Flandre didn't feel a single bit of sadness or disappointment about losing the high-altitude match to her older sister. Seeing Remilia glide gracefully down through the air with a thoroughly triumphant smile, Flandre flew straight over to her like a tiny rocket and wrapped both of her arms around her waist in a big, incredibly affectionate hug.
"Big sister is so completely amazing!"
"Hmph, Flandre was quite good too, you were honestly just a tiny bit behind my level!" Remilia spoke in her usual casual, aristocratic tone.
But in structural reality, she was secretly completely covered in a thin layer of cold sweat beneath her formal vestments. Her slender shoulders were trembling slightly; she had almost entirely slipped up and lost control of the trajectory just now. If Flandre had possessed the stubborn patience to persist in her high-output barrage for just a few seconds longer, Remilia simply wouldn't have been able to physically hold her own line. Fortunately, the younger girl had chosen to playfully concede the match before she did, allowing her to successfully and flawlessly maintain her structural dignity as the head of the house.
"You two sisters really are quite something, playing so incredibly hard and pushing your energy to the limit for just a casual game," Patchouli Knowledge said in a thoroughly helpless tone, drifting downward beside the pair while clutching her heavy grimoire to her chest.
If one were to honestly ask who among every single person present in the military training ground had felt the most immense psychological pressure during the duel... it would definitely be her. After all, when those two were competing fiercely and wildly saturating the atmosphere just now, they didn't show a single ounce of consideration for her—the designated referee who also held the mandatory responsibility of maintaining a massive protective barrier to shield the vulnerable human soldiers below from stray explosions.
"I am truly sorry about that, thanks for the hard work, Patchy," Remilia offered. She knew exactly how intensely she and her sister had played, so she apologized quite straightforwardly without her usual haughtiness.
"Sigh, forget about it. That is exactly what close friends are for, after all." Patchouli glanced helplessly at Remilia, who was already back to doting on Flandre, and then the three powerful entities flew down to the grass together.
"How exactly was it? That is exactly what a true Danmaku game is like—it is a whole lot of fun, isn't it!" Flandre spoke up enthusiastically the exact second her boots touched the ground, her ruby eyes sparkling as she looked at the audience.
Hearing her cheerful words, the surrounding commanders and soldiers of the Reunion Movement fell into a profound, complicated silence.
If their organization currently possessed even two native tactical Casters who could achieve a mere fraction of what these two sisters had done in the clouds, they wouldn't have to endure such political grievances and logistical blockades from the neighboring empires; they would have long since marched across the border and violently crushed the heads of the Ursus Old Nobility.
But then again...
While they didn't possess anyone capable of such strategic feats before this day, that absolute reality might completely change in the near future. After all, according to what the scholars of Gensokyo had explicitly stated, both Yelena and Alina now possessed the underlying potential to eventually reach this exact operational level of power. So, as long as the organization patiently waited for the two women to fully "develop" and master their restructured bloodlines, the Reunion Movement would officially possess its own top-tier strategic weapons of mass destruction.
As for the present moment...
Everyone looked at Flandre's lively group and couldn't help but let out a massive, simultaneous sigh of relief that these terrifying entities were their genuine friends. Moreover, the upper echelon of the Reunion Movement had treated Flandre with absolute kindness and provided her with endless sweets since their very first meeting, which had luckily stabilized their structural relationship before any other global faction could intervene.
While the leaders were chatting comfortably on the field, several distinct, colorful streaks of light suddenly flew in at high speed from the southern sky. Leading the airborne procession was the self-proclaimed strongest, chaos-loving Ice Fairy, Cirno.
"Wah! Why exactly didn't you include me in the grand Danmaku battle! I am indisputably the absolute strongest one here!"
Long before her small physical form had even arrived at the arena, Cirno's shrill, boastful voice reached everyone's ears.
The gathered soldiers looked up curiously at the small group of mischievous nature fairies flying over in a chaotic cluster.
"Why exactly did you all come running over to the training grounds?" Remilia asked, tilting her head.
Cirno landed with a soft stomp, pointing her small finger dramatically toward the upper atmosphere. "You two were playing so incredibly boisterously up there, how could we possibly not see the explosions from the southern sectors! I don't care about anything else, I want to play a round too!"
Following her loud declaration, the other nature fairies who had tagged along also began chirping in unison, loudly expressing their intense desire to participate in a massive magical game.
...
"Fine, fine. But since there are currently so many people gathered here who wish to fight, how about we utilize a KOF-style team elimination system!"
Seeing that the hyperactive fairies looked as though they would cause an unmanageable amount of property damage and endless trouble if they weren't allowed to play, Remilia knew her ears would be noisily pestered to death by tonight if she didn't let them have their fill of combat. The key factor was that these nature entities were all inherently packed with an incredible amount of restless energy, so it was always best to let them frolic in the sky until they were completely satisfied; that way, it would be much quieter for everyone else in the city.
After stating the parameters of the tournament, she turned her crimson gaze toward Yelena.
"It just so happens that Cirno is also an ice-type elemental fairy; Ms. Yelena, you can closely observe her movements during the match to use as an absolute reference for your own output. Sakuya, go ask Lady Eirin and the rest of the bamboo forest group if they are interested in participating in the brackets."
Cirno flew over on her icy wings, circling around Yelena's restructured form a few times before saying very smugly with her hands on her hips, "Hmph, I remember you! To save your life from the brink of death, I personally... ahem!"
She suddenly remembered the terrifying moment she had been scared to actual tears by Eirin Yagokoro's medical threats during the preparation phase, and her tongue instantly got completely tied in her mouth from residual fear.
"Forget about all of that, just watch my movements closely! I, Cirno, am the absolute strongest!" With that hasty recovery, she turned on her heel and ran back to aggressively organize her own squad.
After a massive bout of high-pitched chirping, arguing, and noisy chatter, the fairy faction finally managed to select their three official representatives.
The roster was assigned as follows: Vanguard, [The Bright Burning Sun] Sunny Milk; Mid-guard, [Youkai of the Dusk] Rumia; and Captain, [The Idiot of the Lake] Cirno. Of course, no one dared to ask why a literal dark Youkai had been seamlessly mixed into a team of light and ice fairies.
After the fairies successfully finalized their choices, the Scarlet Devil Mansion delegation met up with the newly arrived Eientei trio near the referee stand.
Eirin Yagokoro naturally possessed absolutely zero interest in casually bullying low-level nature fairies, and Inaba Tewi also shook her head with a mischievous grin. After all, despite Tewi being roughly about the same physical height as an average fairy, she was countless generations senior to them in terms of actual age and status. Fighting with fairies for her would be equivalent to an ancient grandmother aggressively hitting her own toddler grandson; whether she won or lost the match, she would be relentlessly mocked by the others in the end.
As for the lunar defense veteran Reisen Udongein Inaba, she originally wasn't interested in this kind of playful battle either. But unfortunately for her schedule, she was the individual who possessed the absolute lowest administrative status among the three residents of Eientei. Since the first two senior figures were entirely uninterested, and since one person from the Eientei trio absolutely had to participate to fill out the program, she was the only one who could take the field.
As for the remaining slots, Remilia naturally had no interest in bullying children either. However, on her side of the mansion, besides Flandre—who was also a permanent, high-energy troublemaker—no one else was volunteering. Since Eientei had graciously provided one person for the joint team, her side had to provide the remaining warrior to complete the bracket.
After pondering the logistics for a brief moment, Remilia turned around and said, "Sakuya, you go ahead and take the spot!"
"Understood, Milady," Sakuya Izayoi replied expressionlessly with a perfect bow.
With that final assignment, the elite trio for the challenger side was formally locked in: Vanguard, [The Lunatic Moon Rabbit] Reisen Udongein Inaba; Mid-guard, [The Perfect and Elegant Maid] Sakuya Izayoi; and Captain, the hyperactive [Sister of the Devil] Flandre.
The Head Referee for the entire tournament would be handled by Eirin Yagokoro. As for Patchouli, she had slightly overexerted her fragile lungs maintaining the previous high-density barrier and was currently resting comfortably on a folding chair beside Remilia.
Once the formal countdown concluded and the match officially began, the sky above the training fields once again violently exploded with massive, interlocking clusters of brilliant, multi-colored Magic Bullets.
"By the way, with the situation being so incredibly lively and bright up in the sky, aren't you the least bit worried about our movements being actively spotted by outside scouts?"
Hong Meiling popped her head out with a happy, relaxed face after seeing that she hadn't been picked to fill a roster spot. Looking up at the massive clusters of Danmaku chain-reacting across the clouds, she made the casual remark to the leaders.
"It is entirely fine. I have already proactively made the necessary administrative arrangements and instructed the civil guards to tell the entire population that these lights are merely a scheduled celebratory fireworks display, so it won't cause any unnecessary internal panic among the citizens," Talulah spoke up, her voice steady and calculating. "As for those external entities watching us from outside the borders... it is actually infinitely better if they see every single bit of it. If this display can successfully intimidate them and grant the Reunion Movement more valuable time to develop our infrastructure, then it would be an exceptionally good thing."
Talulah had already begun making these tactical arrangements the exact second the initial match had kicked off. After all, with a grand, luminous scene like this occurring in the open sky, the magical light could likely be seen clearly for dozens of miles across the flat plains.
Countless spy networks and hidden eyes across Terra were constantly watching the rapid growth of the Reunion Movement; since they couldn't physically hide such an immense phenomenon anyway, they might as well lean into it and make an even grander, more terrifying scene out of the game. As long as the display made those foreign factions with ulterior motives hesitate to launch a winter invasion, the tournament could be considered an absolute strategic success.
Talulah's defensive plan was an elegant, open scheme, and detailed news regarding the earth-shattering magical vibrations of that night quickly spread like wildfire to the surrounding nomadic territories.
The local governors of the Ursus Old Nobility found their faces turning completely green with anxiety the exact second they received the official intelligence reports on their desks.
How on earth were there more and more hidden, unregistered military experts continuously emerging from within the ranks of the Reunion Movement?
Regarding these flying "monsters" who could casually hover in the stratosphere and utilize high-speed Magic Bullets to completely carpet-bomb an entire geographic area without relying on Originium engines, every single major global faction's immediate first thought was whether these entities could somehow be bribed or recruited to their own cause. They immediately dispatched dozens of covert agents and diplomatic envoys toward the northern borders to try and pinpoint the exact location of Flandre's group.
But by the time these frantic imperial agents finally managed to infiltrate the sector, except for the low-level nature fairies who loved the local forests, Flandre and the rest of the core mansion members had already left the immediate territory of the Reunion Movement to tour other scenic places.
As for the eccentric nature fairies who chose to happily stay behind in the city, they fundamentally couldn't be swayed by political threats or material bribes in the slightest, as the mundane wealth, gold, and legal papers of ordinary mortal humans meant absolutely nothing to their primordial minds.