Keqing and the Millelith were a storm of controlled violence. Lightning arced, polearms flashed, and the Hilichurl horde began to crumble under their professional, overwhelming assault. But the true spectacle, the event that froze the battle in the minds of all who witnessed it, was the silent, impossible duel taking place near the caravan.
The Geo Lawachurl roared, enraged that its prey had been denied. It turned its full, monstrous attention from the trader, who was now scrambling to safety, to the small, defiant child who stood before its shield of ice.
Ren's heart was a frantic drum against his ribs, a wild rhythm of terror and exhilaration. This was not Ganyu with a blunted training spear. This was a real, ten-foot-tall monster of living stone whose fists could pulverize granite. But the fear was a distant hum, drowned out by a profound, crystal-clear focus. He saw the monster, he saw the people cowering behind him, and he knew his role. He was the shield.
The Lawachurl charged, its heavy footfalls shaking the very ground. It lowered its head and slammed into the ice dome with the force of a battering ram. The dome groaned, the cracks spreading, but it held. Before the monster could strike again, Ren willed the dome to dissolve. As it vanished into a shower of sparkling particles, he was already moving, his small feet surprisingly nimble on the uneven terrain.
He wasn't running away. He was repositioning, creating space, drawing the monster's attention away from everyone else.
The Lawachurl swung its massive, rocky arm in a wide, sweeping arc, a blow that would have turned a cart into splinters. Ren didn't even try to dodge. He simply thrust his hand forward.
SHIIIING!
A new wall of ice, perfectly angled and impossibly thick, erupted from the earth directly in the path of the swing. The impact was deafening, a deep, resonant BOOM that echoed through the forest. The wall shattered, exploding into a blizzard of icy shards, but it had completely absorbed the momentum of the attack. The Lawachurl was left overextended, off-balance.
Ren capitalized on the opening. He pointed two fingers at the monster's charging leg. A whip-thin tendril of pure Cryo energy, as bright as a star, shot out and wrapped around the Lawachurl's ankle. In an instant, the tendril expanded, flash-freezing into a thick, heavy manacle of ice, chaining its leg to the ground.
The monster roared in frustration, stomping its foot and shattering the ice, but the momentary delay had been enough. It had given Ren time to breathe, to think.
This became their strange, deadly dance. The Lawachurl would attack with overwhelming, brutish force, and Ren would counter with perfect, instantaneous defense. He was a master of reactive creation. A fist came down, and a thick, concave shield appeared to catch it. A wave of Geo energy pulsed from its feet, and a lattice of ice sprung from the ground to dissipate the shockwave. He was always in the right place, his shields always the right shape, his timing always flawless.
The traders and villagers, who were now being herded to safety by Lingshan and one of the Millelith, watched in stunned, open-mouthed awe. They were witnessing a battle of philosophies. The Lawachurl was a creature of pure, destructive rage, every move designed to crush and to kill. The child, on the other hand, was a being of pure, unyielding defense. Not once did he try to harm the monster. Not a single icicle was fired, not a single blade of frost was formed.
He was just… refusing to let it hurt anyone.
The Lawachurl, its primitive mind boiling with a rage it couldn't comprehend, began to gather energy for a final, desperate attack. It slammed its fists together, and the Geo energy of the earth itself surged into its body. It was preparing to unleash its most powerful move, a devastating shockwave that would shatter every tree and rock in a wide radius.
Ren felt the shift in the air, the immense build-up of elemental power. A simple wall wouldn't be enough. He needed something more. He needed to immobilize it completely.
He held out both hands, and all the stray Cryo particles in the air, the remnants of his shattered shields, seemed to answer his call. A brilliant, turquoise light began to glow around him.
He focused on the Lawachurl's joints—its ankles, its knees, its elbows, its shoulders. He envisioned thick, heavy, perfectly formed bracers of ice locking them in place.
As the Lawachurl threw its arms wide to unleash its final attack, Ren thrust his hands forward.
There was no sound, no explosion. Just a series of sharp, crisp CRACKS as thick, heavy shackles of pure, dense Cryo energy materialized out of thin air, clamping down on every major joint of the monster's body. The Lawachurl froze mid-roar, its body locked in an awkward, immobile pose. It struggled, its immense muscles straining against the magical ice, but the restraints were too strong, too perfectly placed. The gathered Geo energy, with no path of release, fizzled out, harmlessly dissipating back into the earth.
The great, terrifying monster was neutralized, left standing as a bizarre, temporary statue of impotent rage.
The clearing fell silent, save for the sound of Keqing finishing off the last of the Hilichurls. She turned, her sword crackling, her breath coming in ragged gasps, to see the Geo Lawachurl completely immobilized, and the small boy standing before it, his hands still outstretched, his small body glowing with a faint, residual aura of cold, blue light.
He hadn't landed a single blow. He hadn't caused a single wound. But he had won. Absolutely.