Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Angels are pure energy beings; their lifespan is irrelevant for now. However, given their ability to drive this cataclysmic cycle that spans human history, they must have lived for an immense number of years. And within this vast span of time, the inheritance of power systems must have inevitably occurred.

They are energy, so naturally they will study how to utilize it. Clearly, their talent in this area surpasses that of human cultivators who possess only flesh and blood. And the power system they develop… is very likely to be stronger than information magic.

Being slightly stronger is strong, and being significantly stronger is also strong. However, if strength leads to a qualitative change, then the subsequent battles will be extremely difficult.

This is similar to how Alice has never cared about the military strength of the nations in this world, because the civilization in her Gensokyo world had undergone a qualitative leap long ago compared to this world. Various weapons, theories, and knowledge have created an overwhelming generational gap compared to this world and this era—she can manipulate surface civilizations with ease using information magic, much like a chemical expert equipped with medieval technology can wipe out an entire continent with synthetic toxins. But she isn't sure if the angels can do the same.

“We can only hope that all their members on this earth are ‘warriors,’ and that there are no strong individuals with the status of ‘scholars.’ To be honest, this idea of ​​pinning our hopes on the enemy’s troop deployment is truly terrible.” Alice sighed softly. She hoped to encounter ‘warriors,’ because warriors have always only known how to use weapons, not how to modify them. Just like primitive people used stone axes, ancient people used iron axes, modern people use alloy axes treated with single molecules, and outsiders use powered axes with added disintegration fields. In any case, they are all axes, melee weapons that only work when they hit someone. The destructive power may change, but the way to deal with them is exactly the same.

Scholars, however, are different. Faced with beings who can transform their axes into hammers, bows and arrows, laser guns, and railguns at will, once a gap in civilization is established, the difference in combat power becomes immense. This is because the opponent inevitably has action plans to deal with various different situations, and a civilization of a slightly lower level will have its weaknesses and vulnerabilities easily found, and then be easily defeated.

Just as the Native Americans of centuries ago had no concept of gunpowder weapons and were easily wiped out by guns and cannons, their hand-to-hand combat ability was no less than that of the Westerners who crossed the sea, yet the gap in civilization became the main reason for their defeat.

Alice, a scholar within the information civilization system, is well aware that the destructive power a scholar can wield far exceeds that of a mere warrior. And it is precisely for this reason that her inner turmoil only intensifies.

It is extremely difficult to compare the two sides, friend and foe.

The Grand Library has replied to her; the paratroopers have already departed, but descending from orbit across an altitude of 1,000 kilometers will still take considerable time. However, this time won't be long, meaning that now is the final preparation period.

"But there's nothing left to prepare."

"You'll never know how strong the enemy is until you make contact with them. And in any case, after I've ruined the plan, their threat level will only be lower than it will be five days from now."

Alice gently bit her lower lip, and on a whim, the television in the farmhouse quietly turned on. News broadcasts from all over the world flashed across her vision, and languages ​​from different countries and ethnic groups rang in her ears.

—"The persistent rainfall in North America has eased, the massive hurricane 'Hydra' has weakened, and casualties are currently being tallied..." (American English)

—"Global warming continues to worsen, water levels along the Thames are dropping, and large numbers of fish are dying..." (London accent)

—“Extremist groups are still fighting in the Middle East, resulting in numerous casualties…” (Arabic)

—"According to expert analysis, the various paranormal cases currently appearing in China are actually unusual natural phenomena caused by changes in magnetic fields. The public is advised to be cautious when traveling..." (in Chinese)

—"Frequent geological changes in the Fuji area, a new round of geological activity is suspected to be breaking out..." (Japanese)

—"Our government expresses its deep regret over the recent series of major disasters in the United States..." (Russian)

—"In response to the recent spate of missing children in the country, the authorities have decided..." (Italian)

—"I strongly condemn the selfish behavior of certain major powers; certain secrets should belong to the world..." (Korean)

—“The United Nations is closely monitoring natural disasters in North America and is calling on all countries…” (in English)

She lowered her eyes, reached out, and picked up the telephone receiver from the table beside her.

"This is truly a case of the storm brewing. Indeed, even if the angels are interfering, the World Government will surely not sit idly by after five days. They will definitely devise some measures, whether they are successful or not is another matter, but at least they will not wait to die," Alice said softly. She could easily discern many clues from these news reports and see the various arrangements made by the World Government.

However, it's meaningless.

These are essentially underground or underwater bases, designed to shield people from the initial impact of a solar storm and allow some to survive being charred on the surface. They can serve as alternative shelters, but it's best not to rely on them too heavily.

Because it wouldn't be difficult for the angels to kill them...

Should I help them? If they have a reliable shelter, the newcomers can survive, right? After all, putting them in the Great Library is certainly one way to cope. But... my heart is preventing me from doing it.

I don't want outsiders entering the Great Library... no, perhaps the veterans can, but novices are not. I cannot allow them to enter the magical realm that Patches and I have built together over countless years. Although I don't know why I have this thought, I know it's a necessary decision.

Is it related to the memories I actively deleted?

Alice took a slow breath, and her mind calmed down. All her wild thoughts vanished in an instant. She looked up at the sky through the closed roof—high up there, she could vaguely see a patch of sky that had turned crimson, as if it were on fire.

It was an orbital drop.

The troops deployed from the Great Library had entered the denser atmosphere and ignited from intense friction with the air. She knew her legion had no more than a minute to reach the battle site; in other words, she had to act now.

Alice dialed the phone in her hand.

One second, two seconds, five seconds...

Fifteen, twenty, thirty...

The phone rang repeatedly, again and again, but the other party never answered. Alice, however, showed no impatience. She continued to gaze at the sky, watching the fiery clouds gradually grow larger and expand, eventually obscuring half of the sky in her view.

Suddenly, she heard a voice on the other end of the line. It was a man, his voice filled with unease and exhaustion, like an old beast guarding its young, fiercely protecting them—it was John Kessler on the phone. He had been in a state of anxiety ever since reuniting with his child. After encountering Lucinda's prophetic drawings, he was no longer the astronomy professor who firmly believed in science. He realized that there were things in this world he had never encountered, things he did not understand, deadly things. And these things had already appeared around him, already entangled his only offspring.

He asked in a trembling voice:

"Who are you? What is your purpose? Why are you making this call?"

However, Alice did not answer him.

She simply opened her mouth, revealing her rosy lips. And then…

"ah----------"

A scream.

The electrical signal traveled along the shortwave network and was quickly transmitted to the country villa where the Kesslers lived via a suburban signal base station. Then, it suddenly burst forth from the microphone in the hands of the astronomy professor!

'ah-----------'

The father and son both fainted instantly upon hearing the piercing scream. However, the altered signal wave suddenly erupted in an extremely short instant, engulfing the entire small house in the blink of an eye!

The next moment, Alice saw a ray of light through optical detection—a pure white, dazzling light. The light radiated outwards, like a pair of enormous wings.

The information screen beside her suddenly shattered. The instantaneous surge in information destroyed her surveillance methods. But this was not a complete loss for her, because in the instant the screen shattered, she touched a pure gaze amidst the chaotic sea of ​​information.

It saw me.

But I saw it too.

She raised an eyebrow, swayed, and in the blink of an eye, she was gone from her farmhouse. Meanwhile, the fiery clouds in the sky had lowered to a level close enough to the ground. She could even see the teardrop-shaped drop pods encased within the clouds, watching the jets at the bottom of the pods burst into flames.

It was as if a mountain had crashed down upon them; the entire earth trembled. The countless meteors pulverized the area around their target. A violent explosion, shockwaves, and spreading flames erupted, the flying dust rapidly coalescing into clouds, which then, fueled by rising heat, formed mushroom-shaped giant clouds that shot into the sky. The visible shockwave expanded rapidly outwards, tearing apart mountains and pulverizing forests, transforming into a terrifying wind by the time it reached Alice. However, Alice paid no attention to the debris. With a casual wave of her hand, she ripped open a massive fissure in the face of the rapidly approaching shockwave, and at the end of the fissure, she saw light.

A beam of light, reaching to the heavens and the earth, like a lighthouse rising from the earth.

"It's waiting for me to come over."

Chapter 50. Glory... I'm not talking about the ship.

It's waiting for me...

No, it's that it can't leave, because there's only one.

Is there only one angel in this city...?

[The number is less than I expected, but I've already taken action... This can only mean that these angels have a high average combat strength, or... the one left here is very strong.]

Was my action also part of their plan?

Thoughts swirled in the girl's mind, and her body nimbly spun in mid-air under the control of the anti-gravity field. After adjusting her mental and physical state and confirming that all the magical protections on her body were functioning normally, she gently exhaled a wisp of warm air. Then, the pre-prepared spell unfolded behind her, constructing a gravity slingshot in an extremely short time.

Lately, I've been increasingly prone to daydreaming before battles.

"...This isn't a good sign. Generally speaking, people who have these kinds of thoughts don't seem like they'll live long. But what if I want to spend a few more millennia with Patchouli before thinking about retirement?"

The second wave of explosive shockwaves followed immediately. The airdropped troops had already landed and, under Alice's perception, autonomously woven a network of fire. She knew the energy creature was waiting for her somewhere twenty kilometers away, and that it wouldn't take her long to get there.

In the sky, crimson stars continued to fall. The robot army had already begun fighting the target creature. The combat units, which primarily used electromagnetic weapons, were consumables that Alice used to restrict the angels' abilities, and also probing pieces to test the enemy's strength.

Gravity well, maximum power.

The space behind the girl was distorted by extremely abnormal gravitational disturbances. The barrier in front of her body also generated a sonic boom due to her high speed, and large white air barriers appeared around her vision. The surrounding environment then fell silent because the speed exceeded the sound. She raised her hand, and a small rune flashed at her fingertip. The rune then expanded outward to form a complete magic circle.

[Optical Message Projection & Strategic Map]

The optical information, gathered and directed by the spell, then operated under the filter, disassembling, reassembling, and programming. A screen displaying the battlefield situation in real time was then projected onto the girl's retina. A semi-transparent, three-dimensional terrain map appeared in her field of vision, with red and blue dots representing the two sides in the battle appearing one by one. In the blink of an eye, a small portion of her troops vanished in an instant.

—Were they few in number, and were they directly annihilated by the angels?

Alice blinked, thinking quickly.

[Fire has begun. Six seconds have passed. One hundred and thirty-seven units have been lost... The situation is good; we can proceed to the next step.]

I will arrive at my destination in twelve seconds.

The loss of robots was within her expectations, as she had no way of accurately assessing the enemy's actual strength. Therefore, she adopted a strategy of using the mechanical legion as a probe. But at least for now, in terms of probing, the enemy's combat power was still within her control.

Six seconds, 137 bodies—this was achieved when the machine army lacked a commander and relied solely on automated AI to plan its actions. I could do the same thing, and even better, but that doesn't prove anything.

That won't do. A skilled hunter will deliberately feign weakness to lure foolish prey into coming to him—I've done this many times before, so I'd better not fall into that trap myself.

After all, simply considering their reduced aggression, they are already showing enough weakness to the enemy.

Let's add an extra layer of protection on top of the preventative measures we've already taken...

Alice's inner magic furnace, under her will, swiftly diverted a stream of magic, and a concealed spell was quickly woven into it. It hovered behind her, its color rapidly dimming and disappearing as she approached her destination, eventually becoming completely hidden in the back of her neck.

Everything is ready, and the control has reached its limit; there's no point in trying to do anything more.

She flicked her fingers, and the puppets emerged from their hiding places, forming neat rows that silently followed behind her. At the same time, the center of the battlefield appeared before her.

—She saw that pure light.

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

Angel.

What do angels actually look like?

In the world of Gensokyo, Alice had dealt with many winged beings and even created mimicry angels from scratch using ritual magic. But this kind of energy-based creature with its own independent race and civilization... was a first for her.

It was a ball of light, a blurry, white light. Within the radiance, one could vaguely discern a humanoid silhouette, with energy radiating outwards from the upper middle part of the silhouette, resembling a pair of enormous, pale wings.

The wings fluttered gently, transforming into a wave of light that swept towards us!

Are high-energy rays... mainly electromagnetic radiation...?

A barrier suddenly appeared in front of Alice, then within microseconds transitioned from a stable state to an overloaded state. This barrier, strong enough to withstand a close-range cannon shot, shattered instantly, and a second layer of protection appeared simultaneously behind the fragments.

[Trigger-based Spell Trap - Mimicry Black Body]

The second barrier was an opaque black barrier. The oncoming tide of light was instantly absorbed by the black body, which absorbed all electromagnetic radiation. Then the energy rapidly converged, flipped, and transformed the arrows shot by the opponent into spears thrown by our own side.

[Slow-motion comments may not apply... So...]

Blackbody radiation transformation - thermal ray beam

The inverted blackbody barrier rapidly collapsed due to the high concentration of energy, and the product of the collapse was high-temperature radiation that was directionally concentrated by the magnetic field and had a core temperature of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius! A blazing red light suddenly erupted between Alice and the angel, and the ground, which had already been smashed to pieces due to the orbital descent, rapidly collapsed within a time unit measured in microseconds—carbides were decomposed, and silicon and various metal particles rapidly melted, turning into a lava belt that stretched for thousands of meters.

However, the angel who was the target of the attack was unharmed.

"Nice to meet you," Alice said casually. The instant she spoke, her will connected with the mechanical legion descending from the orbit. And the moment the word "meet" left her mouth, hundreds of electromagnetic rays shot out from all directions within a radius of several kilometers, completely surrounding the energy creature before her!

In an instant, the cage formed by electromagnetic rays was constructed into a spell. Magic was channeled, concepts were drawn, and the power of 'Tralok,' the lord of water and thunderstorms in North American mythology, was manifested under the witch's will!