With the help of the Adepti, everyone on the platform successfully retreated to the Jade Chamber.
However, the Guizhong Ballista was destroyed, and there was currently no way to continue suppressing the God Osial. They found it difficult to continue counterattacking.
"But... the Jade Chamber is already the last barrier. No matter what, we cannot retreat a single step."
If even the Jade Chamber couldn't counterattack, then there would be no other place to counterattack Osial. Once it got close to Liyue Harbor, the residents living there would be in danger.
Ningguang returned to the platform. She stared intently at Osial, and under everyone's gaze, looked at Miss Durandal.
"Miss Durandal, may I ask... do you have a way to help Liyue stop this catastrophe?"
Ningguang admitted that she had indeed harbored some ulterior motives towards Miss Durandal, but now in this time of crisis, she hoped Miss Durandal could set aside past grievances and help Liyue confront the crisis before them.
Miss Durandal glanced at Ningguang, not intending to speak to her. She sighed, gently stroked Klee's face, her eyes filled with doting affection.
"If only... you hadn't come here."
"Durandal, what's wrong?"
Klee looked at Durandal, puzzled. Why would she suddenly say something like that? Why did her gaze seem so sad?
"If you weren't here, maybe I could still pat your head and make you delicious grilled fish like this. But now... I'll never be able to do that again."
What... did she mean? Klee looked at Durandal, confused. Why wouldn't she be able to pat her head or make her grilled fish anymore? What was going on?
Durandal, what was wrong with Durandal? Why was she so sad?
Durandal patted Klee's head, then turned and walked towards Lumine. Xiao, who had just helped her return to the Jade Chamber, actively stepped aside a few paces.
"Durandal..."
"I'm sorry, Lumine. It seems I won't be able to witness the end of your journey."
She had promised, yet she was breaking her word. This... was the first time she had ever broken a contract.
"What... does that mean?"
"Next, I will help defeat Osial. To solve this problem once and for all, I might have to make a big move. You all... might see something ugly next."
Durandal slowly walked to the edge of the Jade Chamber. She stopped right at the edge, turned, and smiled faintly at the ongoing activity on the platform.
"Although the time I traveled with you wasn't long, I'm... very happy for the time we had together. During this time, I was truly happy."
"Thank you, Lumine. Goodbye."
With that, Durandal leaned back and her body fell towards the sea under the force of gravity.
Everyone was startled by Durandal's actions. Klee even started crying, quickly broke free from Jean's hands, and ran towards the edge.
As Durandal fell, she watched the Jade Chamber grow smaller, smiled, and closed her eyes. Her mind was filled with everything that had happened during this time.
Compared to her solitary past, this period had been truly lively. It was the happiest time of her life.
"Thank you all... truly."
Those who had just reached the edge noticed an incredibly vast aura suddenly erupt from Durandal's body. A dense, black-purple mist instantly enveloped her, and a chilling coldness swept over them.
This aura made the Adepti present frown deeply. Even during the Archon War, they had never seen such a terrifying aura. Not even a God... had this kind of presence.
But this aura wasn't directed at them. Although terrifying, it wasn't like Osial's aura, which rendered people immobile.
The terrifying mist enveloping Durandal quickly dispersed, but when it cleared, Durandal's figure was gone, replaced by an enormous behemoth, a terrifying beast.
Its body was long and slender, its face elongated, and its pupils deep crimson. Just looking at it made one feel a terrifying presence. Its overall size was as great as Osial's, but the terror it inspired was even more intense than Osial's.
The citizens taking refuge in Liyue Harbor saw a terrifying monster appear and were almost scared out of their wits, thinking Liyue Harbor was doomed.
But they soon noticed that this newly appeared monster didn't seem to intend to attack Liyue Harbor. It faced Osial, clearly there to deal with Osial.
"Durandal... Is this why you called yourself the black plague?"
No wonder Durandal called herself the black plague when they first met. Lumine had thought it was because of her power to control plague, but now she understood it was because of this form.
No wonder she kept emphasizing that her original form was ugly, and no wonder she was unwilling to show her true face to them. She was afraid that if this appearance was seen, the bonds they had so painstakingly built would disappear.
Durandal knew that both Lumine and Klee had become close to her so quickly entirely because of her human form.
If she had met them in this form from the very beginning, she would probably have been facing the army of the Knights of Favonius.
Back in her original form, Durandal stood effortlessly on the sea, looked up at the Jade Chamber, at Klee and Lumine, imprinted their images in her mind, then turned to Osial and let out a terrifying roar.
At this moment, Osial was utterly bewildered o((⊙﹏⊙))o. It didn't quite understand what was happening.
It could understand the Liyue Adepti assisting humans against it; they had done the same during the Archon War.
It had already destroyed the means by which those people could resist it. It should have been its turn to unleash its resentment upon Liyue, so where did this God, even more powerful than itself in its prime, come from?
Osial's several heads, formed from the Hydro Element, roared at Durandal. It should have been a very imposing roar, but to everyone, it sounded very timid, like it was shouting, "Don't come any closer!"
Durandal paid no attention to Osial's thoughts. Her gigantic body charged towards Osial. No matter how Osial attacked, those attacks had no effect on her.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Durandal was in front of Osial. Without any special attack methods, she simply swung her claws and easily shattered the heads Osial had formed.
The battle between two behemoths was incredibly shocking. Although it was entirely Durandal's one-sided crushing of Osial, who had ever seen such a sight?
"So powerful, Osial can't resist at all."
The Osial that required all the Adepti to barely suppress was being utterly annihilated, like a grandson being rubbed on the ground. Durandal was truly amazing.
"But... why is Durandal only attacking her like this? Why isn't she using other, more powerful methods?"
"Have you forgotten, Paimon? Paimon once told us her former title."
Lumine looked towards the battlefield, saying with a hint of bitterness, "She said she was once called the black plague. What is her strongest ability?"
"Ah! Durandal's ability is to control plague, which means..."
"She's attacking Osial this way to avoid affecting the sea around Liyue Harbor."
Xiao, with his arms crossed, watched Durandal and said, "Once she uses her ability, if even a little of her Plague Aura leaks into the ocean, what kind of impact do you think that would have?"
No one present had a concept of how powerful Durandal's plague was, but Durandal, who could completely suppress Osial with brute force alone, how powerful could she be if she used her full abilities?
The reason she transformed into her current appearance was to help Liyue defend against Osial. If her actions caused all of Liyue's water sources to be contaminated, wouldn't that be equivalent to her destroying Liyue?
Not only Liyue, but the water sources in other regions would also be affected, so her abilities absolutely could not be used. Durandal understood this, which is why she fought Osial in this close-quarters manner.
But even this was enough. The gap between Osial and Durandal was simply too great; Osial's attacks had no effect on Durandal whatsoever.
Osial could only endure Durandal's attacks. Its massive body grew smaller and smaller. When its body had shrunk to a certain extent, Durandal stopped attacking, her eyes fixed on a certain spot on the sea.
"Finally, it's exposed."
The core of the God of Vortex would naturally not be in those few heads formed by the Hydro Element. This was also why the Guizhong Ballista had attacked for so long without any reaction.
Through continuous destruction, the core of the God of Vortex, hidden beneath the sea, was exposed. Durandal bit into its core.
The God of Vortex, which had been enduring attacks, felt its core being bitten and immediately understood what Durandal intended to do, struggling in terror.
What was this creature trying to do? Didn't she know that once a God died, it would unleash an incredibly terrifying power?
This power was enough to affect the nearby Liyue Harbor. The Geo Archon was aware of this, which is why he chose to seal him instead of killing him.
Now this God wanted to get rid of him. How could he possibly watch her do such a thing?
Even if he had been sealed by the Geo Archon for a thousand years, he was at least still alive and might even be able to leap out and make trouble at some point in the future.
But if his core was destroyed, he would truly die. Osial did not want to be killed; he had to stop Durandal, but he was already no match for Durandal and was now at the end of his rope. How could he possibly stop her?
Soon, Durandal bit his core out of the sea and closed her mouth tightly, the core shattering within her.
Osial let out a mournful wail. The immortals on the Jade Chamber all showed nervous expressions; none of them knew what kind of reaction Osial's death would cause.
But they had to protect Liyue Harbor and prevent the aftershocks of Osial's death from causing too much DMG.
However, they waited for a long time and did not encounter any disaster. Durandal's body also showed no abnormalities, as if what she held in her mouth was just a candy.
"She... she wouldn't have absorbed the aftershocks caused by the God's death, would she?"
Ganyu recalled what Durandal had said: she could absorb all "toxins." So, would the energy generated by the God's death also be considered "toxins" to her?
She didn't expect her ability to be so powerful that she could even absorb the aftershocks of a God's death. It must be said that this ability was a huge help; now everyone didn't have to worry about Osial possibly reviving.
Thus, Osial was eliminated once and for all. There was no need to wait for the rite of banishment to end and for him to go back to rest; Durandal directly scattered his ashes.
Just as everyone was rejoicing over Osial's elimination, Durandal on the sea remained motionless.
She turned to look at the Jade Chamber, which made the waiting crowd feel a bit strange.
"Wait a minute, is she preparing to..."
Lumine suddenly remembered what Durandal had said when she jumped out, her pupils widened, and just as she was about to say something, a black mist completely enveloped Durandal's massive body.
When the black mist dissipated, Durandal's massive body completely vanished before everyone's eyes. She didn't return to the Jade Chamber; she just disappeared.
Klee stared blankly at the spot where Durandal had disappeared, Durandal's words echoing in his mind.
"From now on... I won't be able to do it anymore."
Before, he didn't understand what this meant, but now he understood: Durandal was saying goodbye to him.
Thinking of this, Klee's tears flowed uncontrollably, and he shouted towards the sea.
"Sister Durandal!"
Normally, when he called Durandal, she would answer him promptly.
But this time, Durandal did not respond. No matter how Klee called, there was no answer.
She just disappeared before everyone's eyes.
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