Chapter 836 - 25: Suwako: Where Is Everyone?
"Wait! Where is everyone?!"
Compared to forever, a moment is but an instant.
So for the entire heated and noisy battlefield, it’s naturally just something that happens in the blink of an eye, in a fleeting moment, time hasn’t passed long at all, to be precise, in terms of subjective time, it really is just an instant.
An instant.
Someone disappeared from the field.
An instant.
They keenly noticed it.
The Demon Sage decisively stopped her hand, looking around the field in anger and annoyance, she found that the figure of a certain hateful guy had silently disappeared, unable to help but grit her teeth and clench her fists, her jade fingers squeezing hard till they turned white... Hardened! The fists have hardened!
That damn man! With which sneaky cat did he run off this time?!
And with her sudden halt, the others also soon noticed the change in situation, each stopped their hands as well, after all, they always had restraint.
Even though the fight went on till now, it never truly went too far.
Of course, taking the chance to vent anger was definitely a given, and there was more or less a personal grudge from the past while throwing a sucker punch...
So from the start of the battle till now, this biggest malicious brawl in Fantasy Land with too many participants, apart from causing major psychological impact on the Reimu Witch, temporarily no other serious consequences occurred... Hmm, and after discovering someone’s disappearance, everyone stopped.
Just as Princess Kaguya said, if someone stayed on the scene, the situation would remain unresolvable.
Either forcefully suppress everything or quickly withdraw and leave first, so their focus would shift along with...
Of course, Her Highness the Princess thoughtfully helped him choose the second option.
"..."
"..."
A brief silence, only the gentle sound of the night wind blowing through the forest.
"Lord Zi..."
"Zi, where should we go now..."
Yakumo Lan looked a bit worriedly at her master with a face fluctuating between cloudy and clear, while Youyou floated leisurely in from outside the field, this Princess of the Undead with her usual innocent expression, didn’t seem to care what just happened, greeting her friend nonchalantly.
Yet to say she’s completely naive might not be true, just like this Princess of the Undead not involving herself in the battlefield just now.
Her powers are too extreme and scary, not suitable for this kind of scrimmage.
This is enough to prove she actually knows what’s going on, and can judiciously assess the situation...
"Damn it... Let’s go! I refuse to believe this guy truly... Hmph!"
Annoyedly searching the surroundings, the boundary Great Demon was in anger and irritation, finally scanning the potential opponents’ numbers opposite her, grudgingly gritting her silver teeth once more, she turned around, her golden long hair flying in the night sky, a gap directly tearing through the space rift.
Once the Demon Sage left, everyone remaining instantly felt much more relaxed, both the atmosphere and the pressure on the scene were so.
"Heh..."
Kazami Yuuka’s eyes sparkled, she looked up at the real nighttime sky, as if seeing the Moon 380,000 kilometers away, unsure of what she thought, ultimately turning and leaving under the night and moonlight, propping her parasol as she went.
And her departure took away quite a bit more pressure.
The remaining people exchanged glances, many quickly turning to disappear into the darkness, since they already resolved to move, naturally there was no reason to retreat, now it was a race to find the person first... Exactly, why not me, there’s no reason against it.
"My Lady, apologies, I have to go see now..."
The silver-haired head maid took a deep breath, turned back to glance at her Loli Vampire Lady, and spoke seriously.
"Then let’s go! I’ll go see with Sakuya!"
Remilia exhaled lightly, responded as such. Regardless of how much she disliked the development, she wouldn’t refuse Sakuya’s request. After all, this is the first time Sakuya expressed something she wanted to do herself, there’s no reason to refuse.
"Uh... Okay, My Lady."
The silver-haired head maid was momentarily stunned, then smiled.
She nodded gently, remembering something, she turned her gaze to that direction.
Just in time to see Miss Shinki pulling along Miss Alice, stepping into the unknown spatial warp, swiftly disappearing in a scene amidst the Magic Forest... Retracting her gaze, the silver-haired head maid sighed lightly, how do you handle such a situation, my Master.
How many pieces can such poor conditions be split into, just enough to allocate...
At this moment, the completely carefree head maid couldn’t help but worry.
......
Before long.
The Magic Forest turned empty and deserted.
Of course, the battlefield that was affected also restored, the damage caused by pure energy of different elements, the influence caused by various strange abilities, all were cleared out. The terrain and environment were perfectly restored to the previous proportions.
As if nothing had happened, only the night wind gently blew by.
Ordinary demon beasts and regular animals gradually returned to this area to move about.
As the time ticked by, who knew how long had passed? The leaves suddenly rustled, accompanied by a signal, or rather an omen.
Under the bright night sky, illuminated by the radiant moonlight, an overwhelmingly powerful surge of Magic Power erupted. Waves of energy surged, stirring the whole primeval forest, whipping up violent local storms with an approaching tempestuous feeling.
In the next moment, above the Magic Forest, stars converged into a scene like the Milky Way cascading down!
It seemed as if all the moonlight in the sky was being drawn away, the threads of light distorted, absorbed by the great tree connecting heaven and earth.
The bark of the giant tree cracked, extending in four directions, forming a crown-like structure on top. Meanwhile, the interior of the tree was also exposed, revealing an internal vista akin to a vast starry river... Then, a figure appeared within.
Golden-haired loli Suwako descended with eyes tightly closed, slowly down from the tree —
Finally, she hovered in the air above the forest.
After quietly waiting for a moment, as if gathering momentum, she suddenly stretched out her arms and opened her eyes: "Ho ho ho!! I’m back again, surprise or not — huh?"
The latter part of the sentence was cut off awkwardly, unable to be completed.
Because she found it was not like the scenario she had imagined — the anomaly was supposed to be in its final stages, where she would reappear as the BOSS, have a joyful uproar, and then everyone would go to Shimotsuki Shrine for a banquet. Wasn’t that the plan?
— But now... where is everyone?
— Where has everybody gone?!
She landed on the ground in bewilderment, certain that there really was no one around, and the recent commotion did not attract anyone to come and check.
The forest was empty, and Suwako, who had just completed her rebirth, was also dumbfounded. Could it be that her fusion progressed too smoothly, completed early, missing the last minute appearance as planned?
That’s kind of awkward... Should I go back and wait?
Suwako fell into thought.
......
Around the same time.
"So slow... Why haven’t they returned yet..."
On the mountaintop of Demon Mountain, at the cliff edge in front of Shimotsuki Shrine, the green-haired Miss Hahuri stood at the peak, her hair fluttering in the night wind. She wore a blue and white witch outfit, gazing at the night sky and the radiant full moon, sighing amid her excitement.
The third God of the shrine seems even more mysterious and impressive than expected.
Given that, then surely... Suwako-sama’s affairs should be smoothly completed, right? But why does it seem like the issue still hasn’t been resolved? The banquet I set up has been heated twice already.
If they don’t come soon, it might cool down again...
Sanae Kochiya sighed with some concern and looked again toward the Magic Forest. What happened there seemed sealed off, utterly invisible from this distance.
If everything’s normal, then now exactly —
What stage has it entered?
......
...
"If all is normal, it should be time to feast..."
A girl with long straight black hair sat on the corridor, elegantly withdrawing her gaze from the moon in the sky, and said thoughtfully.
"Princess... those words are a bit dangerous." Gu Mo beside her slightly stiffened.
He had just noticed the clamor in the Magic Forest subsiding, everyone ceasing meaningless bullet hell battles and dispersing, instinctively sighing in relief. As he was about to rub his forehead, he suddenly heard the long-haired girl beside him casually make that remark.
"Isn’t it? According to what you just said, under normal circumstances, everyone can actually go to Shimotsuki Shrine for a banquet now, right?"
The princess neither confirmed nor denied, only speaking faintly.
"Eating a feast means this?"
"What else? What did you think I was saying?" Casually running her fingers through her silky black hair, the doll-like girl glanced at him.
"..."
"..."
"Forget it, maybe it’s just me overthinking. Somehow, I feel this term is a bit strange..." Gu Mo rubbed his forehead and waved his hand.
Though originally this term referred to weddings and funerals, not limited to one situation, as long as there was a banquet it was called ’eating a feast,’ it now seemed like it specifically referred to a certain scenario.
He sighed again, feeling that he had sighed more today than ever before. Also, it seemed the princess intended something, having stayed home surfing the web, she probably understood the memes of the outside world.
That said, what is she thinking?
And about that joke just now... It was a joke, right?
Feeling slightly pained, he rubbed his temples again, glanced at the girl beside him, hesitated briefly, then still cast a ghostly, invisible image into another room of the Eternal Pavilion, reformed into a substantial entity.
The room was a pharmacy, with numerous medicine cabinets around, its space extending back and forth, like a large plaza inside.
From the outside, it didn’t look like this at all.
Not long ago, Yakumo Eirin, who returned to the Eternal Pavilion, walked back and forth in this pharmacy, casually checking a list and preparing medicine, seemingly unaffected by what happened earlier, indifferent to Gu Mo’s visit.
Exhibiting a very calm demeanor...