Tartaglia's face twitched almost imperceptibly as he saw Mu Qingge blocking his path.
"What an unexpected turn of events," he remarked. "I never imagined I'd encounter the renowned Kaiyang here."
Tartaglia was deeply puzzled. At this hour, shouldn't the Qixing be confronting the Adepti? What was she doing here?
Though his mind raced with questions, he knew this wasn't the time to dwell on them.
He understood that this confrontation wouldn't be easily resolved. Based on his knowledge of Mu Qingge, a fierce battle was imminent.
"One trouble after another," Tartaglia sighed. "I really don't want to fight you here. Osial is about to emerge, and as one of the Qixing, your absence would be rather problematic, wouldn't it?"
Mu Qingge's expression turned grave. "So, you were responsible for that commotion just now?"
Tartaglia spread his hands in a gesture of mock helplessness. "As the Eleventh Harbinger of Snezhnaya, I must carry out the Tsaritsa's will. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to stand against you. After all, we're friends, aren't we?"
Mu Qingge summoned the Vortex Vanquisher into her hand. "We can discuss this later. You have plenty of time."
"Trespassing into the Golden House, attacking the Millelith, disrespecting the Exuvia, attempting to seize the Gnosis, and ultimately releasing the slumbering God from Guyun Stone Forest... Each of these crimes warrants chains and shackles."
With a thud, the Vortex Vanquisher slammed into the ground.
Mu Qingge's voice, filled with authority and absolute dominance, rang out:
"I will bring you to justice!"
As Mu Qingge spoke, her aura blazed under the backdrop of Geo Elemental Power.
Guojia was utterly stunned by this sudden close-up of Mu Qingge's overwhelming charisma. Exclamations of awe erupted from her lips.
The live stream chat exploded into a frenzy:
[Sister, step on me!!!]
So cool! So cool! So cool!]
[This music gives me goosebumps!]
[PLEASE make this character playable!]
[Tartaglia, you're in danger!]
Just as Guojia was jumping up and down in excitement, the screen flashed briefly, then immediately transitioned into an animated cutscene.
"Woohoo! It's the animation! Beautiful work, Mihoyo!"
As the animation began, Mu Qingge and Tartaglia lunged at each other from opposite sides, colliding in a blinding flash.
The force of the impact sent Tartaglia flying backward. He landed quickly and activated his Foul Legacy Transformation, his body crackling with Electro energy as he charged back into battle against Mu Qingge.
The battle unfolded on an epic scale, the shockwaves shattering surrounding rocks and toppling trees.
Both combatants wielded spears, their fluid transitions between offense and defense creating a mesmerizing display of skill.
[Is this the power of an ordinary Vision holder? It's way too OP! How can they cause such massive destruction?!]
[Ordinary? You clearly don't know what "ordinary" means! One's a Fatui Harbinger, the other's a Qixing member—how could they possibly be ordinary?!]
[Childe's clearly being outmatched. His Elemental Power is no match for hers, and his technique seems lacking too. He's been steadily pushed back.]
[Lady Mu is so badass! Aaaaaah!]
-
Teyvat.
The brief clash ended with Mu Qingge's victory.
This outcome was hardly surprising. Even without considering that Tartaglia had never stood a chance against her in the first place, he was still nursing injuries from his recent battle with Lumine. The side effects of his Foul Legacy Transformation were also kicking in; it was remarkable he'd lasted this long.
Cough... cough...
Lying defeated on the ground, blood trickled from the corner of Tartaglia's mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.
Hah...
So I lost again?!
I... still need to become stronger!
Mu Qingge glanced away, concealing a flicker of reluctance. After all, as Angie, Tartaglia was her own brother.
As Tartaglia struggled to rise, Mu Qingge prepared to deliver the final blow, intending to knock him unconscious and take him back.
Suddenly, disaster struck.
A whistling sound tore through the air behind her. Mu Qingge swiftly dodged aside as an ice spike grazed her cheek, leaving a thin, bloody line.
Mu Qingge gently traced the blood mark with her slender index finger. The air pressure around her plummeted.
The live stream viewers erupted in fury at the sight.
[Aaaaah! No! How dare they mar my waifu Mu's divine beauty?!]
[Another strong opponent?!]
[Where are the Liyueans? Are they just going to let Qingge handle this alone? What about the Traveler?]
[Liyue is in complete chaos right now. The Qixing are at odds with the Adepti, and now a God has emerged.]
Seeing the familiar attack patterns and Elemental Power, Tartaglia, who lay collapsed on the ground, immediately recognized the newcomer. Overjoyed, he exclaimed, "Angie!"
Mu Qingge frowned and turned around, the players' perspective shifting with her.
When they saw the same familiar figure from beneath the Dragonspine mountains, the players went wild again.
[Holy shit! It's her!]
[That's definitely the Harbinger! She's gotta be the Harbinger!]
[Ahhh, so her name is Angie? Noooo, I don't want my favorite character to fight!]
[Heh heh heh, now the people in the comments finally understand how I felt just now, as both a Childe simp and a Mu Qingge simp!]
[Mu, my waifu, run! Two-on-one is too much of a disadvantage!]
Outside the Golden House:
Mu Qingge glared coldly at the young woman standing a short distance away.
"After chasing you for so long, you finally show yourself."
Angie remained silent, her silver mask concealing her expression.
After a brief glance at Tartaglia, who lay collapsed and bleeding behind Mu Qingge, Angie finally focused her gaze on her opponent.
"You did this?"
"He deserved it."
Angie said nothing, merely staring at Mu Qingge. Mu Qingge remained silent, her grip tightening on her spear.
Sensing the increasingly tense atmosphere, Tartaglia forced himself to his feet.
"Lady Mu, Little Sister, please! Don't fight!"
Tartaglia was beginning to panic. Even when Mu Qingge had nearly arrested him moments earlier, he hadn't felt this desperate.
He knew Mu Qingge's character well, and he knew his sister's even better. If these two clashed, one of them would inevitably be injured—possibly severely!
And he couldn't bear to see either of them hurt.
Angie needed no explanation—she was his own sister! As a textbook siscon, Tartaglia couldn't bear the thought of her being harmed.
As for Mu Qingge...
Tartaglia's feelings toward her were complicated. Objectively, none of her actions had been wrong. Though they belonged to opposing factions, he still couldn't bear to see her injured.
Perhaps after so many battles together, they had developed a mutual respect and understanding between warriors.
"Shut up!" x2
Mu Qingge and Angie roared at Tartaglia almost simultaneously, then exchanged speechless glances.
Damn it! Two alter egos together and I still messed up the controls!
It wasn't entirely unexpected, though.
No, I have to train harder when I get back. I can't afford to make mistakes like this again!
To ease the awkwardness, the two unleashed their killing moves, attacking each other with relentless ferocity, showing none of the restraint they had shown against Tartaglia earlier.
Tartaglia's eyes widened in shock as he reached out to intervene, but the shockwave from Mu Qingge and Angie's clash knocked him unconscious.
Tartaglia: "..."
-
Live Stream
[Little Sister?! That person is Childe's sister?!]
[Wait, Mu Qingge and Angie are meeting for the first time, right? Why do they seem to hate each other so much?!]
[Duh! How many ordinary people in Liyue could die because of Tartaglia's God-unleashing scheme? Of course Mu Qingge would resent Angie, who's probably Tartaglia's sister and just attacked her. As for Angie's feelings toward My waifu Mu... well, after seeing her brother beaten like that, naturally she'd be furious.]
[Whatever happens to others, please don't let anything happen to My waifu Mu!]
[Hmph! In my opinion, neither Childe nor Angie are good people. Qingge has done the right thing from the start, and this is part of her duty as one of the Qixing!]
Regardless of their backgrounds, every viewer was on the edge of their seat, eager to see the outcome of the battle.
But as soon as Tartaglia was knocked unconscious, the screen abruptly went black, shifting the audience's perspective to Lumine and Paimon's location.
Viewers: What the fuck...?