papal ritual magic was disabled, significantly weakening her combat capabilities in North America and reducing her to a considerably low level.

But that didn't mean she was helpless. Because the enemy was just an ordinary army. Although they were equipped with guns and cannons, in her mind they weren't much different from medieval peasant soldiers with pitchforks and sticks. The extreme weather hindered Alice's magic, but it also hindered the enemy's communication and wide-range long-range firepower.

So, the so-called armored forces are nothing more than reptiles that can be easily wiped out with a single blast of sonic waves or mental pollution. To Alice, the threat they pose after they're dead is far greater than when they're alive. At least the resentment of the dead might cause her some trouble—but that would only happen if someone were to awaken their vengeful spirits.

But... death?

Alice closed her eyes. A container stored on her body quietly opened, and a talisman she thought she would never need fell into her hand.

Without a doubt, the current predicament is a trap set by the enemy. The opponent is Death, and the government is the blade in Death's hand. The longer we linger on its chessboard, the more we will fall into Death's snare. If we proceed step by step, fighting the army and playing the game piece by piece, we will become like butterflies caught in a spider's web, sinking deeper and deeper.

So, if we're going to break this deadlock, we might as well break it completely.

"Sister Alice?" Xiao Honglu looked at him with a puzzled expression, his face slightly flustered. "Are you planning to do something? You seem a little strange."

His words drew the attention of the others, and the other team members also looked at her with questioning eyes.

The next moment, two dolls floated out from the shadows beneath her feet and landed steadily on her shoulders.

“I’m furious because I have to use this precious gift my friend gave me,” Alice said calmly. A whirlwind arose around her, a power entirely different from magic, yet equally immense, swirling around her. In the blink of an eye, it extended outwards, covering a distance of nearly several hundred meters.

—A blue whirlwind erupted from her fingertips. The dolls immediately infused it with magic, amplifying the whirlwind even further.

"【The Great Miracle: The Kamikaze of Yasaka】"

Author's Note:

..............................

Living in the countryside, I'm suffering terribly from having to update my phone just to get full attendance.

Section 21 - Cursing

When Alice left Gensokyo, aside from Reimu who genuinely only poured her two glasses of water, all of her former friends gave her farewell gifts. Although Alice didn't say anything, they knew from seeing her that this departure might be forever.

Therefore, the gifts they gave were naturally not ordinary items—except for Reimu.

Among these parting gifts, the one given to her by Sanae Kochiya, the wind priestess of the Moriya Shrine and a living god who serves the gods, was several talismans filled with a massive amount of divine power. Their function was to ward off evil and exorcise evil spirits.

As for what constitutes an evil thing... well, it's anything that gets in the way!

She stretched out her hand, and a pillar of wind extending from the talisman connected to the sky. A hurricane from another world ruthlessly tore through the cloud-covered sky, dispersing the torrential rain in the blink of an eye. The pillar of wind continued to expand outward, creating a huge hole in the sky in a very short time.

The thunder and dark clouds were dispelled. Unlike Alice, Sanae wasn't a consulting magician, and the power she used wasn't related to information—the power system she employed was divine power, something witches weren't particularly adept at. And it was precisely for this reason that the dark clouds that could have hindered Alice were utterly powerless against Sanae's divine wind.

As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise—that's probably what this means. And when the wind dissipated, revealing the true night sky, the cumulonimbus clouds within a 200-kilometer radius had been completely dispersed. The cool moonlight then shone down, bathing the earth in a pure white glow.

These dark clouds covered about a third of the Americas. Even if they were dispersed, they would quickly regroup under the intervention of a cold front or the deathly force that followed. However, that would be at least ten minutes later. Alice had directed all the power of the wind pillars into the sky, and although they were just rootless trees, it would not be something that could be dispelled in an instant.

So, what needs to be done at this time is...

“Shanghai, connect to the satellite network,” Alice whispered, her will then plunging into the void, sipping the intelligence she needed from an ocean of knowledge comprised of countless messages—without the obstruction of the clouds, the arrangements made by the US military were laid bare before her. It was as if the entire map had been revealed in a strategy game; the methods the Americans had painstakingly devised, even using a city and three armored divisions as bait, were completely exposed before her.

[Artillery array...tsk, a purely mechanical system with manual calibration. It's really going to be difficult for me to find you through consultation or to make you explode on the spot. However, it is indeed an excellent strategy.]

Even I, caught off guard and bombarded by over ten thousand heavy artillery pieces, could be severely injured, or even die on the spot. And that goes without saying for the newcomers and main characters.

Alice stretched out her hand—her gesture in the physical world symbolized the tumultuous waves she unleashed in the information network. In that instant, every satellite over North America shifted its orbit slightly for various reasons. And as their signal transmitters all pointed towards that artillery position, the extraordinary message woven by Alice's hand was projected onto the area defined by that latitude and longitude!

This is a curse, which uses targeted message interference to directly generate uncontrolled magic within the human body to achieve a destructive effect. In just an instant, nearly one-fifth of the artillery position quietly dimmed. The life force attached to it was completely erased within a single breath.

She could almost hear the fear and despair coming from a hundred kilometers away.

It's a pity you were a little too slow...

Her gaze suddenly sharpened, her neck twitched slightly as if she wanted to turn her head to look at someone, but she forcibly suppressed it and stopped herself from moving.

[No, there was no slowness. I shouldn't have noticed your subtle movements at this time... I was alerted, alerted by someone Death didn't expect. Qi Tengyi, it seems you've really learned something remarkable. So, based on this premise, what you're really trying to express is...]

Touhou Project...Infinite World...Also Existing...

[There seems to be no connection. Could it be related to the previous world? Ju-on? The Legend of the Gods and Demons? It can't be Transformers... Transformers? Megatron...]

【…Damn it!】

She abruptly reached out and tapped the back of her head. A sudden ray of microwaves generated from her cranial cavity destroyed the cerebral cortex containing that tiny piece of memory the instant her deduction was nearing completion! Although it was only a tiny area of ​​the brain, barely the tip of a pin, it was still a significant injury. She jerked her head back, and a trickle of necrotic cellular fluid silently slid down her nasal cavity.

She gritted her teeth, suppressing her anger, even forcibly suppressing her instinctive urge to glare at Qi Tengyi. She finally understood what it meant to shoot herself in the foot. Although her reasoning wasn't complete, and the evidence itself had been destroyed along with the memory itself, the seriousness of the situation still echoed in her mind, and her subconscious sternly warned her never to think about it again.

【………】

"Utterly unlucky, utterly unlucky," the girl whispered. Her overwhelming emotions even made her temporarily forget the ironclad rule that 'words that shouldn't be spoken should be kept to oneself,' and she almost uttered a vicious curse.

Of course, she hadn't said that much yet. So her image hadn't completely collapsed. And when faced with questioning looks and doubts from others, she quickly adjusted her mindset and said things that were completely unrelated to her thoughts, but were important enough to effectively divert attention.

"At the twelve o'clock position, about a hundred kilometers away from us, there is a super-large artillery position. The total number of artillery pieces is probably more than ten thousand, and it is still increasing. Perhaps in a while, a single salvo could level the entire city. And just now, when the wind column in my hand was retracted, they were already prepared to open fire in advance."

"Hmm... if my timing is correct, then the shell should have been fired by now."

She turned her head and smiled at the others.

"We have about seventy-five seconds to prepare for the first round of fire."

Author's Note:

....................................

I hate the input method on my phone...

Chapter 22: Comments from Touhou Character Fans

Alice wasn't actually worried about her group being hit by artillery fire from a hundred kilometers away—to prevent the witches from interfering with their information, the US artillery positions had abandoned electronic intelligent operating systems, stubbornly using manual calibration methods common in the late 19th century to control this high-end 21st-century firepower. And precisely because of this, their plan to mobilize the artillery positions during the night storm and then use a saturation barrage to raze the entire city, along with the reincarnators within, to the ground—would require at least three hours of preparation.

However, there's still at least an hour and a half before the position is fully prepared. Furthermore, Alice's powerful spell wiped out a fifth of the artillery crew... so unfortunately, even if the commander in the position acts decisively and issues the order to fire the instant the wind pillar rises and the clouds are pushed aside, the actual density of the barrage that will arrive seventy-five seconds later will be less than one-tenth of the planned amount.

If a barrage of bullets with a density only one-tenth that of a seamless barrage could still hit a superhuman individual from Gensokyo... then it could only mean that everyone present was living in a dream.

That is obviously unrealistic.

“The chances of us getting hit are actually quite low, but we need to be careful about the shockwave,” Alice said, shrugging. “I don’t think even seasoned veterans would be killed by such a small shockwave. But newcomers and main characters are a different story.”

"Therefore, I recommend that you head south, where there are relatively fewer tall buildings. We can choose to hover in the air without worrying about collapsing buildings falling and killing us. Although there is an army there that I previously hindered with magic, I think they will soon be no longer a problem."

"Because of the American artillery?" Xiao Honglu said, keenly noticing a significant change in Alice's demeanor. In other words... provoking her now might not end well. Adopting a conservative, wait-and-see approach and cooperating with her was a wiser decision.

“Correct, but no bonus points.” Alice clasped her hands together, and the puppet on her shoulder provided her with power. In an instant, the convoy carrying the reincarnators disintegrated. A powerful anti-gravity field then enveloped everyone present, and then, under the astonished gazes of the nearby American refugees, they sped off towards the south.

"We'll probably make contact with that army in about three minutes... Of course, I think they'll still be in basic formation by then—the Americans use artillery to bombard from fixed coordinates. Either they miss, or they focus on one spot and fire hard. So I guess they won't get hit, and then while we're locked in a stalemate with them, some accidental deflected artillery fire will wipe us out."

“This kind of thing is usually quite troublesome, since it takes time to fight them head-on. But…” Alice snapped her fingers, and the figures of the people enveloped by the gravity field on the outside began to blur. Soon, their physical traces in this world completely disappeared.

"The rain has stopped, so optical shielding is feasible. I'll also prepare infrared shielding, but... I think when we pass over that unit, one of their rifles or tanks will accidentally fire, revealing our position. So at that time... Zheng Zha."

She looked at a muscular gorilla who had unfurled a pair of blood-red energy wings behind him and was staring blankly as his figure disappeared silently into the mirror-like glass of a high-rise building... Although he couldn't quite be considered a gorilla yet, he could be categorized as a humanoid creature within the baboon category.

"If anything unexpected happens later, then the task of taking the blame will be yours. I will remove the shield on you, and then you go and fight them to a pulp, while I take the opportunity to leave with the others... I think you should be fine."

"Oh... um..." Zheng Zha answered subconsciously, his mind clearly not yet processing the information. Several seconds later, as if waking from a dream, his eyes suddenly widened. "Margot Lloyd! Are you trying to sell me out?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Alice looked at him questioningly, her gaze seemingly scrutinizing some rare insect. "If you're not going to shield me, am I supposed to?"

"I'll be killed by artillery fire!"

"Don't worry, you won't die." Alice waved her finger, and a ball of light condensed in the air around her before quickly flowing into Zheng Zha's body and disappearing without a trace. "This energy can immediately restore your damaged limbs and organs after you are seriously injured, while providing a sufficiently tough protective shield to ensure that you can escape the artillery fire range in a relatively safe way... Hmm, I know you may not be able to observe the impact point of the artillery, but... Zhan Lan."

She looked at Zhan Lan.

"The Eldar prophet should be able to walk around in a barrage-covered field. Although you haven't been enhanced to that level yet, I think you can just use your mental power to observe the trajectory of that small area of ​​artillery from a distance, and at the same time tell Zheng Zha the calculated impact point through mental link... Locking the route and calibrating the target, even that dead woman and muscle-bound guy from the Indian team can do this kind of coordination, I think you should be able to do it."

"This... might be a little difficult," Zhan Lan said awkwardly—it wasn't that she couldn't do it, she was just a little... slow to react for a moment.

"So lax? I thought this basic operation wouldn't be too difficult... It seems I went too far in the Ju-on world." Alice said coldly. "If there are difficulties, then overcome them. If Zheng Zha dies, then you will bear some responsibility."

"You—!" Zhan Lan was speechless with anger. "How could you suddenly—"

"Do you want to continue arguing with me, or do you want to proceed according to my plan? There are still thirty-five seconds before the artillery fire begins. If you have a better solution, you can suggest it. If not, then please use your precious mental energy to prepare to deal with the trajectory of the artillery fire in the sky."

After saying that, Alice turned to look at Xiao Honglu.

"I know, I know, I'll deploy the shield if anything unexpected happens!" the twelve-year-old boy said hastily, saving Alice from having to explain further.

“That’s good.” Alice nodded. “Then the remaining long-range firepower personnel, please remain vigilant. If any large rocks, shrapnel, or a misplaced warhead or heavy weapon appears in an inopportune moment, I expect you to be prepared to deal with it in advance. As for the rest of you, I won’t say much more.”

She gently patted Shanghai, who was perched on her shoulder, and the swirling gravity field immediately accelerated. At the same time… the earth trembled in the distance, and the roar of artillery fire echoed from the horizon.

The sound waves have arrived, so the artillery fire should fall first.

Section Twenty-Three: Please Begin Your Performance

The city was gradually destroyed under the bombardment of artillery; the number of deaths and the amount of property lost were no longer worth considering. The Americans themselves had instigated the killings, and they were naturally to bear the consequences. However, in this world, perhaps the blame would not fall on them.

The anti-gravity field is still in operation...

"It seems you've changed your strategy, Miss Alice. What, are you no longer planning to hand over the captain's authority to Zheng Zha?" Qi Tengyi's voice suddenly rang in Alice's ears. This was not an ability he should possess. The so-called 'mystical scholar' enhancement naturally did not include mental communication, but that did not mean he couldn't do it.