[Location: The Golden House – Main Vault]
[Time: 8:30 PM]
The air was thick with the smell of ozone and wet cash. The clash of steel rang out as Aether parried a strike from Childe's hydro blades.
I leaned against a pile of Mora, watching with [Great Sage] active.
[Great Sage]
"Come on, Traveler! Is that all you've got?" Childe laughed, kicking Aether back. He spun his spear, water slashing through the air.
Aether was holding his own, but I could see the fatigue setting in. He wasn't used to fighting maniacs who treated deathmatches like foreplay.
"Left foot," I called out lazily.
Aether instinctively dodged left. Childe's arrow embedded itself exactly where Aether's head had been.
Childe glanced at me, annoyed. "Hey! No coaching from the sidelines! Why don't you join in, Dragon?"
"I'm letting the little brother have his turn," I grinned, though my eyes were tracking every muscle twitch. "Besides, you haven't put on your big boy mask yet."
Childe's expression darkened. He suddenly switched stances. Violet lightning crackled around him. The Delusion.
He zipped past Aether, a blur of purple light, heading straight for the Exuvia—the dragon corpse hanging in the center of the room.
"You're good, but I have a mission!"
His hand plunged into the chest of the Exuvia.
" The Gnosis is mine!"
Silence.
Childe froze. He rummaged around inside the dead dragon's chest cavity.
"Where...? It's... empty?"
He turned slowly, his face contorted in pure rage. He looked at Aether.
"You... You got here first? You took it?"
Aether shook his head. "I didn't touch it!"
"Don't lie to me!"
The air pressure in the room dropped. The floorboards began to crack.
"Uh oh," I stood up, dusting off my coat. "Here comes the tantrum."
Water and lightning spiraled around Childe. Gravity seemed to invert. His armor shifted, growing bulkier, sharper. A cape of starlight and void manifested. A single purple eye glowed in the center of a mask.
Foul Legacy: The Devouring Deep.
Aether braced himself. "Paimon, hide!"
Childe didn't speak. He just moved. A massive electro-lance materialized, thrusting down at Aether with enough force to shatter the building.
CLANG.
The impact shook the Golden House. Dust billowed everywhere.
But Aether wasn't crushed.
I was standing in front of him. I had caught the tip of the giant lance with one hand.
My skin had turned a deep, metallic blue—[Dragon Scales] mixed with [Steel Strength].
The ground beneath my feet had spiderwebbed into a crater, but I hadn't budged.
"Impressive," I snarled, feeling the weight. My arm muscles screamed, but they held. "That actually stung a little."
Childe's masked face tilted.
"I told you," I shoved the lance back, forcing the Harbinger to skid. "I like my food spicy. Aether, step back. This one is too heavy for you right now."
Aether hesitated, then nodded. "Be careful. His energy... it feels like the Abyss."
I cracked my neck. "I know. It smells delicious."
Childe roared—a distorted, metallic sound—and vanished.
He reappeared behind me. I spun, using [Magic Sense] to track the displacement of air.
My fist met his blade. BOOM.
We traded blows. He was faster, but I was heavier. Every time he cut me, [Dragon Scales] mitigated the damage, leaving only shallow scratches that healed instantly due to my high vitality.
Every time I hit him, he felt like he was being hit by a train.
Childe summoned his ultimate technique. The floor turned into a pool of water. A massive celestial whale—the Monoceros Caeli—breached from the depths of the floor, jaws wide open to swallow me whole.
"Raiden! Move!" Paimon shrieked.
"No," I smiled, unhinging my jaw slightly. "I'm not moving."
I activated [Predator].
A dark, purple-black aura erupted from my body, forming the shape of a spectral mouth behind me.
"GLUTTONY!"
As the massive hydro whale crashed down, I didn't dodge. I bit it.
Or rather, the spectral mouth did.
The energy clashed—Hydro/Abyss vs. Slime/Dragon Void.
The room shook violently. I felt a surge of raw power flooding my stomach.
[Great Sage]
The whale vanished, half-eaten.
I stood there, wiping water from my mouth. I burped. A small lightning bolt came out.
"Needs salt," I critiqued.
Childe landed on the other side of the room, panting heavily. His Foul Legacy form was flickering. He was exhausted.
He looked at me with genuine horror—and respect.
"You... You ate my technique?"
"I'm a growing boy," I shrugged. "Are we done? Because you're running out of juice, Harbinger."
Childe laughed, a wheezing, painful sound. He deactivated the transformation, falling to his knees, reverting to his normal form.
"Hah... Hah... You're a monster. A real monster. I didn't expect the Qixing to have a pet like you."
He looked up, a manic grin returning.
"But... I have a backup plan. If I can't take the Gnosis... I'll force the Archon to come out and save his city."
He pulled out several talismans. Sigils of Permission.
Hundreds of them. They swirled around him, glowing with ominous golden light.
"Wait," I realized what he was doing. "Stop!"
"Too late!" Childe shouted. "Awaken, Overlord of the Vortex! OSIAL!"
The Sigils disintegrated.
Outside, the sky turned black. The ground shook—not from an explosion, but from the ocean itself rising up.
Aether ran to the window. "Look at the sea!"
In the distance, massive pillars of water were rising. A hydra-like god, ancient and furious, was breaking the surface of the Guyun Stone Forest.
The roar of Osial echoed across the harbor, shattering windows miles away.
Childe stood up, shaky but triumphant.
"Have fun with that. I'm out of here."
He used the chaos to slip away into the shadows.
I stared at the rising god.
The sheer scale of it was terrifying. It was miles high.
[Great Sage]
I clenched my fists.
"Zero point zero one percent? I like those odds."
I turned to Aether.
"Get to the Jade Chamber. Tell Ningguang the party is starting. I'll... I need to go get my ride."
"Your ride?" Aether asked.
"Yeah," I smirked, though my heart was pounding. "I'm going to need something faster than legs to fight that thing."