One-way traffic

Bang! Sparks flew from the tip of the umbrella, and she immediately took a few steps back.

The golden-haired monsters each dissipated the power in their hands.

"What's going on, Zi! Your behavior has been very strange since just now. Are you still planning to attack that guy over there?!"

"Yes, I did have that thought."

"What…?"

Marisa looked at her with an expression of utter incomprehension.

It's clear that Accelerator was the one who truly helped all of them, and even the entire Gensokyo.

Why would Yukari Yakumo do something like this...?

"This shouldn't be too hard to guess. Well, I'll tell you anyway."

The demons in the realm did not change their minds because of this.

Her tone was calm and composed.

"You have all just witnessed firsthand just how powerful this human is."

The demon tree that dwells in the underworld is called the Saigyou Demon, and it is a demon tree with a history of over several thousand years.

Its power is enough to lure others to their deaths. Neither monsters nor humans can contend with this strange and unpredictable power. Even the Hakurei Shrine Maiden and the Boundary-level monsters would probably find it difficult to completely seal away all the power of this demon tree.

It is a powerful demon tree of this level.

However, in a very short time, it was completely overwhelmed by those black, ink-like wings.

Even without a clear description, one can imagine the immense power that the wings possess.

"In itself, possessing that kind of strange, unpredictable, and immense power is already a threat, and the person who possesses this power is not a resident of our Gensokyo."

"Just because of this reason? You're planning to attack him just because of this reason?!"

"Besides, he didn't even have the slightest intention of staying here. You should have heard what he said before, right?"

Yukari Yakumo's smile deepened.

"—Even if Gensokyo is destroyed, it should actually be a good thing for him."

If Gensokyo were to suffer a major impact, or even be completely destroyed, because of the Saigyou Ayakashi, it would indeed allow Accelerator to leave immediately and thus achieve his goal.

"But that's just talk! You said it yourself, didn't you? You don't care about the process, as long as you get the result. Our current results are all thanks to his hard work!"

"That's certainly true, but don't get it wrong, you black and white magician."

This unfamiliar form of address left Marisa stunned and speechless.

"What I care about is not a matter of merit or merit."

She didn't care at all about the stares of the people around her.

The youkai bearing the surname Yakumo spoke these words, one by one.

"All I care about is the safety of Gensokyo; everything else should be put below that."

"you…!"

“I admit that he did save the entire Gensokyo, but just as much, what he said was extremely threatening, and that powerful force was also very threatening, even more so than the demon tree over there... Do you really think I would let such an unstable element stay in Gensokyo forever?”

Accelerator is not a resident of Gensokyo at all. He is a human from the outside world, yet he possesses such immense power and utters such threatening words.

All these factors combined made it seem like a ticking time bomb.

"Loyalty and rationality? It doesn't matter. For me, the safety of Gensokyo is the only thing that matters. I will not overlook any factor that could bring Gensokyo to a crisis, even if it is only a possibility."

"Zi! You've gone too far!"

Marisa's heart was completely filled with nameless rage.

She is also a member of Gensokyo, but more than anything, she wants to follow the right path that she believes in.

As for Yukari Yakumo now, she would absolutely not allow the other party to continue with this nonsense!

And so, just like Alice in front of her, Marisa unhesitatingly pulled out the tiny octagonal furnace from her pocket.

It doesn't matter if the enemy is one of the creators of Gensokyo.

Marisa doesn't care who her enemies are; she only acts for what she believes is right.

That's it.

"Take this! Spell Card! Magic Cannon—Puwaaa!"

Then, before he could fully charge up his attack, it was interrupted by someone standing nearby.

Reimu waved her gohei and slapped the white banknote across Marisa's face.

"Hey! What are you doing, Reimu?!"

"Ugh... one by one, please stop messing around with me, okay?"

Compared to Marisa, Reimu's expression seemed powerless.

She walked nonchalantly to the center of the group.

"Zi, isn't that enough of a fuss?"

"Huh? Why would you say that? I expressed my determination quite clearly, or do you think that what you say as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden can convince me?"

"There's absolutely no need for that... You gave yourself away from the very beginning."

Reimu shook her head and looked at the other person helplessly.

"You never intended to be hostile towards that human from the beginning, did you?"

"—Huh? Huh?!"

Just one sentence was enough to make Marisa's expression turn completely astonished.

Alice had the same expression as Reimu; she seemed to have already figured out something, and then she sighed.

"The reason he said those things was just to take the opportunity to confirm our attitude towards this human... so he deliberately pretended to be targeting him?"

"So, that means... wait a minute, everything Zi just did was just an act?"

"You're the only one who got fooled, you idiot."

Reimu's words made Marisa's lips twitch, and she looked at the group in disbelief.

"Think about it carefully... If the other party really possesses such immense power that they were able to stop the Saigyou Ayakashi's uprising, which posed a huge threat to Gensokyo, wouldn't it be even more brainless to then turn their attention to such a dangerous factor?"

"But, but, the situation shouldn't be that this young man is unconscious, and Zi is trying to take advantage of the situation to..."

"That's why I said it. Even now, you still can't grasp the reality of the situation?"

Marisa blinked, and with Reimu's prompting, she slowly began to notice her surroundings.

—A huge sense of unease permeated her surroundings.

It should be said that it was surrounding Accelerator, who should have been unconscious.

"You can feel it, right? If any of us were to make a move against this guy right now, I bet he would just stand up and give each of us a good whack."

"So, that means... it was all just empty talk?!"

In the end, the only one who truly misunderstood was Marisa herself.

The girl in black and white blinked, still unable to come to her senses.

"Damn it...you guys are going too far!"

"It's your own problem that you can't understand, you black and white magician. It seems that your mental agility training has taken a slight priority over your magic training."

"That's not the issue at all! Can't you guys just talk properly and stop with the riddles?!"

Ignoring Marisa, who was almost going berserk, Yukari Yakumo smiled and looked at the group again.

"Now that everything is confirmed, I can leave with peace of mind."

"In my opinion, you're just too lazy to deal with this mess anymore."

"Oh? You've misunderstood me. Didn't I just say that I have something else waiting for me to do?"

"What do you mean, something that requires your help to accomplish..."

However, before Reimu could finish speaking, in the blink of an eye...

The figure holding the parasol had completely disappeared from sight.

The red and white-haired shrine maiden scratched her long, black hair and could only sigh helplessly as she stood there.

"The one who really goes around spouting riddles is this guy... that annoying monster."

Chapter 445 The Realm Beyond the Reach of All Things

then.

The moment Accelerator opened his eyes, everything before him underwent an unprecedented change.

"...Here again?"

The sky and earth where black and white meet represent the world of one's abilities and equipment.

This is Accelerator's own realm of mental illusions.

The spiritual world he created from all the power he possessed—he had been here once before.

I never expected to visit again for the second time.

"Tsk, how did I end up in such a peculiar place? Who knows what kind of state I'm in in the real world?"

He vaguely remembered the last moments when the power that had been eroding the interior of the Saigyu Demon was washed away by him.

Although everything should have been resolved in the end, Accelerator instinctively sensed that things were not so simple.

Why were the interiors of the Saigyu Ayakashi corrupted by those black and red monsters?

What exactly is the purpose of their existence? And what are the reasons behind their actions?

And at the end of the day.

These monsters, neither human nor demon, were never originally products of the land of Gensokyo.

Where did they come from? And why did they appear on this land?

Mysteries are everywhere that need to be solved.

Despite facing these various issues, Accelerator is currently in his own mental world and doesn't need to dwell on all that complexity.

Even he himself wasn't quite sure why he had come to this godforsaken place.

"In other words, since I'm here, there must be a plausible reason for it."

He didn't believe he had come to this place without a reason.

The last time I came to this spiritual world was when I was severely injured by DO Apis.

That arrival seemed to have given him some kind of revelation.

This time, Accelerator has also arrived in this spiritual world.

Everything in the world has a reason, meaning that there must be a corresponding reason for him to come to this strange place.

Driven by instinct, Accelerator couldn't help but look behind him.

--There.

In the area where black and white meet, something inexplicable and strange has emerged.

"what?"

That was lightning.

In an area inaccessible to all forces, a golden lightning bolt floats suspended.

However, the color of this lightning is not just gold.

From time to time, it will also switch to a dark purple hue.

It's as if it were extracted directly from another world, an alien object that humans cannot understand and could never understand.

Just one glance at that lightning bolt made Accelerator feel as if his entire head was about to be filled with it.

However, he did not feel any discomfort whatsoever.