Chapter 496

"How did you——?!"

In a single instant, the Moon King was struck as if by thunder.

As though suffering an invisible heavy blow from the Void, pierced through the chest by an invisible giant force.

This deity staggered back, the wave crests beneath her feet exploding into pale shattered foam, each step making the entire Divine Realm emit a groan on the verge of collapse.

Finally steadying her figure, she abruptly raised her head, pupils suddenly contracting——

As if a cold mask of divinity had been shattered in an instant, revealing an almost human-like shock and wavering.

A turning point appeared!

In this split-second moment, almost everyone's hearts subconsciously gave rise to this very thought.

Like a thread of dawn light suddenly appearing in endless darkness, like parched earth longing for sweet rain.

And since there was no longer any need to contend with the falling moon's might, the sky-collapsing momentum, Yorihime of the Cotton Moon on that side also took the opportunity to disperse the divine might surrounding her that was vast as the ocean.

However, just that brief moment of collision……

Still caused this Princess's condition to take a sharp turn for the worse.

When the vast divine might ceased to circulate, when the vast divine phantom also dissipated and concealed itself along with it, her whole person swayed on the verge of falling in the Void Point, almost losing her footing and plummeting.

But immediately, Princess Toyohime flashed over like a streak of flowing light, bringing Yorihime back.

The speed of the movement was such that the opening of the gap felt somewhat belated.

The pitch-black crack had only just torn open space on the spot, yet the person was no longer there.

"……"

"……"

The golden-haired Great Youkai in the distance pulled at the corner of her mouth, gently waved her folding fan, closing the gap she had just opened.

And this little interlude did not affect the tense confrontation on that side——

"Hehe, don't think the battlefield outside is just those rabbits restraining you……"

A light, cheerful laughter like silver bells came from the void, carrying a cunning, joking tone.

"They're merely a feint to make you lower your guard."

"After all, as long as you think they're not worth mentioning, you naturally won't spare extra thought to pay attention……"

"While everyone on this side did indeed give you trouble, that is the battlefield you truly need to devote your mind to……"

"Heihei——"

"That's how it is, the real killing move is actually launched by me!"

Before her voice fell, a fragrant wind suddenly brushed past, illusion technique flowers scattering and falling across the sky. Amidst this scattering flower rain, a figure seemed to slowly walk forth from a dream, quietly manifesting.

The white-haired girl stood suspended in the void, red pupils like blood, porcelain-white skin glowing faintly in the moonlight.

The corner of her lips curved slightly upward, tracing a captivating arc, her eyes brimming with a triumphant smile.

"Just you——?!"

The Moon King seemed enraged to the extreme, killing intent locking onto the other like a tide, divine might suddenly erupting.

She abruptly raised her hand, authority like ten thousand jun of thunder about to pour down——

However, the white-haired girl merely smiled faintly, slender fingers lifting lightly, the staff's tip suddenly blooming with dazzling light.

That instant, as if some signal had been triggered——

Above the Divine Realm's sky, the massive Giant Construct Device responded with a boom, a terrifying force field instantly collapsing, a dark blue light beam piercing through like heavenly punishment, precisely capturing the Moon King's divine body!

"Mmph…… what is this?!"

The Moon King's figure froze, her authority severed hard before it could be released.

She subconsciously tried to struggle, yet discovered she couldn't move even her fingertips a fraction, as if an ancient boundless heavy Divine Mountain had suddenly pressed upon her body.

That light beam was like invisible shackles, completely confining the Moon King in place.

"Gravity Particle Beam Lock…… should be this one, I don't understand it either."

Miss Merry said with a smile, waving her hand in the air a few times, as if browsing some page only she could see, the movement light and elegant.

Then, she gently shook her head, a troubled expression appearing on her face.

"Anyway it should be the Gravity Generation Device on the War Moon, I just took over and don't understand it too well, only responsible for issuing Mors Command, what Mors Function to use to suppress you is the Combat System's own judgment……"

"This is impossible!"

Like a cold voice from an ice cave, the deity sternly denied, that voice full of disbelief and resistance.

"What's impossible, my Permission is above yours!"

Miss Merry snorted twice: "I know, right now you are an existence akin to a Star Brain Body, even becoming the first UO in this world……"

"If it were still the original Moon, I might instead have no way to deal with you like this……"

"But the current Moon has already been remodeled into an entire Mechanical World……"

That's the logic of it.

What a UO is, Miss Merry knows all too well.

It is a Celestial Body's Executor, one of the Primordials on the corresponding star, an Aristoteles possessing the star's output and support.

No matter how you put it, they are extremely powerful and extreme existences.

They are monsters among monsters capable of exterminating all living beings in the world by their own power alone.

They are even existences that cannot be killed…… because UO has no concept of death. Or rather, the alien concept of death differs from Earth's concept of death.

And such an existence——

In the current world, naturally does not exist……

This world has its own operating rules, its own balance and order, its own unique Server Rules.

But helplessly, this deity of the Moon Capital accepted a gift from the Above. That mysterious power, like a Mors Sudden storm, changed her Fate/Trajectory.

Therefore, in this world, Tsukuyomi became the first UO.

And because she was originally an Ancient God, the transformation this brought was likely not as simple as one plus one equaling two.

As an ancient deity, she originally possessed deep foundations and powerful strength, and now she had fused with the qualities of a UO.

The two powers merged together, and the chemical reaction they produced was absolutely beyond imagination.

This story was more or less a little terrifying.

From Merry Miss's past cognition, UOs were not necessarily invincible, but she had never seen a UO defeated in an open, aboveboard, direct confrontation.

——Whether it was in the Steel Land's world line, where all UOs of the Solar System descended upon Earth and exchanged blows with Arihyaku-shu of the End of the Century, evenly matched……

——Or in the world line where Dead Apostle Strengthening occurred, the Vampire race moved toward ruling status, and the descended True Ancestor Princess was exterminated by Jewel Old Man……

Those seemingly impressive achievements were, without exception, all the same situation.

That was UOs descending upon Earth to fight away from home, far from their Headquarters, unable to receive much support from the Celestial Bodies behind them.

Anyway, Merry had never heard of any battle where someone stepped onto the domains of Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus and exterminated the corresponding UO.

And now……

They were going to confront the Moon King head-on on the Moon?

Ah haha. So, what kind of ghost story is this again?

To be honest, Merry Miss truly had no confidence, until she discovered that the Moon itself had been modified.

That was debatable.

If it hadn't been modified, a pure Celestial Body would be beyond her means to deal with.

But the interior of the modified Moon was a Mechanical Giant Construct Device, a collection of countless Nanomodules, Processor Arrays, and Artificial Intelligence.

For Merry, who had accessed the Pan-Galaxy Faster-Than-Light Communication Link and obtained high Permission, this was another matter entirely.

Simply put——

Electronic Warfare, virus programs, Spiritron Hacker tactics……and so on, these all suddenly became options of extremely high priority.

It was just that Merry Miss, as a highest-ranking Magician and a Mystery Side Professional Personnel, truly had no awareness in this area.

The Nanomodule she carried on her person had never been deployed, never proliferated, never increased in scale.

This greatly suppressed its Function.

This was very troublesome; high Permission could not withstand the drag of low performance, causing her to be delayed for quite a while when attempting to crack and seize the Core Control Hub of the Moon's core.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have almost failed to catch up.

But fortunately, the result was still smooth.

She seized the Permission of the War Moon, and also cut off the Connection between this Mechanical Celestial Body and the Moon King, heavily wounding the latter in one fell swoop.

「……」

「……」

The Moon King no longer spoke, a trace of ferocity appearing on her pale face.

In the Void, a faint rumbling sound came again.

Within the space surrounding the deity, even the baseline field seemed to be boiling; power like an abyss and sea raged violently in the gravity field, and every struggle triggered space distortion.

The gravitational lensing phenomenon rose and fell like ripples in the Divine Realm, even light being torn into shattered rainbows.

"Truly troublesome."

Merry Miss pouted her lips, raising her staff high: "Now——directly exterminate her!"

"Wait!"

However, Eirin Yagokoro stepped forward, her silver hair flying in the chaotic gravity flow.

"She seems to have recovered a considerable degree of emotion……perhaps, perhaps now we can negotiate……"

As if proving her words, the Moon King's figure suddenly froze.

——As if excruciating pain seeped from an invisible wound into the Divine Core, burning like fire to awaken the lingering warmth of sleeping human nature.

The deity looked down at her trembling fingers, feeling a strange heat spreading from her fingertips, a trace of near-painful confusion flashing in her eyes.

But the next second——

A more terrifying Divine Might burst forth, and the gravity beam suddenly dimmed.

The Moon King abruptly raised her head; all wavering receded like a tide, replaced by an indifference more piercing than extreme ice.

Divinity once again covered her face, her pupils holding only an inorganic-like ghostly light.

"Negotiate……ridiculous."

The deity's voice was like a cold abyss of billions of years: "How can ants be worthy of competing with the bright moon?"

The entire Divine Realm emitted a deafening wail.

"Fight fight——your trump cards are about to be revealed, if they don't work, I'll use the Star Annihilation Cannon."

The Flower Magician shouted.

At the same time, the Giant Construct Device in the sky above the Divine Realm also began to rumble.

That was the current Moon, thanks to the bestowed Function, so it existed both in the Physical Universe and appeared in this Divine Realm space.

But therefore it caused a phenomenon of spacetime nesting.

For example, the Divine Realm was above the Moon, and the Moon was within the Divine Realm.

"Fight!"

The Boundary Youkai was also extremely decisive; she did not want to fail at the last moment.

Therefore she did not consult Eirin Yagokoro's opinion, but directly pointed a finger, the action seeming casual, yet condensing her fully prepared Strike.

And also the strongest power of the Youkai Sage until now.

——The fluctuation of Realm Power blossomed!

——To thoroughly fuse the Existence Boundary of everyone, without distinction between Each Other!

By rights, it should be like this.

But at the critical moment, a figure flashed across the Battlefield like Crimson Lightning.

"Reimu?"

Someone Geng for a moment, recognizing that figure.

No...

Is the Hakurei Miko this Brave? Didn't see her fighting this desperately before, what is she after at a time like this?

Next Moment——

This question immediately received an Understanding.

Initially only a wisp of Rainbow Light, like dawn first blooming, yet in a flash it turned into a Dragon Shadow that Covered the Sky.

A piece of Scale Armor Appeared from nothingness, as large as Shan Yue...

Half a Dragon Claw pressed down virtually, the Trajectory traced by the claw tips actually causing space to crack layer by layer...

The Dragon Head remained hidden deep within the Cloud Vortex, only the hanging Whisker/Beard like Tian He pouring down...

——Roar!!

The Dragon Roar had not yet sounded, yet it was already Fluctuating in the depths of the Soul of all Living Beings.

That was not sound, but Spiritual Pressure directly branded on the Essence of Existence, making one instinctively Kneel.

(Chapter End)