Zhongli, standing to the side, looked at the farce unfolding before him, his eyes revealing a strange expression.
In his impression... was Liuyun really this kind of person?
Neither Cloud Retainer nor the other two, Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver, seemed like people who would do something like this.
"Mr. Zhongli."
The maid's voice came from beside him. "The time has come."
She kept her head lowered, not looking at Zhongli, nor at the many immortals fighting in the distance.
She appeared very respectful.
Zhongli opened his mouth and responded, and just as he was about to leave, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shake.
As if sensing something, he raised his head and looked into the distance.
He saw dark clouds covering the sky above the coast of Guyun Stone Forest, while several tentacles rose from the bottom of the sea and shot straight into the sky.
Roar!
The resentment that had accumulated after being trapped for a thousand years, along with this roar, reached Zhongli's ears.
Seeing Osial, the God of Vortexes, breaking free from the seal, Zhongli's first reaction was to look toward Levi and the others behind him.
He saw them turn toward Osial in perfect unison, while constantly exchanging glances.
Noticing Zhongli looking at them, they all withdrew their gazes at once, doing their best to act as though nothing had happened.
But they failed to realize that at a time like this, acting as though nothing had happened was even more suspicious than actually having done something.
"Who?"
"Him!"
"Her!"
Levi and Liuyun pointed at each other.
Looking at their perfectly coordinated movements, Zhongli couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.
The two discovered that the other was pointing at them, and immediately began a friendly exchange. Afterward, they reached a conclusion.
Half and half.
Levi suddenly thought of something. He pulled Liuyun around so that their backs were to the others and began whispering with her.
When the two turned back around, the hostility from just now was gone from their faces. They looked at Zhongli and said in unison, "The white-haired idiot did it."
The original plan had been to have Kiana release Osial so that the people of Liyue could see the power of a god, and then have Levi step in and deal with Osial.
Originally, Levi's idea had been to have Zhongli deal with Osial, allowing the people of Liyue to witness the strength of the "Little Lord of Geo."
That way, they would also feel more at ease entrusting Liyue to him.
But Liuyun had strongly opposed this. She said that as the strongest person in Liyue, the Lord of Geo couldn't just make a move whenever he wanted.
So the plan was changed to have Levi deal with Osial, and then show enough respect toward the "Little Lord of Geo" to hand the glory over to him.
If Zhongli ultimately refused to acknowledge it, then things would continue to develop this way.
But Zhongli admitted during this process that he himself was the Lord of Geo.
Then there was no need for such complicated steps to put the "Little Lord of Geo" in charge. Zhongli only needed to reveal his true identity.
Moreover, after Liuyun and the others learned of Zhongli's plan, they no longer intended to interfere with him.
So, strictly speaking, there was no need to release Osial at all now.
However, something had gone wrong on Levi's side, and he hadn't notified Kiana, who was supposed to release Osial, in time.
'So this is how things had turned out.'
Anyway, Kiana didn't know about this matter, and Zhongli probably wouldn't go looking for trouble either. If the blame could be dumped on her, then so be it.
Kiana: "?"
———
"Big sis, what exactly do you want me to do?!"
Tartaglia was about to break down during this period. This woman kept beating him while telling him to hurry up.
'Hurry up with what?!'
'Hurry up and do what?!'
'Hurry up and go die?!'
It didn't look like it, either. In the middle of the fight, she would even stop specifically to let him recover his stamina.
Besides, if she was trying to beat him to death, just one or two of those spears would have been enough to put him down.
Would she really need to beat him with her fists and feet while urging him to hurry up?
Kiana wiped the sweat from her forehead. Hearing Tartaglia's words, she froze for a moment. "Huh? I didn't say?"
Thinking carefully, an awkward expression appeared on her face.
"Sorry, forgot to tell you."
Looking at Kiana's awkward expression, Tartaglia took a long time before finally spitting out one word.
"Fuck. (A type of plant.)"
After telling him what she needed, Tartaglia immediately pulled out a pile of talismans and removed the seal beneath Guyun Stone Forest.
Watching his back as he fled like he was escaping, Kiana wore an expression that seemed to ask for praise and @'d Levi in the group chat.
"Done!"
[Levi: ...]
Seeing the string of ellipses he sent, Kiana thought something had gone wrong with the plan.
"Could it be because of me?"
Thinking back to what had just happened, Kiana felt another wave of embarrassment.
She had forgotten to tell him what she wanted him to do, yet had stood there beating him while urging him to hurry.
'So stupid.'
[It's fine.]
Levi replied in the group chat.
The reason he had sent the ellipses was mainly because seeing Kiana reminded him that he had just dumped the blame on her.
He felt a little guilty about it.
But when he looked up and saw Osial, he no longer felt guilty.
The big guy Kiana had released still needed him to deal with it in the end, didn't it?
She released it, and he dealt with it.
Even torrential rain fell from the sky. Hearing the roar coming from the distance, Zhongli looked solemnly toward the several tentacles in the distance.
Just as he was thinking of a way to deal with it, a wave of heat suddenly came from beside him.
Levi extended his hand from beneath the eaves, and a ball of flame shot from his palm into the sky.
The rainwater vanished, and the pitch-black clouds turned into fiery clouds.
Literally, clouds on fire.
The Qixing, along with everyone else present, noticed this scene.
Levi cupped his fists toward Zhongli and said solemnly, "By the decree of the Lord of Geo, I shall slay this enemy!"
He was prepared to follow the original plan.
That way, Liuyun would have no reason to keep making trouble for him.
Didn't they say he needed to do something?
He had done something too.
If those people still tried to pick a fight, whoever spoke first, he would hang himself at that person's doorstep.
A gentleman's word is his bond.
With a thought, his figure disappeared from where he stood. Liuyun and the others raised their heads and looked into the distance.
The dark clouds above Osial's head were also ignited by flames at this moment, turning into fiery clouds like those above Liyue Harbor.
"A mere god dares to run wild in Liyue."
Cold and devoid of emotion.
There was none of the passionate excitement one would expect. It was as if he were simply reciting a regulation.
"Within the territory of Liyue, gods are forbidden to enter."
Whoosh!
Even though Liyue Harbor was very far from Guyun Stone Forest, the people living there could still feel a wave of heat rushing toward them.
When the heat wave disappeared and they opened their eyes.
In the distance, above Guyun Stone Forest, something had appeared in the sky.
A sword made of flames.
It hung above Osial's head like the Sword of Damocles from mythology.
Using flames to kill the God of Vortexes looked almost like a joke.
In the understanding of ordinary people in Teyvat, Hydro was naturally able to restrain Pyro.
A small amount of Hydro could extinguish a large amount of Pyro.
That was what it meant to be countered.
Absolute suppression.
But today, they witnessed flames devouring the sea.
The power of the two was simply not on the same level.
Someone couldn't help turning around to look at the immortals standing beside the "Little Lord of Geo" who hadn't made a move.
Their expressions were calm, as if they had long since grown accustomed to such things.
'Could it be... that every one of these immortals possessed this kind of power?!'
"That guy really is powerful."
Celine sat at the highest point of Guyun Stone Forest, hugging the knee of one leg as she looked at the flames close at hand.
She raised her head and looked toward the clouds, where a figure could be vaguely seen.
[🎉 Shoutout to Pablo and Ferocious_Beast for joining p@treon. Consider joining to keep the stories going. Thank you very much.🤗]