One-way traffic

Even so, the world is now in a state of near destruction.

"So...no wonder it looks like this."

He recalled his last memories before he fell into a coma.

Despite suffering fatal injuries all over his body, Accelerator still chose to fight against the demonic power of DO Abis with all his might.

No matter how hard they tried, no matter how much they used their strength beyond their limits to delay, they still couldn't win.

DO Apis's power has completely exceeded his imagination.

That was no longer an enemy that the number one psychic in Academy City could face. No matter how hard they tried or how much they pushed their limits, the outcome was already predetermined.

He has no way of winning against that demon now.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that we no longer have the time to consider issues like winning or losing.

This is Accelerator's mental world. If his mental world is showing signs of fragmentation, then it can only prove that something has already happened in the real world.

He is dead.

His physical body has lost its vitality, and because of this, the world that represents his spirit will also disappear and be destroyed.

This marks the end of the journey.

Having experienced all sorts of things so far, the number one in Academy City is finally about to embark on the path of final judgment.

If you think about it carefully, most of what he did in his life was probably spent in battle.

It's been like this from the very beginning... After arriving in Academy City, he began to bring a series of destructions and harms to the people around him. Although he later learned how to control his power and managed to become as cold as ice, thus limiting his power from going berserk.

But he still went astray after that.

In his pursuit of so-called invincibility, he embarked on a horrific path of slaughtering tens of thousands of lives.

However, the path of Asura did not lead him to true invincibility. After that, a "hero" who had awakened him to everything appeared and stopped him. Then he went on to the path of evil again, but eventually realized that good and evil were meaningless and embarked on the true path of protection.

He spent his entire life in battle.

Fighting to become invincible, fighting on the path of evil for what one wants to protect, abandoning good and evil for the people important to one's side, and fighting on a solitary path of protection.

Fight, fight, fight—

"Looking back on my life, there really isn't a single word that can describe me except fighting, damn it."

Accelerator pushed his neck with his hand, looking somewhat angry.

Even though he was about to face genuine destruction, he remained unmoved.

Even though death is right in front of you, you still feel no fear.

Is this due to his arrogance as the strongest and number one? Or is it simply because he has faced life-or-death crises for so many years that he has become completely fearless of death when the time comes?

——Crack.

Suddenly, all thoughts came to a standstill.

The entire spiritual world seemed to freeze there, like a still image.

"…ah?"

Even Accelerator himself found it incredible.

He watched as the spiritual world before him froze in mid-air.

But he himself, with his eyes wide open, was completely unharmed.

What happened...and what happened?

What's that... over there?

In this completely still mental realm, something caught his attention.

Accelerator raised an eyebrow and looked over. He saw a beam of light shining in the dark abyss of destruction.

What is it?

The moment this thought arose, his body was directly in front of the light.

"this--"

Upon seeing the true form of the beam of light, Accelerator froze completely in place.

It was a purplish-black current.

The electric current was constantly flashing with a dark, ethereal light. The light surrounded the area in front of it, looking like a plasma structure, yet it seemed dreamlike and unattainable.

Before Accelerator could even extend his hand, the beam of light had already wrapped around his fingertips.

then.

An immense sense of oppression instantly surged into his brain.

—?!

It felt like lead had been forcibly poured into my brain.

A burning sensation surged from the depths of his brain. Accelerator felt a pain that was indescribable. Although it was indeed a pain, when he tried to focus on the depths of his brain, he could not feel anything at all.

Something, something he couldn't currently comprehend, had invaded his mind.

Something that even the strongest mind in Academy City couldn't decipher was slowly enveloping his entire being—

"It's not yet time."

Bang! ! !

Suddenly, that oppressive atmosphere vanished completely.

The purplish-black current that had been wrapped around his fingertips melted away like flowing water after being affected by an unseen force.

The electric current sank into his body. Even though the numb pressure still lingered deep in his head, Accelerator knew that he could control this kind of thing to some extent.

Without realizing it, he turned his gaze toward the source of the invisible force.

—At the boundary between black and white.

Black, white, and in the very center area—

grey.

“You shouldn’t have ended up here, nor should you have borne this power.”

"Although it is just an added value to your true soul essence, even if it is just an added value, it is still difficult for you to bear in your current state."

speak.

The gray area, which looked nothing like a living organism, spoke in a voice that appeared directly in the depths of consciousness.

Unable to distinguish between male and female, this feeling is less like hearing something and more like something directly printing the information onto Accelerator's brain.

The person in charge of all this can't change anything or even notice anything.

Go back to where you belong.

"For you, destruction as a means of protection is not the point."

The information is becoming increasingly vague.

At the same time, that spiritual world began to become increasingly illusory and dissipate.

"Destruction is only one of your powers; what you can do is far more than just destruction."

That was the last piece of information he could confirm.

Then, Accelerator heard it.

I heard my own heartbeat.

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

My breathing became easier.

My body felt a little cold, but the feeling of my heartbeat was very real.

He didn't die; he's still alive.

"—Puwa…!"

As Accelerator stood up, he found his head covered in a pile of straw.

His nose and mouth were basically full of these things, and as soon as he got up, he disgustingly pulled them out.

He almost choked to death.

"Reflection... They didn't even activate reflection. If they were assassinated now, they would definitely be dead."

Perhaps because he had almost died before, his reflexes weren't working at this moment, otherwise he wouldn't have choked on the straw.

but--

"..."

After confirming that the memories I just experienced in the mental world were genuine, I can confirm that they are indeed real.

Accelerator then placed his hand on his head.

Body temperature, nerve sensitivity, brain bioelectrical status, blood flow, heart and other internal organ problems, and whether there are bone misalignments, etc.

Although he could confirm a series of information within his body without touching it, it was as if he had just walked through the gates of hell and returned.

"everything is normal."

There is absolutely no problem with my physical condition or anything else.

All the injuries inflicted on his body by DO Apis have healed, and the negative effects caused by using the "Doomsday Destroyer" super skill have also disappeared without a trace.

Accelerator is in excellent health, so healthy that he himself feels it is abnormal.

It's almost like finding someone else's body and then putting your own soul inside.

"Soul...? Ha, I'm actually starting to think about such nonsense?"

It's quite ironic that someone with a scientific background would now be considering matters of the soul.

But Accelerator couldn't laugh at all.

Even if the body is not seriously injured, even if one has already returned from the brink of death.

He also knew that the situation remained unchanged.

"Does that mean I can't possibly defeat that demon on my own..."

Even if Accelerator unleashed his full power, even if he manipulated all the vectors to pull the universe, he still couldn't restrain that demon from the abyss.

According to his calculations, the other party would return to Gensokyo in two days at most.

…No, two days is just a proper calculation. It's still unclear how long he's been unconscious here, if you include that period.

I'm afraid we only have one day left to prepare.

"But even if I wanted to prepare, there's nothing I could do. The guys here can't help me at all."

Even if the girls of Gensokyo were to unite with those from the Lunar Capital, they probably still wouldn't be able to help Accelerator in any way.

And to be honest, he never intended for these girls to help him at all.

"They're just a bunch of guys who are seriously dragging the team down."

Grasping at a straw, the first person's gaze turned serious.

"I'm the only one who can truly fight that devilish bastard."

First, you need to determine the plan.

If using all of one's computing power to pull the entire universe out of it is effective, then it means that using it a second time will probably also be effective.

However, DO Apis is not a mindless monster; it possesses high intelligence, and the chances of successfully executing the same attack a second time are slim.

That means Accelerator must exert all his strength again to delay it for a split second, and then unleash that ability at the last second.

If the battle is successful enough, perhaps we can pull myself and that guy to a more distant place outside this universe.

Then, we could try other methods to pull that thing into the deepest part of the universe... such as a black hole, or the deepest part of the sun, which might cause it serious damage.

Combining all of these factors, even if it's impossible to kill the opponent, it can still inflict unimaginable damage.

"To defeat that guy, I have to make sure I don't die myself... at least until he's finished too."