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"Victor, I knew you'd come to save us!"
The moment they left the confinement chamber, Paimon cheered, while Lumine asked, "How's the situation outside?"
"Everything's going smoothly. The Akademiya guards have been completely suppressed, the Grand Sage has fallen into Cyno's hands and was forced to release Nahida. The mechanisms in the Sanctuary of Surasthana should already be disabled. Let's head there first—I'll explain the details on the way."
The Sanctuary of Surasthana stood higher up near the Sacred Tree. In terms of actual distance, it wasn't far from the Akademiya, but the route was winding, passing entirely through areas under Akademiya control, where guards had once lined both sides of the road.
Now, including those stationed outside the Sanctuary itself, all of them had been effortlessly tricked away by a false order…
The path was completely unobstructed.
Inside the Sanctuary, it was empty as well. Only a small girl stood in the center of the grand hall, bound by a strange device.
"Nahida!"
Sensing their presence, Nahida made a brief attempt and easily opened the device—something she had never been able to break from within before.
"This is… our first time meeting in reality, isn't it? Before, it was always in dreams, or through borrowed bodies."
"We finally meet, Nahida," Lumine said softly, with a hint of emotion.
"Thank you all so much for coming to rescue me. And I also owe you an apology… I've reflected carefully during this time. It was my self-doubt and my compromises with the Akademiya that led to the current situation and caused you all so much trouble."
Shaking her head, Lumine replied, "We promised we'd help you. This is just us keeping our word."
"And the trouble is already over—we've succeeded," Victor Wang added gently, before reminding them, "Though there are still more important matters ahead: the Akademiya's god-creation plan… and Irminsul."
"Yes. I don't know how far the Akademiya's plan has progressed, but we really must act quickly and stop the birth of that 'false god.'"
Nahida clasped her hands to her chest and closed her eyes. As she worked, she explained:
"Now that I've been freed from confinement, I can directly establish a connection with the core of the Akasha and operate it…
First, I'll make some preparations… remove The Doctor's restrictions on me within the Akasha… then revoke the sages' permissions, returning the Akasha to its original state—one operated solely by a god. After all, the Akademiya has betrayed Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's trust.
I'll try to be quick… Mm. Though this is my first time operating the Akasha like this, its structure and procedures are very easy for me to understand. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's design was truly ingenious."
Victor Wang had thought this would take some time—Lumine and Paimon thought so too.
But Nahida opened her eyes and said, "I'm done."
"So fast!"
"There's one more thing I must admit. Even though I'm now using my own divine body… I'm not very adept at combat. So, if fighting breaks out, I'll have to rely on you. I'll support you with everything I have."
Lumine and Victor Wang nodded in turn.
"Alright. I've already pieced together the false god's location from the sages' hidden clues. Time is of the essence—let's go."
They called it setting off, yet after circling less than half a turn around the Sanctuary of Surasthana, Nahida stopped in front of a door.
"So close?!" Paimon exclaimed.
"The sages wanted to carry out their god-creation plan without being discovered. The safest and most convenient way was to build it within the Akademiya itself."
"That… makes sense."
They pushed open the door, took an elevator down to the true destination, and a massive factory unfolded before them.
Floating closer to inspect the signs, Paimon muttered, "Joururi Workshop… they really took this seriously, huh…"
"The scale of this place is enormous. The sages truly treated the god-creation plan as their ultimate goal. But this isn't something the Akademiya could accomplish alone… the Fatui led by The Doctor must have provided a great deal of technical assistance."
Paimon replied offhandedly, "Well, they were helping their own Harbinger become a god."
Nahida pondered, "Yet I keep feeling that The Doctor… is different from the sages. He doesn't seem driven by urgency—rather, he seems uninterested in the result, as if he's simply enjoying the process."
"All the Fatui Harbingers are weirdos! When it comes to them, 'weird' is the norm," Paimon quipped.
"That said, the core of the false god itself… The Balladeer, right? I previously touched his consciousness together with you. There's a very strong obsession within him. One comes from being created as a 'container for the Gnosis,' an instinctive craving for it. The other obsession seems tied to his past, though I can't quite articulate it."
"He was betrayed three times. It probably comes from that," Lumine guessed.
"Perhaps…" Nahida paused, observing the surrounding mechanisms. "There's some bad news. Judging from the operational state here, the god the Akademiya is trying to create… is likely nearing completion."
"Huh?! Then what do we do?!"
"Are you nervous, Paimon?"
"If you ask me… of course I'm nervous! Aren't you?"
"I am nervous too. This is the first time since my birth as a god that I've had to face a disaster of this magnitude. But at the same time, I'm very curious."
"Curious… about what?"
"About our fate."
Facing Paimon's puzzled gaze, Nahida explained:
"To me, everything that can be known, everything that has already happened, is knowledge—and knowledge can be understood.
But fate alone—those things that have yet to occur—always stirs my curiosity.
So, in my eyes, 'fate' is the ultimate form of knowledge.
That's why I like observing humans, watching events unfold. And now, I'm no longer a mere observer. I'll experience my own fate together with you… How wonderfully exciting that is."
"I see… I can understand how you feel."
"Mm. Then next…"
Nahida pushed open the final door.
A massive purple mech stood directly opposite them. The cockpit on its face hadn't even been closed yet, and The Balladeer sat within, seemingly in a dormant state.
Yet the moment Nahida raised her hand toward him, he reacted at once.
"So, the world is this eager for my birth? I remember you—'God of Wisdom' Buer. And you three as well… Lumine, Victor, Paimon. I didn't get your names wrong, did I?"
"Are we too late?" Paimon asked blankly. "Has The Balladeer already become a true god, 'omniscient and omnipotent' like Greater Lord Rukkhadevata…?"
The Balladeer replied mockingly, "'The Balladeer' is a title from the distant past to me now. When my spirit ascended to godhood, it was as though I lived through ages equal to heaven and earth. Looking back from this vantage point… my former self seems so insignificant, so ugly."
Why would a god's spirit be tied to the passage of time? Was it inevitable—or had The Balladeer absorbed too many dreams and canned knowledge?
Victor Wang pondered calmly.
After scanning The Balladeer and his colossal mech, Nahida commented, "A body that pushes the concept of a 'mechanical puppet' to its extreme, with a Gnosis supplying it with endless energy. Power, body, spirit—the first two have almost reached the level of a true god. From a purely technical perspective, calling this the crystallization of human wisdom wouldn't be an exaggeration. However—"
"I don't sense divinity like that of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. The sages seem not to have had time to inject divine canned knowledge. From a spiritual standpoint, I don't believe you've reached the level of a god."
Nahida refuted both Paimon's words and The Balladeer's.
"And you dare belittle me?"
"I'm simply stating facts."
"Heh. Your judgment is as weightless as your very existence. Then let this battle serve to legitimize my birth as a god!!"
As the battle threatened to erupt, Nahida nodded in an oddly disjointed manner and said, "The data collection is nearly complete."
"What nonsense are you spouting now?"
"Do you know how many times we've fought already? Just now was the 84th time. The people of Sumeru were forced to relive even more Sabzeruz Festivals than that, all for the sake of creating you."
"Dream manipulation…? When did—? Even so, you couldn't defeat me in the dream. What's the point of such petty tricks? Perhaps I should advise you to stop indulging in day—dreams."
Paimon complained, "Isn't this way too sudden? We haven't even moved from where we're standing!"
Nahida shook her head. "Come. Like during the Sabzeruz Festival, let me help you awaken the memories within the dream."
"That's great—precious combat experience!"
"More than that, 'unifying the wisdom of the people in the name of a god' was the Akasha's original purpose. I've already transmitted everything that just happened as knowledge to all the people of Sumeru, and asked them to help you find a way to break the false god."
Nahida conjured a golden canister of knowledge and directly transmitted its contents to Victor Wang and Lumine.
"Now, the wisdom of Sumeru is yours to wield."
Victor Wang accepted it quietly.
Memories of fighting The Balladeer eighty-four times—and they were his own memories. There was no burden at all.
Every tactic from both sides, The Balladeer's attack patterns, even his subtle, hidden flaws—all of it was crystal clear in his mind. And beyond that, countless minds lent their wisdom to sensing and seizing the perfect timing.
The battle began, yet thinking was no longer necessary. It was pure reflex—evade, strike, evade, strike… Even with divine power, The Balladeer's body was gradually worn down.
In this battle, his coordination with Lumine had reached a level beyond words. A single glance, and she understood.
Thirty-six Hydro Delusions beneath Victor Wang's cloak greedily siphoned his life force and mental strength, transforming it into water so dense it nearly crystallized, crashing down from above The Balladeer's head—the core of the false god's body. At the same time, sparks burst from the hilt of the Skyward Blade as Lumine exhausted all her power to unleash an instantaneous Anemo Swirl, surging forward toward The Balladeer.
Water, fire, and the Electro attack The Balladeer was predicted to release—before it could even leave the surface of his body, all three reacted violently. In a single strike, the outer shell of the false god's face was shattered.
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