The battle began.
Lumine tightly gripped her sword as the Golden Light Spell covered its blade.
Su Han had taught her Observation Haki and how to conceal her aura.
Therefore, she understood clearly that a prolonged battle would not work against him. If she wanted victory, she had to maintain relentless offensive pressure.
After confirming her strategy,
Lumine launched the first attack.
Since she already knew elemental power was ineffective against Su Han, she did not use Anemo for direct attacks. Instead, she used it to enhance herself.
Pale green wind energy wrapped around her body.
Her speed instantly increased by a large margin.
Venti's eyes lit up as he praised, "Smart. She figured out how to deal with Su Han this quickly. That's impressive."
"Since elemental power can be destroyed, she chose self-enhancement instead. This young girl is remarkable."
Zhongli greatly approved of Lumine's tactical adjustment.
Even so, keeping up with Su Han's combat rhythm remained extremely difficult.
The two continuously clashed.
Fragments of golden light shattered and scattered in every direction.
When they struck the ground, even solid rock was dented with countless small craters.
"She's so strong."
Watching Lumine fight, Mona felt genuine admiration.
They were both facing Su Han, yet Lumine could endure for so long and even seize opportunities to counterattack.
Seeing a sword wave flying toward him,
Su Han smiled slightly and suppressed it with an even stronger sword energy.
A massive explosion erupted across the battlefield.
The ground split apart instantly.
Lumine was forced backward by the shockwave, yet the moment she landed, she generated a burst of wind beneath her feet, forcefully stabilizing herself.
"…Looks like I can only use that move."
After several exchanges,
she had already grasped Su Han's capabilities.
Next came her finishing move. If this failed, she would have no choice but to concede.
Lumine straightened her posture as countless wind elements gathered into her sword.
Paimon exclaimed in surprise, "Doesn't Lumine know Su Han can destroy elemental power? Why is she still gathering so much Anemo energy?"
"I believe she has found a solution," Zhongli said with a faint smile as he observed the golden glow surrounding the blade.
So that was it.
She strengthened the attack using elemental power, then protected that elemental energy with the Golden Light Spell.
A truly clever girl.
Haki possessed strong destructive properties against elemental energy, but its effect against the Golden Light Spell was far less overwhelming. For her to think of such a method was impressive.
"Take this! Howling Wind Slash!"
Lumine gave a low shout as her speed reached its absolute limit.
That strike represented her peak,
as well as everything she had comprehended through recent training.
It even contained Su Han's guidance.
Sensing the immense power within the incoming sword energy,
Su Han's expression changed before he smiled.
"I didn't expect you to improve this much. In that case, I'll show some real skill too. Otherwise, you'd definitely be dissatisfied."
The longsword in his hand turned even darker as Haki poured into it.
Only when the sword energy reached him did Su Han strike.
Black sword energy erupted forth, forcefully blocking Lumine's attack before gradually pushing it back. The two powers collided violently in midair, grinding against each other until even the barrier surrounding the battlefield began to tremble.
Paimon and Mona were completely stunned.
It was their first time witnessing such an intense battle.
"Will Lumine lose?"
"I don't know… but she's already incredible. Wait… what's that?"
Just as Mona believed Lumine's strongest move had failed,
her sword energy suddenly split into countless smaller blades midair.
After dispersing,
those sword energies bypassed Su Han's attack and continued striking from multiple angles.
The scene astonished everyone present.
Su Han revealed a look of surprise. He had not expected such hidden variation within her technique.
He moved quickly to evade.
But the sword energies had already surrounded him. Dodging was now impossible.
"I really underestimated her."
A wall of golden light appeared around Su Han, blocking every incoming strike.
Paimon had thought Lumine might finally win once.
Instead, this was the result.
"It's the Golden Light Spell… ugh, that move is seriously unfair."
The battle concluded.
It ended as a controlled spar.
Everyone present understood that if Su Han had used the Fire Kirin Sword, or even the Flame of Longing, Lumine's technique might have been destroyed before it could transform.
Even so,
her ever-changing combat style left everyone amazed.
"Haa… I didn't expect even that move to fail. Looks like I'll need to keep working harder."
Lumine sheathed her weapon, smiling brightly without the slightest trace of regret.
After all, her opponent was Su Han.
"No. You're already very strong. Even I didn't expect that final move. Did you develop it yourself?"
"Mm."
Walking beside Su Han toward the edge of the field, Lumine could not help but smile as they discussed techniques.
"You mentioned before that elemental power has both form transformation and quality transformation. So I thought.. wind itself can't really change shape, right? That's why I chose to compress its quality instead. I didn't expect it to work so well."
"I only mentioned it casually. Achieving that level of understanding comes from your own talent," Su Han replied modestly.
At the time, he had merely recalled a concept from another world. Since elemental energy resembled chakra so closely, their properties should logically be similar.
Su Han proposed the theory.
Lumine completed its practical application.
"No, I still think the technique isn't perfect. If wind could be continuously compressed, its cutting power should become much stronger. Also… I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Although Haki can destroy elemental power, if elemental energy is compressed to an extreme level, wouldn't it stop being afraid of Haki?"
If it were pure suppression,
then once her Golden Light protection faded earlier, her sword energy should have been destroyed instantly.
But in reality, it had still persisted briefly.
Lumine had noticed that detail.
Su Han looked surprised.
As expected of the protagonist. Her comprehension was truly exceptional.
To deduce so much from a single battle was remarkable.
"Yes. In battles between opponents of similar strength, Haki holds the advantage. But if the elemental energy's quality becomes sufficiently dense, destroying it also becomes extremely difficult."
There was one thing Su Han did not mention.
That was Conqueror's Haki.
In One Piece, this was the most unique power. When unleashed, it could even suppress elementalization itself.
If Conqueror's Haki were involved, its influence over elemental power would be far greater.
Wait.
If that were the case…
Could the weakness of elemental power actually be...
Su Han suddenly stopped walking, as if he had grasped something crucial. Yet without possessing Conqueror's Haki himself, he could not verify the theory.
However, if his speculation was correct,
then elemental power truly possessed a fatal flaw.
"Is it because the laws of this world are incomplete?"
Su Han looked up at the sky.
At that moment, he gradually realized why Teyvat's space was unstable.
and why it could repeatedly be invaded by Descenders from beyond the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bonus chapters every 200 Power Stone!
10, 20, 30 Advanced chapters in my Patreon!
patreon.com/hollyrisk
