"Increase the intensity...?"
After Lu Chen said this, everyone immediately understood.
Venti soared high into the sky again. With just a wave of his hand, the pursuing Eremites were blown off their feet. Then he closed his eyes, his gradient-colored braids swaying slightly, and unleashed a hurricane unlike anything Sumeru City had seen since its founding.
"Wah! The wind's too strong!!" Paimon's tiny body was almost swept away. She clung tightly to Lumine's clothes to avoid being blown off.
Next came Ei. Her braid glimmered with a faint purple light, and moments later, deep thunder rumbled above Sumeru. In an instant, the skies turned black as massive storm clouds rolled in, bolts of thunder exploding across the heavens.
"Then, it must be my turn." Zhongli's voice was calm as he spoke to himself.
All eyes turned to the elder, only to see him summon something even more overwhelming. From the distance, a star plummeted from the heavens.
Under countless astonished gazes, the star crashed into the wilderness beyond, its explosion sending shockwaves that rattled all of Sumeru City.
The city at this moment looked like the end of the world.
Dehya was left utterly stunned. She turned to Lumine in shock. "Just... who are these friends of yours?"
Lumine stayed silent, but Paimon crossed her little arms proudly. "They're the Seven Archons of the Mortal World! Impressive, right?"
"What!?" Dehya's eyes widened further.
Seeing Paimon's smugness, Lu Chen couldn't help but laugh.
He then lifted his gaze to the sky, thinking it was his turn to add to the chaos. But what should he create?
After a moment's thought, he shot into the air and began painting across the dark clouds with the Light Realm energy in his hands.
Blazing lines of light carved into the heavens, drawing the eyes of everyone below.
And there, shining brightly, was... a giant Paimon.
"Eh!?" Paimon blinked in confusion. "Lu Chen! Why are you drawing me!?"
"That's how it counts as strange," Lu Chen replied with a grin.
The drawings in the sky grew more and more surreal. One moment it was an enormous Paimon, the next it was Slimes, and soon even showers of Mora rained down. The stranger the image, the better.
"If I woke up and saw this..." Dehya muttered under her breath, "I wouldn't think I was dreaming—I'd think I'd gone insane."
Nahida chuckled. "Most people would just assume it's a nightmare."
Dehya glanced curiously at the cute girl. "And you... who exactly are you?"
"Hehehe!" Paimon puffed herself up again. "You don't know? She's your—"
Before she could finish, a strange, mechanical sound filled the air.
It was the Akasha.
[Beep—]
[Unidentified disturbance detected across the network...]
[System overload... data connection interrupted... locating breach...]
[Immediately... extract power from... stabilize Akasha framework...]
"That sound just now..." Lu Chen slowly descended. "You all heard it too?"
"Yes." Nahida's eyes lit up. "This is good news."
The city of Sumeru around them began to blur. Strings of text in Sumeru script, like lines of raw code, shimmered in the air and spread everywhere.
"Your actions are overloading the Akasha system," Nahida explained. "The collective dream is collapsing."
"So we don't need to wake everyone up after all?" Paimon said in delight.
The world around them flickered repeatedly between clear and distorted.
"Don't stop!" Nahida urged.
"They're channeling power through my Gnosis to keep the dream alive! We can't let them!"
"Got it." Lu Chen looked at Ei and the others. The gods exchanged knowing glances and unleashed their power once more.
Meteor showers, thunderbolts, and hurricanes ravaged the dreamscape of Sumeru again.
Finally...
With a series of sharp electronic beeps, the collective dream shattered completely.
...
Lu Chen's eyes flew open in the inn, his body tense. At the same time, Ei stirred awake.
"We... made it back?"
"We did." Lu Chen gave a firm nod.
His first action was to crush the "Akasha Terminal" that had triggered everything.
He opened his door, and the others emerged one by one.
Nahida, Venti, Zhongli, and Scaramouche were all there. Aside from Lumine and her companions, everyone had returned to reality.
"At last, we're awake..." Venti yawned. "Didn't feel as hard as we thought."
"We didn't even wake the Dream Master," Nahida said with a soft laugh. "We just brute-forced the collapse. The Akademiya surely never imagined that several foreign Archons would be caught up in this."
"Hmph! Arrogant fools," Scaramouche scoffed coldly. "They dare oppose the gods?"
"Still, I owe you all thanks." Nahida's gaze turned to Lu Chen. "If I had been alone, this would've been far more difficult."
"Don't belittle yourself." Lu Chen smiled at her. In truth, if no one else had interfered, the story would likely have played out with Nahida and Lumine trapped inside. But eventually, the plot would have corrected itself—because Lumine was the protagonist.
"So, where to next?" Venti asked casually.
"Where else?" Lu Chen's eyes narrowed as he looked down the corridor toward the Akademiya. "We settle accounts with them."
Using the Akasha system created by the former Dendro Archon, fueled by the Gnosis of the current Archon, the Akademiya had cast the entire city into a collective dream—stripping people's thoughts day and night. They clearly had a grand scheme in motion. Today, Lu Chen intended to uncover it.
The group left the inn and marched straight toward the Akademiya.
The streets were soon crawling with Eremite guards. Though they were many, they were powerless before six figures who strode forward without fear.
At the Akademiya's gates, every available guard had gathered. Yet not one dared to strike. Instead, they trembled, inching backward step by step.
Lu Chen cast a glance at them. "Bring out your Grand Sage."
The guards shivered. The Grand Sage did not appear. Instead, a low voice rang out.
"To have so many Archons visit us... this place is truly honored."
The guards parted, revealing a tall man with pale greenish hair and a mask.
"Dottore..." Scaramouche's gaze deepened as he looked at the figure.
"Scaramouche?" Dottore smiled faintly. "I didn't expect to find you here. Do you know how long I've been searching for you?"
When Scaramouche didn't reply, his smile widened. "Do you realize all of this was meant for you? Just one step away—you could have become a god. That has always been your dream.
"Do you know what you've let slip away?"
"And now, you stand with them—against the Empress?"
"My affairs are none of your concern," Scaramouche sneered. He turned to the Archons at his side. "Tell me—what gives him the right to be so arrogant?"
"I stand here because I am prepared," Dottore replied calmly, his sharp gaze shifting to Lu Chen like a hawk locking on prey.
"Prince of Inazuma, is it true that you possess the power to traverse space? That must be why three nations' Archons disappeared all at once."
"You know quite a bit," Lu Chen said with a grin. "The Fatui's intelligence network is as thorough as ever. Old man, Venti—you really ought to clean out the spies hiding in your nations."
"They've always had eyes everywhere," Venti chuckled.
But what intrigued him more was why Dottore sounded so confident now.
"Well then," Lu Chen said with a smirk, "let's see your trump card. Stop wasting words."