One-way traffic

It should all end now.

Accelerator arrived at the front of the steps and stood on the land not far from the White Jade Tower.

The undead around Hakugyokurou had all been blasted away by the aftershocks of his attack, and Hakugyokurou's gardener, Youmu Konpaku, had already fallen to the ground not far away.

Even the undead young lady who was the mastermind behind all of this suffered a complete defeat.

This farce surrounding the sudden seasonal changes in Gensokyo should now be considered to have come to a complete end.

However, there are still issues that Accelerator should pay attention to.

"...We found absolutely no useful information."

Ultimately, issues like the need for someone to resolve the anomalies that occurred in Gensokyo are not even within Accelerator's scope of consideration.

He was neither an insider of Gensokyo nor the kind of nice guy who would think of others.

The reason he participated in the operation to quell this incident was simply because Yukari Yakumo had confirmed with him that the mastermind behind the incident could provide information about his departure from Gensokyo.

It now appears that the undead young lady was the mastermind behind all of this, but she could never have known anything about it.

In other words, although Accelerator solved someone else's problem, he didn't receive a commensurate reward at all.

If that's the case, what's the point of doing all this?

…If we think about it logically, the first person would probably think that way.

But at this moment, Accelerator did not feel the slightest bit annoyed.

He wasn't angry about being tricked, nor did he make a scene or vent his anger on everything around him. On the contrary, he stood there with an extremely calm mind.

Accelerator didn't feel that doing such a thing would make him angry.

Because, even without the reason of leaving for his own sake, he would probably still choose to help the people here resolve this anomaly.

What's the reason for this?

The first person simply stood still, without trying to find the answer to the question.

"In any case, this should be considered the end of it."

"I think so too."

After a voice replied to Accelerator, it walked directly over from the side.

She is a girl who manipulates countless puppets.

Judging from her appearance, she seemed to have been quite frightened by what had just happened.

"I never expected you could unleash such immense power in an instant, and the nature of that power is completely different from the power you manipulated before, isn't it? How did you manage to do that?"

"It has nothing to do with you. Asking for information randomly is not a good thing."

"Oh dear, I remember that in the beginning, it seemed like someone was wandering around this Gensokyo to gather information, and now you're using this kind of excuse to describe me?"

"...I think you have to pay the price for your verbal pleasure before you can feel truly at ease."

Although the two were arguing like this, they had both confirmed the current situation and that there would be absolutely no further changes.

Since Yuyuko, the mastermind, has been defeated, the untimely winter in Gensokyo will probably soon disappear.

Soon spring will arrive again, followed by summer, and people's daily routines will return to normal.

——Crack.

until a certain moment.

The sudden noise abruptly interrupted their thoughts.

"what?"

Accelerator couldn't help but turn his head in surprise.

Alice did the same, and the two of them decided to go and find out the direction of the sound.

Click.

Click click click click——

However, the sounds became more and more frequent.

The sounds were like something sharp striking steel, and then—

They were able to see clearly exactly where the sound was coming from.

On the huge cherry blossom tree, streaks of red and black things slowly seeped into it.

It is a giant cherry blossom tree called Saigyou Ayakashi.

However, the surface of that demonic tree was completely filled with black and red substances, which looked like worms and seeped directly into the trunk.

"Hey... those things wouldn't be...?"

"...There can't be any mistake."

Both Alice and Accelerator basically saw clearly what that thing that had directly infiltrated Saigyou Ayakashi was.

In fact, that is something that has been seen many times before.

A black and red, humanoid monster that appeared nearby right from the beginning.

I should have thought of that earlier.

Before fighting Yuyuko, during the battle with Youmu, I had already seen those black and red monsters appear in this Netherworld, but after that, I never saw them move again, as if they had completely vanished into thin air.

In retrospect, it was entirely the monsters' deliberate act.

Taking advantage of the battle between Accelerator, Alice, and Yuyuko, they remained hidden and charged directly onto the Saigyou Ayakashi.

So, what exactly is the purpose of these guys attaching themselves to the Saigyu Demons?

The answer was soon revealed.

As the last stream of red and black light poured into it, the enormous demon tree began to tremble.

Click——! ! !

The crisp sound became incredibly grating.

The Saigyou Ayakashi, which should have been a pale purple and cherry blossom-like creature, instantly transformed into a blood-red color.

then.

The branches that stretched out from there extended directly downwards.

Om-! !

From the ground, Yuyuko's body was directly entangled by those tree branches and then lifted into the air.

"What...are those things planning to do?"

Alice stared in amazement at the branches, and with lightning speed, grabbed Yuyuko and lifted her into the air, as if she were about to do something to her.

At this moment, Yuyuko had already lost consciousness due to the attack.

Even if we were to do something directly to her now, it would probably be an easy thing to do.

Bang——! !

Before the branches could take any further action, Accelerator had already made his move.

He raised his hand, once again concentrating his spiritual energy to form two sharp, disc-shaped blades.

The PhatomSeeker is exactly the same move used to attack Yuyuko before.

The purple-white blade sliced ​​through the air, heading straight towards the tree branches.

The blade sliced ​​through all the branches in an instant, even severing the branches wrapped around Yuyuko's body.

Everything happened in an instant.

However, contrary to Accelerator's expectations...

Even after the branches were cut, Yuyuko's body was still trapped there.

"this…!"

Before the two of them could even exclaim in surprise.

An unprecedented anomaly erupted directly from behind Yuyuko.

boom! ! !

The enormous energy folding fan, several times larger than the one that had just been unfolded, exploded completely behind Yuyuko.

Moreover, its color is no longer purplish-black.

It was a blood red that was enough to instill fear.

Rumble rumble rumble—

That series of actions shocked the entire Underworld. Not only the Saigyou Ayakashi tree, but also Yuyuko's body, the energy folding fan behind her, and the entire sky and ground of the Underworld—all turned red and black.

An unprecedented anomaly erupted after that.

————————————————————————————————————————

"Woo?"

"What, what's the matter?"

Not far from the barrier, two figures in the sky also noticed the anomaly.

An unprecedentedly violent tremor seemed to emanate from behind the door that was suspended in mid-air.

This tremor not only shook the air, but also penetrated space, directly shocking the entire Gensokyo.

"What's happening all of a sudden? Is it an earthquake?!"

"How could an earthquake be felt in the sky, you idiot?"

Marisa and Reimu Hakurei arrived here as quickly as possible, following Accelerator and Alice.

However, the strangeness displayed at this moment was truly hard for them to imagine.

The only thing that can be confirmed is this.

"In any case, the source of the anomaly must be behind this door, right?"

"Yes, and the shaking I felt just now also came from here. I sense that there is indeed a very powerful force behind it..."

The two women didn't say anything more. They were both experts in dealing with anomalies and were already very familiar with the situation.

The girls exchanged glances, then flew directly into the gate in mid-air.

Meanwhile, a substantial rift appeared in the air not far away.

Those were cracks filled with eyes everywhere.

Within the crack, a tall figure sat upon it.

"It seems to have become more complicated than I imagined."

The youkai of the realm, Yukari Yakumo.

The youkai sage of Gensokyo naturally noticed all these changes.

However, her expression didn't seem to change drastically; instead, she remained somewhat calm, as if she already knew that everything would turn out this way.

"No matter what, Reimu can't solve this problem on her own... That's why I called you, this outsider, along to deal with the incident."

——————————————————————————————————————

As a result, the underworld was completely transformed.

An incredibly powerful force shook the entire world; in that instant, even the air and space turned a pure black and red.

"Tsk... I thought it was all over, but I ended up with such a huge mess!"

Accelerator clicked his tongue in displeasure.

Directly in front of them, the Saigyou Ayakashi, who had been controlled by the black and red power and had also taken control of Yuyuko, launched a merciless attack on them.

Dozens of branches came crashing down from above.

Several of the branches were driven directly into the ground, causing the ground itself to rise up.

Approximately several tens of meters of land were destroyed as a result.