One-way traffic

Chapter 495 Seeing what the sea looks like?

Thus, the largest banquet to date was held in the City of the Moon.

Although the banquet was not intended as a celebration but rather as an apology to the people from Gensokyo, the fact that Luna City survived such massive destruction and that its people can still live safely here is enough to move everyone.

That being said, the banquet did not actually go particularly smoothly.

As the prince of the Lunar Capital, Tsukiyomi thanked everyone from Gensokyo at the banquet and expressed his deep remorse for conquering Gensokyo, but the person he truly wanted to thank never appeared at the banquet.

That white-haired, red-eyed human whose actual gender was difficult to discern at a glance.

Of all the people who have come to Gensokyo, only he has displayed an unforgettable performance.

Even the terrifying being that easily conquered the entire Moon Capital, and that even a prince like Tsukiyomi couldn't contend with, was simply annihilated by the opponent with even greater power.

This alone is enough to prove that the opponent's strength is perhaps far greater than that of the entire Moon Capital.

The two women, Hishikami and Watatsuki, who were directly involved in the incident, could never forget the confrontation with him afterward.

Despite being just a human on Earth, he was able to fight three beings who were considered extremely powerful in the Lunar Capital to an overwhelming, even one-sided, outcome.

Considering all these various circumstances, and adding to what the Detective Girl heard from the other party about the meteor the size of the moon flying directly past the moon... in conclusion, the outcome was already predictable.

The impact of a small asteroid, one-to-one size, that was released toward the moon in the past was already a destructive force that the Lunar Capital could not withstand under any circumstances.

If, on top of this, the other side goes further and develops ideas such as intending to invade or even destroy the entire Lunar Capital—

By then, it will be truly irreversible for the Lunar Capital.

…Even so, the other party still did not appear at the banquet in the Moon Capital. After seeing him once in the Moonlit Night, he never appeared anywhere else in the Moon Capital.

After that, the girls of Gensokyo all left the Lunar Capital in an inexplicable way.

Based on the above information alone, it's not hard to guess what kind of attitude that human held towards the Lunar Capital.

"Your Highness, from now on, regarding matters concerning the mortal realm, what should we...?"

After learning about this situation, the high-ranking officials of the Moon Capital all began to turn their attention to what could be considered the highest-ranking leader within the Moon Capital.

"...Do not attempt to have any further aggressive thoughts toward the ground."

This was the decision that Prince Tsukiyomi made after careful consideration.

"Under no circumstances should we ever engage in aggression again. We must never attack any place on Earth, not even the humans on Earth."

"This is the only thing we can do from now on. No matter what, we absolutely cannot let what happened in the Moon Capital these past few days repeat itself..."

The thought that a renewed invasion of the Earth might lead to that mysterious human returning to the moon haunted Tsukiyomi's mind forever.

This time, the other party said that he came to the moon only to resolve personal issues.

Next time, it will be far more than just a personal matter.

So no matter what.

We must not allow them to travel to the City of the Moon with any more malice.

"In the end, it seems that something really interesting happened."

Then, this place is completely outside the Lunar Capital.

Like the ocean, it is lifeless and its boundaries are invisible in all directions.

The two figures above them were suspended above the sea.

A person appears to be dressed in the clothes of an ordinary modern girl, but in reality, three shrunken planets are connected to her neck.

One is Earth, another is the Moon, and the third is an unknown crimson planet that does not exist in any known celestial body.

"The Moon Capital, which has never taken others seriously since ancient times and always thought of making good use of and exploiting everyone's remaining value, actually has something to fear now."

That's a goddess.

The goddess, completely detached from the outside world, floated indifferently on the ocean, casually looking at those around her.

“Let those moon people suffer a good beating, so they'll finally have something to fear... That should be wonderful for you, right, Pure Fox?”

"Indeed."

The other person was a woman dressed in a black and red ancient-style robe, with long golden hair and seven tails burning like dark flames behind her.

Although she said that, there was no joy or smile on her face at all.

“Those Moon People did indeed have things they feared, but… it was all still unpleasant.”

"Oh? How so?"

"Even if someone threatens or coerces them, they will only refrain from doing the opposite out of self-preservation, just like criminals who are arrested by the police and verbally express remorse but do not actually know how to reflect on their actions."

Chunhu, the woman addressed as such, sincerely expressed her true feelings.

"The proud Moon People will never lower themselves... Even if they compromise this time, they will forget this fear at some point. In their eyes, they are the only ones who can be considered true humans, and everything else is nothing but filth."

"That's what they've always thought, and it's not going to change that so easily."

"That's true... Heh, I should have known about this a long time ago."

The goddess beside her began to ponder again.

"In that case, Chunhu, do you still plan to carry out your revenge on the moon?"

"No, I don't want to continue doing that for the time being."

The blonde girl's face displayed a slightly melancholy expression.

"The Lunar Capital has already suffered a devastating blow, and continuing like this will not change their minds."

"Moreover, and most importantly, I don't want my plans to end up like this, being taken down by the Moon People using a borrowed knife to kill someone... that would be absolutely disgusting."

"You haven't already lost your will to fight, have you? These Moon People can't tolerate anything bad, haven't they always been like this!"

"At least I don't want to continue like this now."

The two of them, suspended in mid-air, simultaneously turned their gazes toward the location of another planet in the distance.

—That blue-white planet called Earth.

"However, I really didn't expect that there would actually be a powerful being on that planet who could easily overwhelm the entire Lunar Capital by himself... Calling him a god wouldn't be an exaggeration, would it?"

"Whatever, let's go, Hecate."

"It's really... a wasted trip today."

Two beings who are neither gods nor deities.

They vanished into the air, restoring tranquility to the endless ocean.

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

then.

When I opened my eyes again this time, the world before me had changed dramatically once more.

"...It's happening again."

Accelerator wakes up in his own dream.

He had just opened his eyes when he realized that the room in front of him was not the one where he had been sleeping.

The sky and the ground presented a contrast of black and white.

Silver and flame, along with interwoven purplish-black particles, shimmered in the distance.

Without a doubt, this remains a universal spiritual world.

Lately, he has been waking up in this world from time to time, but after waking up, he has no idea why he is here.

Looking around, just when he thought everything was no different from usual, he realized that...

—Something came from afar that he could not ignore no matter what.

There.

Beyond the sky, something purplish-black, like lightning.

It is slowly expanding.

"What...is that thing?"

This is his own spiritual world, and therefore, Accelerator is naturally very clear about what the things and powers he represents in this world are.

But after looking at it for a moment, he couldn't figure out what the lightning bolt represented at all.

Do not--

"No, wait... at that time...!"

He suddenly remembered his experience in the Moon Capital not long ago.

After he completely defeated the incomplete form of the demon, the demon's soul entered his body, seemingly attempting to take over his body and use it for its own purposes.

Logically speaking, Accelerator should have been powerless to fight back at that time.

Yet, a strange power still erupted from his body at that time.

That force sent the demon's soul flying away in one breath.

Could it be... this power whose source is indiscernible right in front of us?

With a sense of surprise, Accelerator slowly walked towards the direction of the lightning.

The closer you get, the more you can feel it, as if the entire space is trembling.

In this world, the only sounds that can be heard are Accelerator's own footsteps... and the buzzing of lightning.

Soon, he was less than a meter away from the lightning.

Staring at the ominous power that seemed to come from another world, Accelerator hesitated.

He was unsure whether he should reach out to the thing.

He is a superhuman who can observe and manipulate all directions of energy in the world, but now... when he looks at the ball of power in front of him, he can't sense anything.

but.

Before he could make a move, the ball of purplish-black lightning surged toward him on its own.

"—!!"

When Accelerator's fingertip touched the tip of the current, he did not feel the slightest bit of pain.

A familiar feeling surged into my mind from my memories.

"This is... Could this thing be—?!"

At that very last moment, he finally understood what the lightning bolt truly represented.

"This thing is...my own...ability?"

The words fell.

With a flash of white light before my eyes, the world returned to nothingness.

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

I woke up from my dream again.

Accelerator couldn't help but open his eyes, feeling the scorching heat emanating from the aura around him.

It was 10 a.m., and he was sleeping on the roof of a building.

This is the roof of Alice's mansion.

The sunlight shone on the person in first place, but it didn't make him feel any heat. However, the sound of cicadas chirping could be heard all around, and the atmosphere was already scorching hot.

Gensokyo is now basically in June.

Spring has turned into summer. Although summer has not officially arrived yet, the heat of summer has already begun to show in the surrounding natural environment.

"Time flies by so fast."

Thinking back to when he arrived at Academy City, it seemed like Christmas hadn't even passed yet, Accelerator couldn't help but sigh to himself.

He shook his head, dispelling all the shock he had felt after waking up from the dream.

"No... since it's a dream that manifests in my mental world, it must have a corresponding meaning."

Since arriving in Gensokyo, Accelerator's abilities have undergone numerous dramatic changes.