In human form, the Wrathbeast Peacock was a tall man. Not exactly ugly, just nowhere near Yae Miko's taste.
Still, being mocked so openly would rile anyone.
"You're courting death," he snarled.
His figure blurred.
Feathers burst from his back in a glittering storm, all of them streaking toward the fox who had insulted him.
Like before, the barrage did nothing.
But the Peacock's body had already vanished from sight and reappeared behind Yae. Both fists glowed with cold blue light as they hammered down.
Crack.
Lightning flashed.
Yae's body shattered like a mirage and vanished.
The Peacock jerked as electricity tore through him, leaving his thoughts spinning.
"Pff—hahaha. How stupid can you be? Are you sure you're a demon?" Yae's bell‑bright laughter floated through the trees. "What have you even been doing all these years?"
Pale light gathered between the Peacock's fingers, cold and sharp.
"Woman… you've really annoyed me," he hissed. "I was going to work with you. Kill that human first. But that's impossible now."
"Work with me?" Yae shook her head. "You really overestimate yourself. A face that makes me lose my appetite, and you think we're partners?
"Be good and become my material instead. Those feathers aren't bad. I can turn you into a fan… and give Huaying something to do."
That five‑poison little beast was obedient and capable. A feather fan would give it a nice side project—and give her something to wave when she was bored.
Decision made.
The Peacock's eyes went icy, light welling up from under his skin.
He vanished.
Wind screamed through the forest.
"Attacks like yours? I could dodge them with my eyes closed," Yae said lightly.
As the power closed in, she slowly shut her eyes.
A small tilt of her head—and the Peacock's full‑force strike cut through empty air.
His pupils shrank.
He didn't dare stop.
His hands blurred into a dense haze as he unleashed a flurry of blows, trying to blanket Yae completely.
He only needed one hit.
Just one clean impact would be enough.
But the longer he fought, the more fear crept in.
He had raised his speed to its absolute limit.
He still couldn't touch so much as a single hair.
It felt as if every move he made, every opening he tried to exploit, had already been read.
Even facing a qilin, he had never felt this.
After a thousand useless strikes, he finally broke off and retreated.
Hovering in the air, he panted for breath, eyes full of stark dread.
For a moment, he actually considered fleeing.
"Are you… afraid?" Yae opened her eyes and looked up at him, calm and cool.
That indifferent gaze made his heart lurch.
He was one of the three great beasts of the Mist Mountain.
And here he was, shaken by a fox.
Impossible.
Even if it killed him, he could not admit defeat.
"I admit you're strong," he shouted. "But I have my pride. Try this, fox demon. This is my life's greatest technique!"
He threw back his head and roared.
Then he shot up into the sky.
The falling thunder‑rain seemed to freeze in place.
Ice‑blue feathers poured from his body in an endless stream, piece after piece, until they blotted out the heavens.
…
In the mission chat:
Hu Tao: "Damn, this Peacock's pretty tough. Lasting this long without Haki… that's not bad at all."
Beidou: "Mm. Su Han's assessment was right. Strong—but that's about it."
Those at the very bottom of the group, even with Haki, wouldn't be able to trade blows with him.
Their basic stats were just too low.
For mid‑tier members, though, this wasn't much.
In Beidou's eyes, even Kaedehara Kazuha could handle this "birdman."
Mona: "I really need to work on my speed. Every time it comes down to close combat, I just… ugh."
She could kill something like this.
But the idea of letting an enemy get in her face always twisted her stomach.
Keqing: "You can't keep going like that. Why don't you train with me? We can study some new techniques.
"I think you should develop something that both attacks and defends. Then you won't have to fear close‑range fighters."
Mona: "Mm… you have a point. I need to pay more attention to this. Especially how it meshes with Hydro."
Her raw strength wasn't weak.
Ever since she created the Hard Vortex Water Blade, her power had leapt up a tier.
But her inability to handle rush‑downs was a glaring blind spot.
Unless she could devise a move that made close combat meaningless.
Su Han: "You might be looking at it the wrong way. Instead of countering close‑range, focus on building a battlefield that suits you.
"You're a caster, not a brawler. Why are you trying to trade punches?
"A spellcaster's advantage is in constantly shaping the terrain with magic—making it impossible for enemies to get close. That's your essence."
Lisa: "Exactly. I thought about telling you this before.
"In our witch system, 'controlling the heavens' comes built‑in. Close combat isn't something we worry about much.
"I flood everything with a sea of lightning. Rosalyne turns the ground into hellfire. Either way, good luck closing in."
Mona: "…Got it. So that's what I've been missing."
With their nudging, Mona finally saw her path clearly.
This was the piece she'd lacked all along.
Beidou: "Enemy's about to go all‑in. My guess? This'll be his swan song."
Sucrose: "Here comes the good part!"
…
All eyes went back to the projected scene.
The sky was choked with feathers now.
The Peacock's roar shook the air. "Fox! Take my strongest strike!"
Every feather flared crimson.
It was a technique that muddled the mind, dragging an opponent's consciousness into confusion before the killing blow.
Above, the Peacock watched Yae's pupils glaze over for a heartbeat.
There.
"Now," he thought.
The feathers contracted, fusing into a single, massive red spear that plunged toward the fox below.
Boom.
The mountains shuddered.
Even the fire‑walker watching from the side flinched. "What the hell was that…?"
It had only been one strike.
But the power behind it was monstrous.
He knew that if he were the target, he would have to exhaust every ounce of strength he had just to break it.
He could only wonder what had happened to that terrifying fox.
Up above, the Peacock's expression twisted.
As the smoke cleared, the fire‑walker finally saw—and froze.
"This… this can't be."
Six colossal tails rose over Yae's head.
Every last bit of that terrifying attack had been stopped cold by fox tails alone.
"N‑no… impossible!" the Peacock screamed. "My power… there's no way it's only this much. Open!"
He tried to force more power out, to crush the barrier by sheer will.
But Yae was already bored.
Three of her tails unfurled, dancing through the air. They layered over each other and smacked down on the spear of fused feathers, shattering it to dust.
With his ultimate broken, the Peacock staggered in midair, body wavering.
Yae watched his state and shook her head. "Your power's too poor. I doubt your flesh has much value either. How disappointing.
"Still, since I'm here, I'll let you see what power really is.
"Hey, birdman. Watch closely. This is what a demon's strength looks like.
"Look up. Otherwise you won't even know how you died."
At her words, the Peacock finally noticed how bright the sky had become.
He raised his eyes.
A snarling beast of thunder loomed above him, staring him down.
The thunderclouds had knit themselves into a monster.
"T‑that's…"
"This is my first time using this technique," Yae said. "Its name is Kirin.
"But we don't have such a sacred beast in Inazuma, so I've given it another name.
"Tengu."
In the dark clouds, a titan of lightning took shape, a massive thunder‑tengu glaring at the Peacock.
It was the move Su Han had once described to her—Sasuke's original technique, harnessing the power of the storm itself for a single killing blow.
Tonight, this mission world just happened to be wrapped in a thunderstorm.
Yae had decided to try it.
She hadn't expected it to work on the first attempt.
It wasn't easy. She'd needed time to charge it and seize control of the sky. That was why, from the start, she'd focused on dodging, hardly attacking at all.
Only now, with the technique complete, did she move.
Staring up at the thunder‑tengu, easily a thousand meters tall, the Peacock began to laugh, half‑mad.
"So that's it… The gap between us is that big.
"To die under a move like this… I suppose I can be satisfied."
Yae flicked the Kagura bells.
The tengu roared.
"Raaah!"
An ocean of lightning crashed down on the Peacock.
There was no room to dodge.
The demon never even had time to scream.
The thunder swallowed him whole.
A mountain vanished.
Where it had stood, a vast crater smoked in the rain. At the bottom, the charred outline of a giant bird lay crumpled, limbs splayed.
Yae glanced down once and sighed. "Only this much meat? Not even enough to get stuck between my teeth. What a letdown. All told, maybe five hundred jin at best.
"Hardly worth the trouble."
Measured against the fire qilin and the flood dragon from before, this Wrathbeast Peacock simply didn't compare.
Pluck all the feathers and she'd be lucky to get two hundred jin out of it.