Within the _Shallow Layer of Space_, Nolan didn't immediately surface. Instead, he circled around behind the Doctor, maintaining some distance.
Then, he used golden sword intent to form a longsword.
The moment he rose back to the _Surface Layer_, he swung the blade in his hand—
—unleashing several slashes of golden sword energy.
As soon as the sword energy appeared, it disappeared into space.
A heartbeat later, it reappeared—right behind the Doctor.
Given Nolan's experience, at such close range, almost no one could react in time.
Not to mention, the _Lumine's Authority_ came with the extraordinary traits of "tracking" and "never missing." The chance of dodging it was slim to none.
And indeed, reality reflected his expectations.
The golden sword waves sliced through the very fabric of space—
and effortlessly swept through the Doctor's body.
But Nolan didn't feel the slightest bit of joy.
Although his attack had clearly struck the Doctor, it felt as if his blade had plunged into water.
It made no real impact.
"Heh... terrifying swordsmanship," the Doctor said calmly, turning around from atop the _God of Pure Mechanization's_ shoulder.
A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
The areas where the sword energy had passed were still rippling slightly—
like water disturbed by a breeze.
Was that a Water-elemental body? Or some other unknown trick?
Nolan scanned him with both his spiritual perception and the _Eye of Judgment_,
but couldn't find anything clearly wrong.
After a moment's thought, he dismissed the golden longsword,
and instead summoned several _Sword Gods of Lumine_, directing them to charge at the Doctor.
At the same time—
The Doctor, Dottore, swept his hand with a flourish, unleashing a massive cloud of pink mist that rapidly spread through the air, immediately engulfing the Sword Gods.
Nolan could sense something gnawing at the surface of the summoned sword avatars,
steadily sapping their strength.
"That's the pollen of a Devourer Bloom," Nahida spoke up,
her tone sharp with insight. "It consumes spiritual energy to grow stronger.
But this seems to be an elemental simulation—not the real thing—
so it doesn't have the self-replication trait."
As the Dendro Archon, Nahida was naturally attuned to the properties of all kinds of flora.
The _Devourer Bloom_ was a rare desert plant.
Its pollen could hypnotize passing creatures, absorbing their spiritual energy to fuel its own growth.
Because deserts didn't have a steady supply of prey—not even many monsters—
these plants were rare to begin with, and had become even rarer over time.
She hadn't expected the Doctor to simulate its properties using elemental energy…
What a shame.
If it had been real Devourer Bloom pollen, she could've used her Authority to take control of it.
"Man, Teyvat really is full of weird and wild stuff," Nolan muttered, raising a hand toward the pink mist.
A swirl of emerald Anemo energy began gathering and compressing in his palm.
Moments later, a large wind-element sphere had taken form—and with a sharp motion, he hurled it forward.
It collided directly with the cloud of pink mist.
The out-of-control Anemo energy burst forth like a cannon blast, instantly scattering the pink mist!
"Heh, not that easy."
The Doctor, Dottore, let out a soft laugh. With a casual motion, his hand closed in a grasping gesture—and the scattered pink mist suddenly gathered back together.
"Tch."
A god-level enemy really wasn't going to be easy to deal with.
It seemed the title of "formidable foe" truly suited the Doctor.
Given the situation, Nolan had no intention of going head-to-head with him.
If he got caught in one of the Doctor's tricks, things could get really troublesome.
Especially since the guy was a scholar and researcher—the type who might cook up something _really_ weird.
While continuing to use Anemo energy to counter the Doctor's pink mist, Nolan briefly pondered his next move.
Then, he summoned several more _Sword Gods Of Lumine_, making six in total, and sent them charging toward the Doctor.
As for himself, he pulled Nahida into the _Shallow Layer of Space_ and controlled the sword avatars remotely.
Judging from earlier, the Doctor didn't seem to be able to access this layer of space.
So using the _Sword Gods_ as proxies was undoubtedly the safest strategy.
And with six of them, they'd definitely be enough to give the Doctor a hard time.
Seeing Nolan retreat to hide and rely on sword avatars to fight, a faint crease appeared beneath the Doctor's black mask.
He'd only managed to dodge that earlier sword attack by using a temporary outer shell made of Water Element—a clever trick.
The technique allowed incoming attacks to pass through his front and exit from the back, seemingly harmless.
It looked impressive, but the downside was fatal: while using this ability, he couldn't use any other elemental skills.
He could still control the pollen that had already been released via spiritual energy, so that wasn't a problem.
But he couldn't release anything new during that time—any interference would break the ability altogether.
And if all six of those sword avatars could unleash that inescapable sword energy and coordinate their attacks...
He definitely wouldn't dare take it head-on.
After all, fighting these intangible, damage-immune projections wasn't exactly meaningful.
Even defeating them wouldn't harm Nolan himself.
The real problem was that Scaramouche—that idiot—had _just_ begun merging with the _God of Pure Mechanization_.
It was a miracle the mech could even hover now, and full synchronization would take at least two to three months—there was no way they could achieve it now.
Which meant retreating with the mech was impossible.
The Doctor fell deep into thought, but the _Sword Gods Of Lumine_ under Nolan's control didn't give him any time to catch his breath.
They activated their _Golden Barriers_ and charged straight through the mind-devouring elemental pollen.
Raising their blades, they launched attack after attack toward the Doctor standing on the mech's shoulder.
Each slash of sword energy pierced through space, and with their traits of _never missing_ and _tracking_, Dottore had nowhere to run!
He was forced to rely once again on his intangible water-element body to evade the damage.
At the same time, he directed the pink mist to erode the sword avatars—
all while frantically considering other countermeasures.
This adventurer, and that blonde girl with the flying white companion— they were the kind of people who couldn't help but meddle.
Wherever they went, they stuck their noses into local affairs.
It was obvious this sudden ambush was orchestrated by Nahida.
Once she realized these do-gooder travelers—who had already made waves in several nations—had arrived in Sumeru, she definitely wouldn't miss the chance to ask for their help.
That idiot Grand Sage even called the thing used to trap Nahida an "artifact," and didn't realize she could still communicate with the outside world!
The Doctor never imagined that in such a short amount of time, Nolan could grow strong enough to confront him one-on-one.
Damn it… is this guy some kind of monster wearing a human skin?
A hint of jealousy surfaced in Dottore's heart.
He had only stepped into the realm of gods thanks to the Tsaritsa's divine authority.
On his own, he would never have made it.
That's why he had to conduct research on gods—why he even attempted to create artificial ones.
It was all for the sake of advancing himself.
So that even without the Tsaritsa's power, he could become stronger through his own means.
Now, he'd created the _God of Pure Mechanization_, and gained a much deeper understanding of beings on the level of Archons.
(End of Chapter)
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