Chapter 119. Battle Part 9
This battle in Sumeru stirred many hearts, and Snezhnaya welcomed an esteemed guest.
But none of that had anything to do with Futsu Mitama. Only after Scaramouche shattered the ground did he realize the truth: Scaramouche had a second phase.
He had originally thought that Shouki no Kami, The Prodigal, with only its upper body, was the complete form. Or rather, because of their interference, the machine had been forced into battle before its lower half was finished.
As the ground collapsed, Scaramouche plunged downward in a flash of purple lightning. The lower half of Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, rushed over and completed the merge.
At that moment, Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, radiated an even more terrifying pressure than before. It now felt much closer to a true Demon God.
If the machine had once been a half-finished Demon God, then now it seemed truly complete.
If nothing unexpected happened, Scaramouche should start acting smug again.
Futsu Mitama was already used to that.
Whether it was the battle in Inazuma or the present one in Sumeru, Scaramouche always swelled with pride very quickly after taking a hit.
Thinking this, Futsu Mitama landed on the ground. He looked at the purple mecha ahead, with its Inazuman designs and devices.
Apparently, even after leaving Inazuma, Scaramouche still retained some lingering attachment to everything Inazuman. Of course, it was also possible that this was simply Dottore's twisted idea of humor.
After all, Dottore was extremely malicious, even more so than La Signora.
At times, Futsu Mitama even wondered whether some of Teyvat's unresolved mysteries were tied to that man's actions.
As he was thinking this, Scaramouche, piloting the completed Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, floated in the air and spoke with arrogant confidence:
"I am the Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom."
"Among the Seven Leaves, only I will endure. Futsu Mitama, you have committed the sin of blasphemy!"
"Today I will defeat you and usher in a true new life. I will make you regret ever saying you would take me back to Inazuma to see Beelzebub!"
The moment he finished speaking, Scaramouche did not even wait for Futsu Mitama to respond. He immediately controlled Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, to charge forward.
The sarcastic reply Futsu Mitama had been about to make got stuck in his throat.
Scaramouche clearly knew that once he entered his chuunibyou mode, he would be mocked, so he had preempted that by speaking first and attacking immediately, leaving Futsu Mitama no opening.
What did it feel like to be charged at by a giant mecha?
Futsu Mitama found it rather novel.
Apart from the Primo Geovishap, he had never faced such an enormous thing rushing at him.
Compared with the mountain-like scale of the Primo Geovishap, Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, was even larger.
Just standing there, it felt like a real mountain, radiating a sense of invincibility.
And once it moved, that pressure became even more overwhelming.
That was the advantage of sheer size.
Unfortunately for Scaramouche, he had met Futsu Mitama, and he was exactly the kind of person who loved fighting large targets.
Boom!
Scaramouche drove Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, forward with a single punch, and the air exploded with a sonic boom.
Futsu Mitama smiled faintly, teleported, and vanished from where he stood, dodging the blow.
Inside the cockpit, Scaramouche saw him evade and burst into wild laughter.
"Is that all you've got, Futsu Mitama?!"
"HAHAHAHA, come on then, show me everything you have! Otherwise, if you lose, don't blame me for not going all out!"
The pressure Futsu Mitama had put on Scaramouche before had been enormous.
He had blocked every attack and even dealt damage from time to time.
Can you imagine an enemy who can block everything you throw at them and then casually wound you afterward?
Anyone fighting such an opponent would feel immense pressure.
But now Futsu Mitama had voluntarily stepped back and taken no attack.
That made Scaramouche feel as though he was finally standing on equal footing with him.
Hahahahaha. What a wonderful feeling.
If he had to preserve the dignity of an Archon, Scaramouche might even have sung a song.
"Stop talking nonsense. I admit you have some skill now."
Futsu Mitama appeared in midair, looking directly at shouki no kami, the prodigal.
He held Seven Thunder of Retribution: Narukami in one hand, his Geo elemental power surging, and said calmly,
"Planet Befall."
A giant meteor descended from the sky and hurtled toward Scaramouche.
"Hm?!"
Scaramouche looked up, shock flashing in his eyes, because this Planet Befall was far more terrifying than the one used in Inazuma.
But if it was only one, then there was nothing to fear.
Thinking that, he sneered,
"It's just a rock. Watch me push it back!"
Though he said that, he actually raised both hands, gathering Electro and Hydro energy in them.
Buzz, buzz, buzz—!
As the elemental power charged, beams of Electro and Hydro shot toward the falling meteor.
The beams collided directly with Planet Befall.
Boom!
The next moment, a horrifying explosion rang out, and the meteor shattered.
A pale golden shockwave surged toward Scaramouche.
In an instant, the Electro and Hydro beams themselves turned to stone and fell to the ground.
Pure elemental energy turning to stone shocked Scaramouche deeply.
He also drove shouki no kami, the prodigal, to evade the pale golden shockwave.
He was not afraid of petrification itself, but Futsu Mitama was still right there.
If the enemy attacked during the brief petrified state, even a slight stiffness in movement would be enough for Futsu Mitama to heavily injure him.
With that in mind, he quickly withdrew while saying contemptuously,
"That's all? The methods of Geo Archon Morax are nothing special."
"Futsu Mitama, you disappoint me."
Futsu Mitama only smiled.
"You blocked the first one well. So how will you deal with the second?"
As he spoke, a second, even larger Planet Befall came crashing down toward Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal.
Its speed was so fast that Scaramouche did not even have time to gather power.
"!!!!"
Seeing the second meteor, Scaramouche shouted, "DESPICABLE!"
Then drones appeared behind Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, one after another, and rushed toward the meteor.
They fired elemental beams of various types, trying to blow it up directly.
But their attacks were nowhere near strong enough to detonate Planet Befall, so the meteor continued falling toward Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal.
Scaramouche waved his hand, sending the drones straight at the meteor to cling to it and then self-destruct.
Yes, self-destruct.
As long as the drones could be recovered afterward, they could be rebuilt.
There was no need to let the meteor land just because of such a small loss.
He had a bad feeling that if this Planet Befall struck the ground, he would bear the full impact.
Without knowing whether Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, would be petrified, Scaramouche did not dare take the strike head-on.
At the same time, he also understood why Futsu Mitama had flown into the air to use this move.
From high above, if he tried to rush out, Futsu Mitama would still have a way to intercept him.
BOOM!
Another explosion rang out, and the familiar pale golden energy spread outward.
The drone that had not yet self-destructed was once again transformed into a Planet Befall, then crashed down and became a pile of shattered stone.
Just as Scaramouche had no time to breathe a sigh of relief—
Clap, clap, clap.
Futsu Mitama applauded.
He looked at Scaramouche and said, "Not bad. You handled the second one well. So what will you do about the third?"
Scaramouche was startled.
He looked up and saw that a third Planet Befall had appeared at some unknown point.
This one seemed even larger than the last.
"FUTSU MITAMA—!!!!!"
Scaramouche was furious.
He shouted in anger, unable to understand.
Was Futsu Mitama some kind of monster?!
He wasn't even a true Archon, and he still hadn't used the Anemo Gnosis!
Where was he getting all this elemental power to waste like this?!
Scaramouche might not fully understand the legacy of the Geo Archon, but as one of the strongest beings in Teyvat, he knew very well how much power a move like Planet Befall consumed.
And yet Futsu Mitama seemed to treat the cost as nothing, hurling three meteors in a row without any visible strain.
He did not seem worried about exhausting himself at all.
That left Scaramouche deeply puzzled.
Even he, a puppet created by an Archon, would not dare to waste energy like that.
How could Futsu Mitama, a human, fight like this?
Though confused, Scaramouche still raised both hands, and beams of Pyro and Cryo burst out once again, destroying the meteor.
"So, what about the fourth one?"
Futsu Mitama's devilish voice sounded again, as if he felt no pressure from energy consumption at all.
Inside Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, Scaramouche looked furious as he glared at the meteor in the sky, which had once again grown larger.
He even suspected that Futsu Mitama was deliberately making the meteors easier to destroy.
He remembered that when he fought Futsu Mitama in Inazuma, destroying a Planet Befall had taken some effort.
Was it intentional that this one was so easy to destroy now?
Still, Scaramouche could not simply ignore the meteor falling from the sky.
He had also realized that the available space for dodging was shrinking.
Although the underground area was large, shouki no kami, the prodigal, was even larger, and with the meteors falling, there was not much room left.
If this continued, even if he did not want to meet the meteors directly, he would have no choice.
Scaramouche's expression darkened.
This feeling was truly unpleasant.
He had thought he was in control, but instead he had been maneuvered by Futsu Mitama.
Thinking that, Scaramouche controlled the drones and threw out a dozen elemental mines.
After they exploded, the meteor was blown apart once again.
"The fifth one," Futsu Mitama said lazily, even taking out food and eating as if he were not in battle at all.
"YOU'RE GOING TOO FAR!!!!"
Scaramouche saw him actually eating, and fury surged through him. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and fight him to the death. But the fifth Planet Befall was already hurtling toward him, so he could only suppress his rage.
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR ENERGY IS INFINITE. IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS, KEEP CASTING THEM."
"I HAVE THE ELECTRO GNOSIS'S ENERGY BOOST. I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYONE IN AN ENDURANCE CONTEST!"
Futsu Mitama almost laughed when he heard that.
While eating the Mora beef that Keqing had given him, he replied somewhat muffled,
"Then take your time destroying them. Just don't get petrified. If you do, I'll attack. And in a war of attrition, I'm not afraid of anyone."
It was a joke.
Before entering the Demon God Realm, Futsu Mitama did not even care about smashing four or five Planet Befalls.
Now that he had entered the Demon God Realm, the energy stored in his body and his recovery had both increased by more than one level.
The Chat Group's enhancement was even more terrifying than he had imagined.
His endurance had already gone beyond human limits.
When the Chat Group reached LV4, Futsu Mitama truly understood what it meant to have no cooldown.
Hearing this, Scaramouche's anger only grew.
He could feel the fury in his heart nearly turning into flames that would burn Futsu Mitama to ashes.
But the more enraged he became, the calmer he had to stay.
He needed to keep his mindset steady.
Otherwise, before the battle truly began, he would already be led around by Futsu Mitama.
"The seventh one!" Futsu Mitama called out again.
Hearing that, Scaramouche finally found an opening to snap back.
"CAN'T YOU COUNT?! THAT'S CLEARLY THE SIXTH ONE!"
Futsu Mitama replied leisurely,
"Oh, right, two at once. I see you're destroying them quickly, so I'll give you a little more pressure."
The next moment, two smaller Planet Befalls came crashing from different directions.
"I %... & # & *!"
Scaramouche immediately spat out a string of curses so foul it made one wonder what he had gone through to curse like that.
But soon, a familiar divine pressure from afar forced him to calm down.
He seemed to realize something and, while destroying the meteors, said,
"It seems that guy has also been pushed to his limit. Futsu Mitama, aren't you going to save your companion?"
"That woman is about to detonate her authority. That's the equivalent of an Archon's strike. Those people are strong, but they haven't entered the Demon God Realm."
A smile began to spread across Scaramouche's face, and he quietly gave Lady a thumbs-up in his heart.
He was not certain how far she had been pushed to force her authority to explode in order to escape, but he was grateful to her.
Right now, he was furious at Futsu Mitama's underhanded tactics, and there was no better way to break the situation than by forcing an opening.
But now things had changed.
Now it should be Futsu Mitama who was anxious.
No one knew better than Scaramouche how terrifying the power of a detonated authority was.
He had detonated one himself, and half his body had been blown away.
If he had not returned in time to Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, and used the Gnosis's power to stabilize himself, he would probably already have been captured by Futsu Mitama and dragged back to Inazuma for judgment.
So for once, Lady, he usually hated so much seemed unusually useful.
"You talk too much. It seems I'm not putting enough pressure on you. I should make things a little more intense."
Futsu Mitama's tone was equally unfriendly.
Then a green light flashed around him, and a tornado formed from pure Anemo power appeared on the ground, rushing straight toward Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal.
This was a tornado created from the authority of the Anemo Archon, and its power was no weaker than a falling Planet Befall.
"Heh, you're getting anxious."
Scaramouche was no longer anxious.
Instead, he began delaying time, certain that Futsu Mitama would go save his companion.
An Archon's strike was no joke.
If the woman handled it properly, those who intended to trap her would all be killed by her.
As for The Lady, herself, once she reverted to her original form, she would not die.
At worst, she would be left barely alive and severely wounded.
Though the Harbingers fought among themselves, Scaramouche understood her well enough to know that if pushed to the limit, she would definitely choose a self-destructive method that hurt the enemy far more than herself.
She looked calm, but madness ran deep in her bones.
How could she truly remain calm?
Scaramouche knew this, and Futsu Mitama knew it too.
So the next move was easy to predict.
A cruel smile appeared on Scaramouche's face.
He had already decided that if Futsu Mitama dared to run, he would dare to chase.
He would repay every humiliation the other man had inflicted on him.
But for now, he obediently blocked the incoming tornado and the meteor falling from the sky.
Minute by minute, time passed.
Futsu Mitama remained motionless in the sky, as if he were waiting for something.
The divine pressure in the distance erupted fully, yet Futsu Mitama still did not move.
That made Scaramouche a little uneasy.
"You're going to lose your companion!"
"You're still fighting me?!"
He was genuinely confused.
He knew very well that Futsu Mitama cared about his companions.
Someone with his personality should never have done this. And yet, despite the distant eruption of divine pressure, as if the woman had already self-destructed, Futsu Mitama still stayed here and kept suppressing him.
Did he really think his companion could withstand that strike?
What a joke. That was an Archon's strike.
Even Scaramouche himself would be in serious trouble if he took it head-on.
Why was Futsu Mitama so confident?
Could it be that Fatui intelligence had been wrong, and he actually did not care about his companions?
Or was he in fact cold and ruthless, and everything before had merely been an act?
Scaramouche's thoughts churned.
Suddenly, an inexplicable fury rose in his heart, because Futsu Mitama's behavior reminded him of someone.
Someone who had also betrayed him at a critical moment.
If he had not been so resilient, he would probably have died in that disaster.
Buzz—!
At that moment, another divine pressure came from afar, and Scaramouche froze.
This was the aura of Geo Archon Morax?!
What was going on?!
While Scaramouche was momentarily stunned, Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, also paused for an instant.
And at that very moment, the twelfth Planet Befall accelerated and crashed toward him.
"Not good!"
Scaramouche quickly tried to retreat, but a purple crack suddenly appeared behind him.
Futsu Mitama appeared there, holding Seven Thunder of Retribution: Narukami.
Without hesitation, he unleashed Musou no Hitotachi at the back of shouki no kami, the prodigal.
"DAMN IT!!!!"
Scaramouche had not expected Futsu Mitama to seize the opening so perfectly.
Only then did he realize that Futsu Mitama had probably already guessed that his companion possessed an item capable of resisting an Archon's strike.
He had been waiting for a chance to make Scaramouche reveal an opening, creating the illusion that he might leave to help at any moment.
And the one who held the item capable of resisting an Archon's strike was most likely Shenhe.
That Liyue Adeptus disciple had fought alongside Futsu Mitama before and helped suppress him in battle, which proved that her potential was at the peak of humanity.
So it was not impossible that Morax had given her a life-saving treasure.
But Scaramouche had failed to think of that.
Instead, his mind had been filled with thoughts of Futsu Mitama leaving to rescue his companion, and how he should seize the moment once an opening appeared.
As a result, he had put himself at a disadvantage.
With a Planet Befall in front of him and Futsu Mitama behind him, what choice did he have?
Scaramouche naturally chose to defend against the attack from behind.
He turned abruptly, condensing two thick Electro spears in his hands.
Buzz—!
The chest of Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, even opened, and a violent burst of Electro energy surged from within, racing toward Futsu Mitama.
Not only that, dozens of drones flew out from Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal, and rushed toward the Planet Befall like moths to a flame, trying to intercept it.
Swish—!
Futsu Mitama's eyes gleamed with violet lightning.
The Chakra Desiderata behind him flickered, and Musou no Hitotachi, carrying a terrifying aura, sliced straight toward Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal.
As for the two Electro spears in the mecha's hands, Futsu Mitama completely ignored them.
His target was the chest of Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal.
As long as he broke through the chest and retrieved the Electro Gnosis from within, Scaramouche would have lost this round.
"EXPLODE!"
Seeing that Futsu Mitama was ignoring the Electro spears, Scaramouche's alarm bells rang.
He did not know why Futsu Mitama dared to do that.
But he had a bad feeling that if the battle continued like this, he would fail within a few more exchanges.
So he hardened his heart and detonated the Electro spears in his hands, even at the cost of damaging Shouki No Kami, The Prodigal.
The next second, the Electro spears exploded violently, and the terrifying shockwave even caused cracks in the surrounding space.
"Oh? Not stupid after all."
Futsu Mitama's eyes flashed with surprise.
This Musou no Hitotachi could pierce through space.
If Scaramouche had tried to use the spears to block him, then Seven Thunder of Retribution: Narukami could have pierced through them and struck the core directly.
But by detonating the spears and disturbing the surrounding space, he had broken that state.
Thinking that, Futsu Mitama changed the angle of the blade in his hand and cut through the violent burst of energy rushing toward him.
Swish!
With a flash of purple light, Musou no Hitotachi completely obliterated the energy from the exploding spears.
Boom!
The distant Planet Befall was also destroyed by the drones charging at it like moths to a flame, and pale golden Geo energy spread outward.
At such close range, Scaramouche could not dodge.
Helplessly, he activated his Electro barrier to block the attack.
Crack! Crack! Crack!!!
A grating sound rang out as the Electro barrier around shouki no kami, the prodigal, visibly turned to stone and fell away.
Petrification then spread across the mecha's body.
Though Scaramouche had expected it, he was still shocked when he saw it.
Indeed, he had underestimated Rex Lapis's legacy.
This thing was far too troublesome. Once it touched you, even shouki no kami, the prodigal, could not resist it.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!!!
Thinking that, Scaramouche quickly controlled shouki no kami, the prodigal, to retreat while using the Electro Gnosis's power to purge the petrification from his body.
"Don't even think about escaping."
Futsu Mitama would not let this opportunity go.
He raised his sword and struck again.
It was Musou no Hitotachi once more.
"MONSTER!"
Scaramouche could not help but curse.
Futsu Mitama really was a complete monster, using Musou no Hitotachi twice in a row.