Hearing this familiar term, Yuki's expression turned slightly dazed for a moment.
A duel before the throne—in the storyline of the game, this was the very rule the Traveler had used to challenge Signora to a decisive match. It was a duel of life and death, presided over and witnessed by a deity.
The victor would receive a reward, while the defeated would face divine punishment. In the game's plot, the Traveler had used this rule to have the Raiden Shogun deliver the Musou no Hitotachi, striking down Signora in a single blow.
And now, Varnava was invoking this same rule—likely hoping to find a sliver of survival in this desperate, dead-end situation. By initiating a duel before the throne, he was gambling on victory.
As long as he won, he would be entitled to a reward from the god. He could then demand that the Raiden Shogun release him. As for why he chose Yuki as his opponent, it was naturally because he wanted to seize this opportunity for revenge. If he could kill his opponent during the duel, not even the Shogun could say a word against it.
However, while his little scheme was certainly shrewd, it was ultimately doomed to fail.
Yuki looked at Varnava with a rather peculiar expression, thinking to himself: Just why is this man so hell-bent on courting death?
The same thought was mirrored by Ei and Yae Miko. Ei needed no explanation—she had personally witnessed Yuki's power.
Even the entire continent of Teyvat combined could not defeat him. Varnava's actions were no different than seeking death.
As for Yae Miko, though she had never seen Yuki's full strength firsthand, having experienced his silent, imperceptible power of restraint earlier and having heard Ei recount his deeds, she too had come to one conclusion.
Varnava was courting death. So many people to choose from, and he had to pick the strongest one—was he afraid he wouldn't die thoroughly enough or something?
The surrounding crowd, upon hearing the words "duel before the throne," all had their expressions shift. Their curses against Varnava grew even fiercer. They had never imagined the man would exploit a rule from their very own nation to wriggle out of his predicament.
If he were to win under the witness of their deity, then no matter how much evil he had committed, as long as he wished for his crimes to be absolved, not even the deity could hold it against him afterward.
"Damn it! To think a day would come when such a sacred rule as the duel before the throne would be exploited by a villain like this!"
"Infuriating! That sacred rule has been defiled by this man!"
"Not necessarily—there's still a way out! That young gentleman being challenged doesn't seem to be from Inazuma. According to the rules, he's not obligated to accept—there's no compulsion!"
The crowd buzzed with discussion, some even shouting for Yuki not to accept.
Meanwhile, Varnava smirked slyly at Yuki.
"So? Will you accept? Or are you afraid? Being afraid is fine too—just don't accept! But in front of so many people... where would your dignity go? After all, you're a friend of Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun, and yet so cowardly... tsk tsk tsk." Varnava didn't forget to goad Yuki, implicitly cornering him so that he couldn't refuse.
The crowd, upon hearing Varnava's utterly shameless provocation, erupted into righteous fury once more.
"What a truly shameless man!"
On the second floor of a tea house not far away, a man with golden hair and green eyes cursed with an indignant expression.
"My lady, do you think that gentleman will accept?" He turned his gaze to the person beside him—a young lady with silver hair and sapphire-blue eyes, graceful and radiant, exuding the air of a refined noblewoman.
This young lady's long, snowy-white hair was tied up into a high ponytail, with a hair ornament resembling a samurai helmet atop it. She wore a gradient-blue haori and a deep navy pleated skirt, patterned with falling cherry blossoms and flowing streams.
Her chest and abdomen were wrapped in a black chest guard, with attached fauld plates covering the sides of her skirt, the armor bearing the camellia crest of the Kamisato Clan. She was not very old, probably around seventeen or eighteen, right in the bloom of her youth.
Her name was Kamisato Ayaka, the young lady of the Kamisato Clan, one of the Three Commissions of Inazuma serving as the Yashiro Commission. Kind-hearted and benevolent by nature, she possessed a heart as pure and beautiful as flawless crystal.
Exceptionally intelligent, she had always been the child others were compared to since childhood, drawing much attention and admiration.
When asked by the retainer beside her, Ayaka fell into thought. From the moment Yuki had appeared, her beautiful eyes had never once strayed from him.
Even now, as Varnava issued a duel to Yuki, she couldn't help but feel a knot of worry tighten in her chest for him. Yet seeing that Yuki still remained as utterly calm and unruffled as ever, for some reason, the worry in her heart eased considerably.
"I don't know, Thoma. But I can say for certain—he wouldn't do something he isn't confident about." Her voice was light and airy, like a spring breeze gently drifting past the ears of everyone on the second floor.
And just as her words faded, Yuki down in the plaza spoke up.
"Since you're so determined to die, how could I not oblige you? I accept."
With his acceptance, the terms of the duel before the throne were now set under the witness of all present. Seeing Yuki agree, Varnava inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He had actually been genuinely worried that Yuki might refuse. But now that the other party had agreed, he could rest easy.
"The contract is established. Now, move to Tenshukaku to conduct the duel." Seeing Yuki's acceptance, Ei declared the duel officially formed.
The surrounding crowd looked toward Yuki with regret and sympathy. They had yet to witness his true strength. While he possessed that miraculous ability to extract memories, that didn't necessarily mean his combat prowess was formidable.
As for Varnava, there was no need to elaborate—the Fatui were renowned as the strongest fighting force in all of Snezhnaya.
"There's no need to go to Tenshukaku. Let's do it right here," Yuki stopped the decision to move the duel and proposed holding it on the spot instead. "With so many people here to bear witness, it'll spare any future misunderstandings that you and I have some kind of connection, or that you might be showing favoritism."
Varnava found the suggestion inconsequential, so he agreed.
And so, very quickly, the duel was set to take place right there in the plaza. The crowd swiftly cleared a large open space.
Facing Yuki, Varnava carefully probed him and found not a trace of elemental power emanating from the man. Adding to that his earlier observations—he had seen no Vision on Yuki either. This was one of the primary reasons Varnava had chosen to challenge him.
"Boy, I don't know how you managed to extract those memories... But you have no elemental power whatsoever, and no Vision! So you are destined to be annihilated by me! Now have a good taste of hellfire!!!"
The moment his words fell, raging flames erupted all over Varnava's body. He was utterly engulfed in fire, transforming into a blazing figure of pure incandescence.
He pushed the elemental power of fire within him to its absolute limit, streaks of fiery lines appearing across his body, interweaving and shimmering with the color of the flames.
Boom—!!!
In his hands, the raging fire condensed, gradually forming an enormous, scorching fireball. He raised his hand lightly, aimed at Yuki, and hurled the fireball with tremendous force.
The colossal fireball radiated blistering heat; the very air around it was scorched and searing, as if it intended to devour everything in its path. It streaked forth like a crimson meteor, bearing down on Yuki with devastating, destructive power.
Faced with such an attack, Yuki remained utterly unhurried, still wearing that calm, unruffled expression. He gently raised his hand, extending a single finger. Without any haste, as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the surface of water, he gave the fireball a mere tap.
The fireball, which moments ago seemed capable of incinerating all creation, instantly deflated like a punctured balloon and dispersed into a wisp of smoke, vanishing from the world.