Shouki no Kami lifts its foot, and a strike imbued with lightning power stomps down—this is 'a kick from the Archon War'!
One kick finishes, followed by a punch; during it, Scaramouche even provides his own sound effects.
For example, 'boom' when stomping down, 'hey' when smashing with a fist, 'ya' when thrusting a lightning spear!
Although his sound effects seem full of power, all these attacks are flexibly dodged by the Traveler—it can truly be said that his damage output relies entirely on roaring.
The Traveler is a nimble little yellow fur from the mountains; not only does she dodge Shouki no Kami's attacks, she even jumps onto Shouki no Kami's head and slashes down with a sword!
This sword strikes right at Shouki no Kami's core. Clearly wielding a bladeless sword, yet it's extremely sharp, actually breaching the mecha's defenses.
The audience stares wide-eyed as cracks appear on the core; everyone thinks the Traveler has won.
Unfortunately, the cracks only appear for an instant before restoring as good as new, and the Traveler is shaken flying away.
The Traveler has just landed when she's sent flying into the air again by Shouki no Kami's wind elemental force, then struck flying by a punch. The force is so great that even the ground shows faint cracks.
The ground is cracked—doesn't that mean the Traveler suffered heavy damage?
But it's fine; the Traveler is unharmed!
As I said before, the Traveler is tanky as hell. Even taking this hit, she doesn't die or faint and is still struggling to stand up.
Actually, even if she fainted, it wouldn't matter; at worst, Nahida could just reset it.
But the audience is a bit panicked: Isn't this a clear disadvantage? How is this supposed to be fought?
It can't be fought; Shouki no Kami is already charging its 'Destructive Death Beam' to finish off the Traveler.
Who told you? I will end her life!
However, at this moment, Nahida stands in front of the Traveler, shielding her behind.
Shouki no Kami halts its attack and slaps down with one palm. The audience gasps—is Nahida about to become Nahida sauce?
No, she's just picked up by Shouki no Kami.
It's grabbing her little cloak, but she looks just like a cat grabbed by the scruff of the neck—adorably so, feeling perfect for a keychain.
[Scaramouche says: "This should originally be a battle between gods, yet you hide behind a mortal."]
Believing himself in absolute advantage, Scaramouche opens Shouki no Kami's outer shell and begins directly conversing with Nahida.
After saying a few lines of trash talk, he intends to seize Nahida's Gnosis.
However, reaching into Nahida's chest yields nothing. Where's the Gnosis?
[Nahida calmly says: "Do you know how many times this is that you've tried to take my Gnosis?"]
Nahida's eyes glow with glistening green light. She grabs Scaramouche's hand, her tone calm and natural, as if everything is under control.
You think I'm bowing my head in disadvantage and crying? Wrong!
She lifts her head to look at Scaramouche—Amaterasu! No, she's using 'illusion', not Amaterasu.
Cracks appear in the surrounding space, and finally, it reverts to the initial state.
Shatter, mirror flower water moon.
The Traveler and Nahida stand before Scaramouche; the floor isn't destroyed either—everything seems like it hasn't started yet.
[Nahida says: "That was the 168th time."]
168 times—this is the number of times the Sabzeruz Festival has occurred. Nahida deliberately chose this number so Scaramouche could experience the same ordeal.
It's worth mentioning that the previous loop only involved Scaramouche alone; even the Traveler wasn't in it, so Lumine on the side is completely bewildered.
What's going on? What 168 times? What are you two talking about?
Scaramouche in the audience has a face ashen as iron, because the real him has already gone through it once.
Even worse, in reality, what he saw was Lucian's provocative face.
[Scaramouche mutters to himself: "The power of dreams... since when did it begin..."]
Nahida: Since when did you start having the illusion that I wasn't using kyoka suigetsu? Izanami!
Although he was controlled by 'illusion' for half a day without noticing, Scaramouche remains confident.
You couldn't defeat me in 168 loops—what do I have to fear?
Actually, at this point, Scaramouche is already somewhat stubborn. His earlier sigh about the dream power was because he was already panicking a bit.
Being trapped in a loop for 168 times without realizing when it happened is too exaggerated.
But Scaramouche has always been stubborn, so he won't show weakness.
[Scaramouche: "You couldn't even defeat me in the dream realm—what meaning do these petty tricks hold?"]
The still-stubborn Scaramouche has prepared countermeasures against Nahida, and Nahida has similarly prepared.
In the previous hundred-plus loops, although the Traveler wasn't involved, Nahida could actively transmit useful 'knowledge' to the Traveler.
At the same time, those loops were 'live-streamed', with the wisdom of Sumeru unified to 'watch' together, long since seeing through the false god's weaknesses.
Simply put, this boss has already been backseated; Nahida directly uploaded the guide to the Traveler.
Among them, Cyno might have uploaded a deck with a very high win rate.
Cyno reminder: Don't use Hydro element, because Scaramouche can swim (Scaramouche swims bravely).
Facing Nahida's actions, Scaramouche grows more tense and directly unleashes his ultimate—lightning attribute 'Rasengan' gathers into 'Destructive Death Beam' and fires.
However, based on the obtained knowledge, the Traveler has long predicted all of Scaramouche's moves and attack habits, facing this strike without dodging or evading.
The attack lands behind the Traveler; even her clothes aren't dirtied—this is the confidence of 'foreseeing the future'!
Lumine gets to act cool: So this is what it feels like when Lucian acts cool?
Lucian: You'll fall in love with this feeling.
Tartaglia watches with deep empathy; back then, fighting Lucian was exactly like this.
Clearly their first clash, yet it felt like they'd fought hundreds or thousands of times—all moves seen through clearly. Agonizing.
Scaramouche is also suffering. In the animation, he involuntarily clenches his fist and furrows his brows, but still stays stubborn, forcibly calming himself and pretending nothing's wrong as he says:
["Tch... you've used up all your tricks, haven't you? This time, can I consider it a true clash between gods?"]
Nahida ignores him and turns to look at the Traveler.
[Nahida softly says: "Mm, I'm counting on you, my 'Buer's'... 'First Sage'."]
The shot is a close-up of Nahida; she doesn't specially say the other's name.
It feels like a second-person dialogue, as if she's speaking directly to the audience themselves.
The audience gapes—this is something we can hear?
Nilou and Dunyarzad breathe rapidly, their hearts nearly stopping.
See? Nahida excels at saying inspiring words—this one line's lethality is simply overwhelming.
Barbara and Kujou Sara next door are green with envy.