One-way traffic

And this is just the effect caused by a gentle sway of a branch.

Accelerator and Alice quickly retreated, but were constantly being chased and hit by the branches.

But the first person's expression remained unmoved.

Without hesitation, he reached his fingers into the branches, letting them envelop him.

then.

The strange thing happened the instant the branch touched the first body.

Squeak——!!

A sound like metal scraping came from his fingertips.

The tree branch that should have torn Accelerator's body apart in one swift motion froze in place, trembling as if it had been electrocuted.

"Inverse calculation... complete."

The first one was muttering something to himself.

The next moment, his eyes widened, and his fingers shot forward without hesitation.

All the branches were shattered by his movement.

It was as if an invisible bomb had exploded nearby; the tree branch was torn apart from the inside by an inexplicable force, while Accelerator's hand remained completely unharmed.

In the critical moment, the first person managed to grasp the bioelectric and mental circuits of these tree branches.

Even if they are branches of a demonic tree that transcend the laws of physics, Accelerator's abilities have long since gone beyond the simple laws of physics. He can also manipulate the mental realm, so reflecting them or even further manipulating them is not difficult at all.

But is this really all the problem?

Under Accelerator's watchful gaze, the branches that should have been torn apart by his power in one fell swoop instead grew back from the roots in an instant.

"That damned bastard, what a troublesome fellow!"

Alice, standing nearby, also tried using dolls to bombard the area, but the result was the same.

Neither burning attacks, direct severing, nor attacks that manipulate the organism's own circuits to completely shatter them from the inside can destroy these branches.

The Demon Tree Journey to the West has completely evolved into a realm it could never have reached before.

Accelerator, however, gained some insight from this experience.

Could it be——

"Could it be that those inhuman monsters came here from the very beginning just to devour that thing...?"

Chapter 441 Crimson Cherry Blossoms

The demon from the west has undergone some changes.

It's less a change and more a real mutation.

The cherry blossom tree named Saigyou Ayakashi no longer possesses the beautiful colors of cherry blossom and purple that once blended together.

At this moment, pure black and scarlet colors climbed from the roots to the top of the tree, and even the fallen leaves turned into a color indistinguishable from blood.

An ominous aura completely enveloped this underworld.

Forced by that extremely eerie aura, everything inside the entire underworld, including the area called Baiyulou, was completely transformed into a sea of ​​blood.

Compared to the previous environment, everything now is more deserving of the name "underworld".

"Yuyuko...sama?"

Before anyone knew it, the youmu beside her had already woken up.

The first thing this half-spirit girl did after getting up was to check on her young mistress's safety.

But reality was beyond her imagination.

Even though the figure in mid-air wasn't entangled by the branches of the Saigyou Ayakashi, its entire body still shone with an extremely eerie blood-red color.

That was Saigyouji Yuyuko.

"How could this be...! Lady Yuyuko! No!"

Without even a moment's hesitation, she immediately called out in a trembling voice.

"Please wait for me! I'll come and rescue you right now—"

Youmu quickly picked up the two divine swords that had fallen to the side.

Seeing Yuyuko motionless in mid-air, the girl gritted her teeth and decided to rush forward at her fastest speed.

But that action was not taken.

Before Youmu could act, a hand had already grabbed the back of her collar.

then.

A burst of light, like a fire, instantly exploded in the area in front of Youmu.

The distance between us was only ten centimeters.

"Eh…?"

The girl stared blankly at everything before her, seemingly never expecting such a scene to unfold.

The flames lasted for several seconds before slowly dissipating. Judging from the area shrouded in light, the ground in all the surrounding areas had crumbled into dust.

It's hard to imagine what it would have been like if Youmu had experienced that scene.

"Calm down. Continuing to be anxious won't do any good; it will only cause trouble for others."

A familiar voice came from behind; it was the person who had grabbed him by the back of the collar.

After Accelerator released Youmu, he looked directly ahead.

"It's a bit unreasonable for you to see this scene right after you wake up, but there's nothing we can do about it, that's reality."

Youmu used her own eyes to see everything around her clearly.

Whether it was the stepped area or the White Jade Pavilion area behind the steps, everything was covered by that apocalyptic black and red color.

Even the air itself felt oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

Rather than saying that the apocalypse has arrived, it's more accurate to say that this is a scene after the apocalypse has already occurred.

"What...what exactly happened?"

"How would I know? Besides, the reason it's turned into this mess is entirely your fault, isn't it?"

"What…?"

"Take a good look for yourself."

Seeing Youmu's completely unaware expression, the first person simply recounted everything that had happened before him.

"This place has completely turned into an area that is no different from hell, which is quite in line with the term 'underworld.' And all of this is caused by that tree."

"You mean... the Saigyou Ayakashi?"

"Although in reality, the culprit behind all this is not just the tree itself, but there are more complex reasons... but there is only one thing that cannot be changed."

The first person did not continue speaking.

Even so, Youmu had completely understood what he meant.

"Did we...did we cause all of this ourselves?"

According to the other party, if the Saigyou Ayakashi had not absorbed enough spring, and if the Saigyou Ayakashi had not developed to the moment of about to bloom, it would never have turned into such an irreversible situation.

In other words.

If it weren't for the series of events that Yuyuko and Youmu planned to make Saigyou Ayakashi bloom, the Underworld would never have become what it is today.

Saigyouji Yuyuko would never become that unconscious state.

"Don't even think about using brute force to save that guy. According to my observation, the tree's energy has completely merged with her spiritual body."

In other words, Saigyou Ayakashi has completely merged with Yuyuko at this moment.

"Even if we wanted to bring that person over, it would be pointless. In the end, we would only get an empty shell. Her consciousness would still not be restored. Moreover, if we tried to forcefully attack that tree, it would probably further harm the woman's mind and consciousness."

"how so…?"

"This is just a preliminary guess."

The person who responded to her was no longer the first one, but someone standing aside, still resisting.

The blonde doll wielder was still surrounded by countless dolls.

All these puppets, large and small, are currently working desperately to construct a series of barriers.

As you can see, that red and black power is constantly influencing everything around it.

"Right now, I'm trying to build a magical barrier with the help of the dolls. If all goes well, we might be able to directly interfere with the physical relationship between Saigyou Ayakashi and Yuyuko. In that case, we might still have a chance to salvage the situation."

"So, how's the progress going?!"

"...almost zero."

With just a simple sentence, Youmu's hope was completely shattered.

“If it were the previous Saigyou Ayakashi, I could definitely control it for a short time, but unfortunately, the current Saigyou Ayakashi has completely lost its original nature... It is no longer at the level that I can suppress.”

As a top-tier seven-colored mage, Alice possesses near-divine magical skills, so even a demonic tree of that level should have a way to slightly influence it.

But now it's completely impossible to do that.

Those black and red things possessed extremely strong offensive capabilities. Once they completely overtook the Saigyou Ayakashi's dominance, the Saigyou Ayakashi's power went completely berserk, directly transforming into an unprecedentedly aggressive force.

Even Alice couldn't counteract this widespread frenzy in time.

"Yuyuko... Lady..."

Thud—Youmu sat down weakly on the spot.

Her eyes trembled, and even her hands, which were gripping the twin swords tightly, couldn't help but tremble.

Accelerator didn't look at her, but instead stared at the demonic tree in front of him again.

Click click click click——

Even after assimilating Yuyuko's side, the Saigyou Ayakashi continued to exert unimaginable interference in the surrounding area.

An invisible aura, like a giant wave, spread out in all directions in one breath.

Alice's expression immediately turned serious, and her arm trembled slightly—she was already nearing her limit.

At that moment.

The number one strongest superhuman, he raised his foot without hesitation.

Thud! Thud! An invisible force tore everything in the world apart.

If it's just about manipulating physical vectors, even if you create a gust of wind or cause an earthquake, it won't affect the Westward Journey Demon in the slightest.

However, Accelerator is not manipulating things that are so simple.

"Since this is the underworld, I imagine there should be a lot of supernatural things like energy flows, right?"

Simply put, it's probably something like the earth's veins.

What Accelerator did was simple: using that kick, he directly probed the surrounding underground depths, and then—

Manipulate the energy of the nearest ley lines and gather it directly.

This is how collisions of forces of equal strength occur.

boom--! ! !

In an instant, facing the unimaginable power of the Saigyou demon, Accelerator's control over the earth's vein energy also transformed into an invisible impact, and the two enormous forces clashed instantly.

The first one couldn't control the overly abstract vector of the Saigyu Demon, but that didn't mean he was powerless to fight back.

But that's all he can do.

"Thank you so much... You've been a great help."

"Unnecessary greetings. Anyway, what are we supposed to do with this damn thing?!"

"Well... although I'd love to answer, unfortunately I don't know the answer either."

Although Alice was very knowledgeable about magic, the mutation of the Saigyou Ayakashi at this moment had clearly gone completely beyond the realm of common sense.