Five days passed in a blur.
During these five days, Ken shut his doors to visitors and devoted himself to forging his personal weapon.
Although the system provided the weapon's base, because the weapon's quality was high and could continuously upgrade, the forging process required extreme care.
In particular, the fusion of special materials required elemental power, which cost Ken quite a bit of effort.
By this morning, five days later, the Abyssal Chain was finally completed.
[Abyssal Chain]
[Current Quality: Five-Star]
[Trait: Perfectly fuses with the host's elemental power, bringing the host's strength to its utmost.]
[If enough special materials are gathered, its quality can be upgraded again, allowing this weapon, tempered over countless ages, to shine with its former glory.]
The pitch-black chain glinted with a cold sheen, appearing in Ken's hand like a long whip.
As Ken's elemental power shifted, the chain's color changed constantly. Whether fire, electro, wind, or fused applications, the Abyssal Chain could unleash optimal power.
"Hm… looks like it's about time for my appointment with Signora. Just right to test the whip on her."
With a thought, Ken put the weapon back into the system space.
The mornings in May were already a touch warm. As Ken pushed open the workshop doors, he was bathed in brilliant sunlight.
A bit further ahead, he saw Lumine, Jean, and the others.
"Hm?"
Seeing everyone gathered together, Ken was a little surprised.
Paimon flew to Ken's side and explained, "We heard you're going to duel Signora. We're all going to watch. Traveler's worried the Fatui have a scheme."
"Ahem." Lumine coughed twice, her cheeks slightly red. "As your friends, there's no problem if we go cheer you on, right?"
Jean approached with elegant, composed steps, her golden ponytail gently swaying. She came to stand before Ken, her gaze gentle yet resolute. "Let's go together."
"Daddy! Daddy, go beat the bad lady!" little Klee said, clenching her fists.
"Alright, let's go together then." Understanding their goodwill, Ken did not refuse.
…
Starsnatch Cliff.
Gentle sunlight fell, the breeze carrying the fresh, elegant fragrance of Cecilia flowers.
Signora's long dress swayed in the wind. Her cold eyes watched the approaching group ahead. Her crimson lips curved slightly, showing a disdainful smile.
"I thought you wouldn't dare show up."
Her voice was cool, tinged with mockery.
When her gaze fell upon Jean beside Ken, the mockery deepened. "Didn't expect even the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius to come."
"Today is your duel with Mr. Ken. We're only here as friends to watch, and do not represent Mondstadt," Jean said calmly and evenly, composed and cool.
She had learned of Signora's arrival not long ago and had made preparations.
Unexpectedly, Signora did not continue to make trouble for Mondstadt, but instead set her sights on Ken, which left a faint discomfort in Jean's heart.
"Hehehe… The Knights of Favonius really value you, Mr. Ken."
Signora approached with swaying hips on stiletto heels, her snow-white legs fully displayed. The cold in her pale violet eyes grew even more piercing. "In that case… let me test your true strength!"
As her voice fell, a frigid aura swept out around them.
Signora's face was proud. She lifted her pale fingers slightly, and behind her blossomed a massive ice spike, like a sharp spear, howling forth.
Where the chilling ice shards passed, the formerly green grass instantly turned to frost and splinters.
"She's directly using divine power?"
Jean narrowed her eyes, watching the grand sweep of cold.
Thanks to Genshin Impact, she already understood Signora's power.
This vast icy forest-cold carried the snowy will of the Tsaritsa.
Just as Jean felt a twinge of worry, she saw Ken standing ahead, and a black chain slowly appeared in his hand.
The black chain looked unremarkable, like any common long chain from the marketplace.
Clatter…
Under everyone's gaze, the black chain drifted up into the cold wind. Its originally ordinary links instantly burst into roaring flames and lashed toward Signora's slender waist.
Within the surging blaze, powerful Electro intertwined, crackling "zzzt-zzzt" amid the fire. Its power darkened the entire sky.
Ken did not go for the kill. He wanted to test his personal weapon on Signora first.
At the moment, two forces intertwined along the chain. The Overloaded might dyed half the sky red and completely dispersed the chill.
"Interesting."
Seeing his personal weapon simultaneously channel two elements, Ken smiled in satisfaction.
But that smile, in Signora's eyes, became the cruelest mockery and scorn.
"You've succeeded in angering me."
The fervent fire and the cutting Electro made her feel stifled.
With a seductive curl of her lips into a cold smile, Signora swiftly dodged the chain's heavy strike. A fierce bloom of snow-flowers spread around her again, like a flourishing demoness turning the surroundings into a forest of ice crystals.
The condensed ice crystals shimmered with pale light, and the mist-like chill seemed to return Mondstadt to an age blanketed by snow.
Even the distant Jean and others instinctively shrank their arms against the cold.
They hadn't expected that, with the Tsaritsa's power blessing Signora, she would be so formidable.
"Alright… then let me try wind."
Ken remained calm before the sight. As hundreds of ice flowers tore mercilessly toward him, his figure suddenly became a wisp of breeze and vanished.
Since receiving Venti's power, he had yet to truly unleash it.
As Ken's figure disappeared, the Abyssal Chain was suddenly endowed with a third element.
Compared with fire and electro, this wind element was even more violent.
The rampaging gales, carrying the heat of fire and the sharpness of lightning, swept across the entire sky above Starsnatch Cliff in an instant.
The once merely dim high heavens instantly turned pitch-dark, as if entering an eternal night.
Countless wind sprites, as if summoned by fate, gathered above Starsnatch Cliff.
The convergence of three elemental powers formed a colossal, multicolored vortex in the sky. Gales howled, lightning cracked, and fire roared down like soaring dragons.
Ken's figure appeared like a phantom behind Signora. He stood in the air, the wind's avatar manifesting behind his back, like a wrathful god.
The once scenic Starsnatch Cliff began to tremble and collapse in an instant.
"Let's give it a try."
Ken intoned softly. The chain shimmering with three elements lashed out with blinding speed, striking hard across Signora's snow-white thigh.
"Ah!!!"
The icy aura enveloping her scattered at once. Even the divine power bestowed by the Tsaritsa could not withstand this might.
Looking up at the colorful vortex in the sky, a powerless sense of impending death welled up from her heart.
The flame-wreathed chain cracked across her again, sending her flying hundreds of meters.
Before she could react, the chain swept in once more and snapped her right back to where she had been.
Scarlet blood spilled from her lips. Her legs trembled; she could no longer stand.
But because Ken had deliberately controlled his strength, she only suffered excruciating pain and was not in mortal danger.
Beneath her, Starsnatch Cliff collapsed under the rampant, overwhelming force. Massive boulders turned to ash; the once towering summit was utterly destroyed.
"This power…"
Jean gripped the Favonius sword, feeling herself wrapped by the wind's power and gently lifted into the air. Shock surfaced in her amber eyes.
With ease, the very landscape of Mondstadt was altered.
As she had imagined, Ken's strength truly rivaled that of the gods.
"Daddy is amazing!"
Within a wind shield, little Klee, looking at the tremendous spectacle in the sky, clapped her hands again and again.
Lumine and Paimon stared, eyes wide with shock.
Starsnatch Cliff, gone with a snap of the fingers?
…
Windrise.
A figure in emerald plucked at his lyre strings, sitting amid lush grass.
"The world's finest bard has come seeking inspiration."
Venti felt the gentle wind brushing past, whispering voicelessly to him. He closed his eyes, quietly listening to the wind's song.
But then, a mighty force made Venti's heart tremble.
"Hm?"
Venti opened his eyes and followed that vast power to see that the once blue sky was now shrouded in gale, searing heat, and thunder.
Three fervent elements met and formed a colossal, abyssal maw in the heavens that devoured all.
And the source of that power…
"Starsnatch Cliff?"
Venti put away his playful air. Such formidable power made even him feel a flutter of fear.
He had not felt this kind of heart-shaking sensation for centuries.
Or rather…
This irresistible pressure already rivaled the divine. That overbearing wind seemed to let him sense his own peak self from ages past.
Venti became the breath of wind and sped toward Starsnatch Cliff.
Such power appearing outside Mondstadt was no good omen.
"Ken?"
Hearing the wind's murmurs and learning who caused it all, Venti showed utter surprise.
That Ken could freely break through world barriers—having such strength was only natural.
But…
Why did this wind power feel so similar to his? Even identical?
Venti's heart was a jumble of doubts.
"He's dueling Signora?"
Listening to the wind's soft chant, Venti grew even more surprised. In the blink of an eye, he arrived over Starsnatch Cliff.
The once steep, towering cliff had already turned to ash under this great power.
And in the storm of thunder, flame, and wind above, Ken, cloaked in the three elements, overlooked the world like a noble god.
The howling wind and thunderfire that made countless people tremble circled him like tame pets.
Ken's gaze remained as gentle and cultivated as ever, yet his entire being radiated a lofty, sacred nobility that no one dared look upon directly.
Venti could clearly sense Ken's might.
If Ken hadn't restrained his elemental power, then with Starsnatch Cliff as the center, all surrounding hills would have burned to cinders.
The floating black chain also caught Venti's eye.
"To gather three elements and even let them fuse and grow stronger… this weapon is interesting."
Once he knew it was Ken, Venti's tension gradually eased.
From what he knew of Ken, the man would never destroy Mondstadt, so Venti's attention shifted to the chain.
Still…
Did a duel with Signora warrant such a spectacle? Anyone who didn't know better would think the Archon War was about to begin anew.
Venti grumbled inwardly.
"Barbatos…"
Just then, Venti heard a call in the wind.
It was Ken speaking to him through the breeze.
"Ahem… I'm just a passerby. Carry on."
Venti answered with wind as well, retreating a few hundred meters, cradling his lyre as he watched.
Although he felt some guilt toward Signora, he could not use that to morally coerce someone else.
Besides, this was only a duel.
…
The scorching, tempestuous aura made even the distant residents of Mondstadt see the sky change.
Compared to that oppressive force in the heavens, they were as insignificant as ants.
They gathered at the Statues of The Seven, yearning for the protection of Barbatos.
At that moment, the only one feeling anger and powerlessness was Signora.
Under such pressure, killing her would be as easy as snapping a finger, yet Ken was simply beating and flogging her.
The chain, like a dragon, was fast to the extreme. Every time she tried to resist, it lashed down with perfect timing and precision—yet without taking her life.
Her fair, sensual body was covered in hideous whip marks.
The pain and humiliation filled her with fury, but she did not dare look straight up into the oppressive might above.
"Ah!!"
Struck across the chest again, Signora spat a mouthful of heavy blood. Her alluring face lost all former pride.
It had been so many years since she felt this way.
Since becoming a Fatui Harbinger, she had never suffered such an ordeal—pinned down and beaten, unable even to muster the will to resist.
Just imagining it felt unbearably humiliating.
If other Harbingers saw this, they'd laugh their heads off.
Even the divine power granted by the Tsaritsa now seemed feeble and small. Of course, the main reason was that this was merely a blessing of power, not the Cryo Archon's personal descent.
"Mr. Ken, it's just a duel. Are you trying to kill me?"
The haughty Signora roared as the chain swept toward her again.
As her voice fell, she took another lash across her thigh.
But with Signora's cry of pain, the surrounding oppressive force gradually dissipated. The lightning and flame on the black chain faded, leaving only wind.
Starsnatch Cliff, which had just collapsed, was restored under the strong wind element. While not exactly the same as before, at least the cliff was back.
Ken lifted a finger, lowered Klee and the others from the sky within a cocoon of wind, then stepped up to Signora.
"How could I? It's just a duel. A gentleman stops before going too far. Why would I kill you?"
Ken looked down at her from above.
Her voluptuous body was covered in wounds. Her once proud, cold face seemed to be grinding its teeth.
Signora gnashed her teeth at Ken.
A gentleman stops before going too far? And he could say that with a straight face?
Nameless fury gathered in her chest, but she ultimately forced herself to calm down and only looked at Ken coldly. "Do you think we can still talk calmly?"
"Why not? Extraordinary people should have extraordinary poise." Ken held the Abyssal Chain in his hand and stroked it. "I just finished forging this weapon and I'm not used to it yet. It didn't hurt too much, did it?"
Signora had a stomach full of anger, but looking at Ken's handsome face, she swallowed it down by sheer force.
"If you want to join the Fatui…"
Halfway through her sentence, she fell silent—because it was too ridiculous.
How could a power that rivaled the gods ever be content to join the Fatui?
Just then, Ken suddenly said, "Joining the Fatui would be difficult. But if I were to marry your Tsaritsa and become the King of Snezhnaya, I might consider it. Your Tsaritsa—is she pretty?"
…
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