"He's not moving." Guizhong muttered, squinting her eyes as she glanced at the window. The rain outside seemed to be growing even stronger.
"Nay." Morax grumbled, trying in vain to calm himself. "Consuming such a concentration of karma takes time, I believe." Guizhong nodded idly at his words.
After he'd returned to the harbor, they'd all retreated to a nearby storehouse. There were many other soldiers that joined them, taking shelter from the miasmic rain. But they'd all parted to create a space for the two of them, and the one that he had let be injured in his weakness.
Venti was laid on a small tarp they'd found within the storehouse. His breathing was shallow, and his skin pale. His hand was still pressed into his waist, emitting a weak glow as flesh slowly reknit beneath his palm. His eyes were dull, and he'd yet to respond to any of Guizhong's words. He was barely awake, his healing performed through sheer instinct.
At that moment, lying there and barely alive, Venti looked so very small.
Morax's eyes darkened. It had been too close. Had Venti not placed that wind shield to propel himself away, that spear would have taken his neck. And had Venti not immediately began purging the karma he'd been infected with, he was certain his friend would have fallen like many others.
It took him all his might not to growl in fury, both at Osial and at himself. But the earth heard regardless, and the ground beneath trembled, as if the earth itself shook in fear before his wrath.
"Morax." Guizhong quickly said, a serious frown on her lips.
He nodded slowly, and the quaking soon ceased.
He closed his eyes. He had believed he could triumph even though his instincts told him otherwise. He was wrong. It was the first time he'd truly been forced back, and once he'd realized what happened, he'd attempted to bring Venti away. But he had been too late, and it was only his friend's quick reactions that had saved him.
He was…lost. For the first time, he realized that there was no feasible way to achieve a clean victory. He could perhaps claw one if he used everything he had, but doing so would be costly. The dirt, the stone—even the seabed—all would be uprooted in such a biblical conflict. The lands would be irreversibly damaged, and Liyue Harbor would certainly cease to exist if he attempted so.
But,
He had never been alone, had he?
"I'm really mad, right now." Guizhong muttered, sounding like she was seconds away from committing murder. Perhaps she was. "Let's go Morax." A chilling smile came to her lips. "Time to skin some fish."
A low chuckle left his lips. "Let us."
The soldiers whispered as they left, but none attempted to stop them as they headed for the exit. Or at least most of them did.
One particular young man stepped up before them, a mystical blade slung across his rain-soaked back. "Lord Morax. Lady Guizhong." He greeted them with a small bow.
Guizhong smiled slightly. "Tianqiu, right?" The man nodded, and Guizhong took a small breath. "We shall head out to end this calamity." She told them, voice concrete and firm. "There is no telling what will follow, and so I entrust Venti's safety to you."
Tianqiu made one last nod before he stepped aside, and finally they left the storehouse. The falling rain was there to meet them, impossibly heavy and dense with corruption. The cause of the calamity was in the distance, several draconic heads rising from the turbulent waters.
Osial, the god of rain and storms. A fitting description.
"I'll go man the cannons." Guizhong whispered as she walked to her cannon array. None of her usual levity could be seen on her face. "I'll let you know when I'm ready to fire." She turned to him as she began fitting a cannonball into one of her cannons. "Just remember that you're not alone, okay?"
He stared at her confident eyes. He worried, slightly. Without the soldiers, the speed of her reloading had been dramatically reduced. And with the rain getting heavier, attempting to ignite the fuses of these cannons would surely be an endeavour. Yet he could see no hesitation in her eyes. No fear.
…perhaps he'd been underestimating Guizhong all this time.
He nodded. "I will." And saying no more, a pulse of gold echoed from him as he soared into the sky. He didn't return to his draconic form—it would only serve as a hindrance to Guizhong's cannonfire.
His Vortex Vanquisher reappeared into his hands as he stopped, hovering between Osial and the city he now called home. "Oh, god of storms. I admit my weakness before you." Osial's multiple heads laughed at his words, but he remained unaffected. He spun his spear as he readied himself. "But you shall not pass."
The ground below trembled. The air seemed to shake. And suddenly the clouds above parted as hundreds of Geo meteors fell from the heavens.
"For I will have Order!"
Osial roared as spears of ice shot up from the ocean's surface to meet the meteors. And the skies flashed white as the two opposing forces met.
…
Guizhong glanced at the flashing lights with disinterest before she returned to loading in her cannonballs. Perhaps, had she been less angry and less tired, she would've been in awe at the divine clash. A true battle between Teyvat's two strongest gods; something that would certainly be relegated to the words of myths and legends.
But she couldn't give a damn at the moment. Not after she saw Venti nearly die. Not after she saw how weak and frail Venti looked when Morax carried him back to Liyue Harbor. Not when their dear friend lied inches away from their death, while all she could do was stand and watch.
She wasn't sure what expression she had on her face as she repeated her motions. She honestly didn't care. But she was glad most of the Millelith soldiers she'd recruited were now resting back in that storehouse; they'd certainly lose some of their faith if they saw what she looked like right now.
As she finished loading another cannon, she glanced around. There were still…what, some thirty or so more cannons she needed to load? Did she really have the time to do all that?
No. No she didn't.
She took another glance at the skies. Morax and Osial were still locked in deadly combat. Geo meteors and giant rock spears, against beams of torrential waters and spears of ice. They were locked in a stalemate at the moment, but with Osial's strength still surging due to consuming Xiumeng, it was certain that Morax would soon begin to falter.
She picked up another cannonball and ran a hand across it. She'd spent two months coming up with these cannonballs alone. Each a craft of white iron and a type of dust she called gunpowder, molded together with enough divine energy to puncture even some of the strongest defense; essentially an upgrade of the old ballistas Guili Assembly had. She was sure even Morax would be injured if he took a direct hit.
Her eyes darkened.
This was taking too long.
She took a deep breath as she placed the cannonball back down. She stared at her palms. They were damp with rain, and smudged black with leftover gunpowder.
She looked back up. At Morax controlling his Geo creations with flawless accuracy, sending hundreds of constructs down at Osial like a general would command his archers.
…yes, so too was she a god, wasn't she?
She looked at her array of cannons, and took a deep breath. She recalled the lessons Morax had taught her, and the offhanded words Venti had shared when she asked him about Morax's sensor pillars. Their skillful manipulation of their Elements wasn't one born of absolute control.
It was Resonance. Synchrony.
Harmony.
She closed her eyes, held out her hand, and a pulse of white echoed out from her. Even without opening her eyes, she could feel her creations. Her cannons and her cannonballs, their exact positions burning like stars in her mind's eye. She reached for them, and gently, told them to come together.
Another pulse of white echoed out from her, and all the unloaded cannonballs began to float up, fitting themselves into every unloaded cannon.
Now, all she needed to do was light the fuses. And before she had slightly worried as to how she'd even do that. After all, she was only one person, and this heavy rain would make it near impossible to light every cannon's fuse at roughly the same time.
She didn't need to worry any longer.
She raised her hand, and a small clump of gunpowder formed in her palm. She commanded them to spark, and then sent soaring to the sky. They then exploded in a brilliant shower of sparks—an idea she got after Venti offhandedly suggested something called a 'firework' some months back.
Osial didn't seem to understand what it was, but Morax clearly did. And so his Geo constructs suddenly diverged, and crashed into the ocean instead. Osial's laugh echoed through the rain, assuming Morax was beginning to tire and caused his aim to falter. But Guizhong knew better, and a manic grin lit up her face as the explosion caused the waters to part, revealing Osial's main body that'd been hiding beneath the waves.
She angled her hand towards the center of Osial's main body, and her cannons moved along with her, all pointing at the exact same area.
"All began as dust." She whispered, feeling a well of divine strength gently rise from within her. "And all shall return to dust."
She smiled.
"Ash to ash, Dust to Dust."
The gunpowder at the ends of every cannon lit at the same time, and each cannon's barrel burnt a bright white as the array fired at once. Dozens of shooting stars soared across the ocean's surface, and too focused on Morax, Osial realized for too late what'd happened.
And he screamed as every cannonball slammed into his main body at the same time, searing into a bright white flame as they burnt through his scales and flesh. The heat from the combined blast was so intense that it superheated the surrounding air into a ball of pure energy, turning any water it met into steam.
Morax wasn't idle either. Seeing the opportunity, he created massive stone spears from his Geo, and sent them hurtling down towards Osial's exposed heads. Too consumed by pain, Osial screamed further as the spears cleaved two of his heads, sending the flesh crashing onto the seabed before they were melted by the intense heat of Guizhong's attack.
Once the rain finally dissipated the lingering heat, it wasn't hard to see the damage Osial had incurred. His main body was completely scorched, and he was missing two heads.
"MORAX…!" Osial's guttural scream shook the air, and the rain picked up once more as water surged out from his body. And following a powerful roar, two spears of ice were launched towards Liyue Harbor, aimed at Guizhong's cannon array.
Morax frowned, having been ready for a counterattack. Two giant rock spears appeared behind him, and he was prepared to fire them to intercept.
But before he needed to do so,
A pair of horizontal cyclones shot out from behind Guizhong. They curved down, before slamming into the bottom of the approaching ice spears. Though the cyclones did little damage, they carried enough force to send the two ice spears off course, instead causing them to smash into the hills and mountains West of Liyue Harbor.
Guizhong's eyes went wide, and she quickly turned to see Venti limping towards her. His breathing was still shallow, and the wound on his waist was still present, but it was far better compared to how it was when she left him. "Venti…" She whispered, confused as to why he was here.
He gave her a weak wink. "We're in this together, aren't we?" He said, and his expression turned serious as he looked at Osial in the distance. "And I think you'll need more firepower if you want to put that big bad down for good."
…Venti wasn't wrong. She and Morax had dealt great damage to the demonic god, but wounds like that meant little unless they could fully slay him in a single instance. Given enough time, even such grievous wounds would regenerate.
But Venti was still injured, and she'd seen how Osial's ice spear had shattered the trusty bow Venti used so much.
Before she could ask however, she saw that Venti was holding a…crown? It certainly looked like a crown, but looking at it made her feel wary. There was an intense amount of energy contained within that crown—an energy unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It was something that eclipsed even the pressure Celestia had when they gave out their decree.
Venti laughed softly as he brought the crown up to his head. "Might wanna close your eyes for a little, Guizhong." He smiled wryly. "Things will get pretty bright."
Then, he placed the crown atop his head.
And the world went white.