Childe, the eleventh and last of the Fatui Harbingers, was a pure warrior.
He enjoyed the feeling of fighting others. Only in battles against powerful foes could he constantly grow and become stronger.
In the past, when facing powerful opponents, he was always very excited, because after such battles, he would surely improve and become stronger.
But this time was a little different; this enemy was too strong. Such a slender body could so easily wield a great scythe larger than her own body.
Her movements were incredibly agile, and her strength was astonishing. At least, his strength couldn't match hers. Every time he grappled with her, he couldn't last more than a few seconds and would immediately be powerfully sent flying.
Unlike him, who fought through gritted teeth, she maintained a cold demeanor throughout, swinging her scythe with an unhurried grace.
She wasn't fighting him seriously at all! No... he simply wasn't worthy of her fighting seriously!
He was genuinely very angry, but after the anger came deep helplessness, because he understood that the reason she acted this way was because he was too weak, so weak that she didn't even want to fight seriously.
"Very good, but that's all there is to it."
After sending Childe flying again in a grapple, Durandal slowly approached him, who was half-kneeling on the ground, holding her great scythe.
"I promised the Geo Archon that I would not lay hands on the Fatui in Liyue Harbor. But this is not Liyue Harbor; it is outside the scope of the contract. Moreover, this is a secret base chosen by you Fatui; ordinary people do not know about it. So no matter what happens here, no one will know."
Childe's pupils contracted. He suddenly rolled to the side, dodging the great scythe's long-range attack.
Conjuring a Hydro Element spear, Childe once again closed in on Durandal to engage in close combat, but no matter how skilled he was in battle, or how he conjured various weapons with the Hydro Element to fight Durandal, he couldn't break the current stalemate.
Clang!
The great scythe swung upwards fiercely, directly shattering the Hydro Element weapon in Childe's hand.
Before Childe could adjust his stance, Durandal appeared before him and placed her hand on his chest.
"Oh no!"
Childe's eyes widened. An ominous premonition spread throughout his body. The intuition he had cultivated through countless battles kept warning him that he absolutely could not be hit by this move.
But Durandal wouldn't give him a chance to react. Childe only heard a cold voice.
"I'm a little tired of this."
The next moment, a massive impact erupted from Durandal's hand, hitting Childe hard in the chest, sending him flying dozens of meters and dragging him a long distance on the ground.
As a warrior, he should have adjusted his body before landing, but the internal pain made it impossible for him to breathe, and his body could barely stand.
So strong, indeed so strong. A slightly serious attack almost made him lose his fighting capability. If she fought seriously, he would probably be defeated instantly.
There was nothing he could do. Childe pondered for a long time but couldn't think of any way to counter Durandal.
Seeing her already approaching him, Childe's mouth suddenly curved into a smile, and he roared.
"Foul Legacy!"
With the Delusion's power fully unleashed, Childe's entire body was enveloped in purple lightning. Immediately after, a set of black armor interspersed with purple covered his entire body, and the Delusion mask covered his face.
In this state, Childe's aura had increased several times compared to before. In addition to the Hydro Element, a furious Electro Element power was condensing on his body.
Durandal stood by and watched, with no intention of interrupting his actions.
She knew very well that this was his strongest trump card. What she had to do was shatter his biggest trump card! To fundamentally crush his self-confidence.
Childe, in his Foul Legacy state, was clearly much more confident than before. The injuries Durandal had inflicted on him also temporarily disappeared under the effect of the Delusion.
He knew very well that even in this state, he couldn't defeat Durandal, but at least he could make Durandal a little more serious. As long as he could do that, he would be satisfied.
"Then... let's begin our second round."
Childe attacked again. Under the enhancement of Foul Legacy and the Electro Element, his movements were incomparable to before.
He was skilled in using various weapons; if one weapon was ineffective, he would conjure another through his abilities.
It must be said that Childe in his Foul Legacy state indeed became much stronger. He truly deserved to be a Harbinger; he certainly had some tricks up his sleeve.
But for Durandal, it was still not enough.
"How long can you maintain this state?"
A single swing shattered the spear in his hand. Before he could conjure a new weapon, the great scythe attacked again.
This time, Durandal no longer adopted a semi-offensive, semi-defensive stance like before. She actively attacked, her movements like a dance, not at all like she was wielding a scythe, but rather performing a graceful waltz.
Paired with Durandal's appearance and that beautiful dress, it looked so lovely, a stark contrast to the grotesque armor on Childe.
But... this beauty concealed deadly intent, as Childe, the one experiencing it, could clearly feel.
After a combo, Childe had no choice but to use the Electro Element to create distance, attempting to alleviate Durandal's offensive in this way.
But as soon as he created distance, Durandal appeared before him. No matter how many times he teleported, Durandal would move with him in sync.
His movements had no prior warning, yet Durandal seemed to possess precognition, knowing in advance where he would teleport.
Such an opponent was truly despair-inducing. He enjoyed fighting, and enjoying powerful enemies was not wrong, but this kind of one-sided crushing defeat couldn't make anyone feel any joy in battle.
Such a person, why was there no news of her before? Where did she come from?
The moment he revealed a weakness, Durandal once again appeared before Childe. This time, she not only touched the armor in front of him, but a clone also appeared behind him, performing the same action.
It should be known that force is mutual. With force applied simultaneously from both sides, a vibration even more violent than before struck, causing Childe to spit out a large mouthful of fresh blood.
Foul Legacy was also forcibly exited due to this attack. Childe, returned to his original form, collapsed on the ground. This time, no matter how much he struggled on the ground, he couldn't get up.
His injuries were too severe; he would need to rest for a period of time to fully recover, and even then, he would need certain methods to achieve it.
But would Durandal let him go because of his injuries? Impossible. She hadn't been prepared to let The Lady go last time, and of course, she wasn't prepared to let Childe go this time either.
Looking at Childe lying on the ground, Durandal dragged her great scythe towards him.
The sound of the scythe scraping the ground constantly stimulated Childe's nerves, like the Grim Reaper itself. Childe barely managed to raise his head, looking at Durandal, whose entire body was enveloped in dark mist, and suddenly remembered a conversation he had with The Lady before.
"If you encounter a lavishly dressed, black-haired girl, do not make an enemy of her. Run, run as far as you can."
It was hard to imagine these words coming from the mouth of the proud The Lady. Childe had thought The Lady had gone mad, but her expression was serious.
He hadn't taken it to heart at the time, but now he realized that the existence even The Lady feared was this girl before him.
Such immense strength, it was already close to his master's. He remembered that she seemed to dislike the Fatui very much, which was why she had unleashed such a terrifying aura on him that day.
How annoying. He had thought it would be a truly exhilarating battle, but he ended up being beaten like a grandson.
No matter what, he had no chance left. He estimated that his life would end today. It was truly... unwilling.
Tonia, Tonya, Anton, I'm sorry... big brother might not be able to return.
Watching Durandal's great scythe swing down, Childe resignedly closed his eyes, preparing to meet the end of his life.
"!"
Suddenly, a familiar sensation swept over him—the aura from the Abyss.
An incredibly powerful sword light attacked Durandal. Durandal instantly changed her attack trajectory, easily deflecting the incoming sword light.
In just a few seconds, Childe had vanished. Durandal clearly saw a teleportation portal emanating an Abyssal aura take him away.
She had seen this type of portal before; it was basically standard equipment for some powerful individuals in the Abyss. However, the person who took Childe away this time was more skilled in its use, and the speed was incredibly fast.
Although she had already prepared for the possibility of him being taken away by the Tsaritsa, she truly hadn't expected it to be someone from the Abyss who came to rescue him this time.
This Childe actually had connections with the Abyss, and the rescuer was a very powerful opponent, one who could make her divert a little attention.
"Although I was prepared for him to be rescued, but... it's still so irritating."
Durandal slammed her scythe onto the ground, and an extremely terrifying Plague Aura surged from her, sweeping through the secret base.
The terrifying plague storm instantly destroyed the secret base. At the entrance of the collapsing base, Durandal calmly walked towards Liyue Harbor, the Plague Aura within the base automatically flying into her body, completely eliminating any potential hidden dangers.
Although she had thoroughly dealt with that guy named Childe, slightly alleviating her internal irritation, Lumine and Paimon's actions would not change because of it.
Hmm~ With Lumine's current strength, even facing Childe in his Foul Legacy state, she wasn't entirely without a chance. This Foul Legacy couldn't be maintained indefinitely, and even if she couldn't win, she could deal with it by stalling for time.
In other words... the problem wasn't big. Even if he could recover in a short time, it was impossible for him to regain his peak combat strength.
Let's wait and see how things develop. Next, the Adepti of Liyue will gather in Liyue Harbor to meet with the Qixing. It's unclear if a conflict will erupt between the two sides.
This was Liyue Harbor's problem, and Durandal didn't think Zhongli would stage this whole drama without considering this issue.
Now, she only had one thing to do: step forward when Liyue Harbor needed help.
Unknowingly, Durandal returned to Liyue Harbor. She was about to go home when she noticed a very familiar figure leisurely walking down the streets of Liyue Harbor.
For some reason, she always felt that he seemed so out of place with his surroundings.
She remembered that he seemed to have half-qilin blood. Was this the reason why he seemed so out of place with his surroundings?
Secretly following him, the other party walked all the way to a high place, gazing at Liyue Harbor below, and then... he sat down and fell asleep.
"...I should be able to get some information from him."
Thinking this, Durandal walked towards the other party.
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