"Thanks," Shenhe said quietly, dipping her head.
"You've burned through too much energy," Ryou said, giving her shoulder a gentle pat. "Leave the rest to me."
"But…" Shenhe hesitated.
Those were ancient gods.
Even she could barely hold them back. How was a normal man supposed to—
"We're here too," Keqing said, stepping up from behind.
Tabibito, Ganyu, and Keqing all moved forward together. Ryou handed Shenhe over to Ganyu.
Shenhe glanced at them, then stopped arguing. "Mm."
Ryou walked to the very front of the Jade Chamber and stared out at the ancient god ahead. "Alright. Let's see what this Buddha Palm can do."
He was just about to strike when two Millelith soldiers came sprinting up.
"Report! Ningguang-sama—Yujing Terrace was attacked by the Fatui. La Signora's been rescued!" the first shouted.
"Report! Ningguang-sama, multiple locations outside the city were ambushed—Fatui…" the second began—
Then everyone saw it.
On the Geo platform Ningguang had formed, several eerie vortices opened at once. Fatui troops stepped out as if they'd been waiting behind a curtain.
Every face on the Jade Chamber shifted.
"All Millelith—prepare to engage!" an instructor barked, gripping his spear and charging first.
"Don't let them get close!"
"Keep them away from Ningguang-sama!"
"Move!"
…
"Tabibito, Keqing, Ganyu—go!" Ryou snapped.
"Got it!" Tabibito drew her sword and dove straight into the Fatui.
Keqing paused just long enough to look back. "Be careful."
As they moved to intercept, Ryou turned his gaze back to the sea.
The ancient gods were closing in.
Down below, the ships were barely holding on. Their cannon fire had thinned to a trickle. There had been nearly twenty ships earlier—now only seven remained.
[Ding! Feet entering Darkened Mode!]
[Ding! Feet Darkened Mode active: You gain the ability to fly. Sustained flight drains mental stamina!]
Ryou took a step—and lifted into the sky.
"Buddha Palm!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a dazzling radiance swallowed the heavens. A colossal palm-print formed above and slammed down like judgment itself.
Boom.
The foremost ancient god let out a shriek so sharp it seemed to split the air. Space warped and buckled around the impact, ripples tearing outward in violent rings.
Blood flared across the sky, and the shock felt like it would scar the world itself.
A titanic explosion erupted over the sea. Water blasted into the air in towering sheets, the frozen wall shattered and melted in an instant, and the entire ocean surface turned a brutal, blood-soaked red.
The ancient god didn't just fall.
It was obliterated.
Even the other ancient gods froze for a heartbeat, as if they couldn't process what they'd just seen. The tiger-shaped one was caught in the pressure wave and smashed down into the sea.
Every ship near it capsized in an instant. One huge vessel cracked apart like rotten timber, and screams rang out everywhere.
"Boss!"
"Boss!"
…
On the Alcor, people shouted over the chaos as the crew was swallowed by the blood-red water.
Then—wind.
A gust swept in like a lifeline. A lyre's melody rose into the air, and the music turned into a healing breeze that wrapped around everyone at once, lifting them up and carrying them safely back to the docks.
Hundreds collapsed onto the stone, gasping like they'd crawled back from the grave.
"Boss!"
Kazuha rushed forward and hauled Beidou up.
"Cough—cough…" Beidou braced herself on her greatsword, breathing hard. "I honestly thought that was it… and then…"
Her eyes snapped to the ongoing fighting near the harbor.
She turned to her people. "Can you still fight?"
"Boss, we can!"
"I've already died once—I'm not scared!"
…
Beidou's expression hardened. "The Millelith have already lost too many today. We're not standing here watching them die."
She could see it—positions all along the line where Millelith soldiers were falling to protect Liyue.
Even hurt, even shaking, she didn't have the right to turn away.
"If you can fight, you're coming with me!"
…
Back on the Jade Chamber, Ryou could feel the stares.
Ningguang, Shenhe, Tabibito—everyone was looking at him like he'd just rewritten reality. Nobody expected a single strike to erase an ancient god.
It felt good.
But Ryou also knew a price always followed.
Not long ago, Liyue Harbor had been hit by a palm strike too—one that somehow split into seven impacts. If people started connecting the dots—Hand, Eyes, Ears—sooner or later they'd start looking at him.
Cloud Retainer and Shenhe were one thing.
Yanfei was another headache entirely.
Eyes had peeked while she was bathing. That wasn't on him. That was Eyes being Eyes—yet he could already picture Yanfei showing up later with murder in her eyes.
A familiar face stepped out of one of the vortices.
A Fatui Harbinger.
Childe.
"Yes, Childe-sama!"
The Fatui surged forward without hesitation, rushing straight for Ryou.
"You want to touch my husband?" Keqing snapped, gripping Lion's Roar. "Then you get through me first."
Childe swept his gaze across the Jade Chamber and sneered. "You really think this floating palace saves you? How long do you think it can hold?"
"Sooner or later it breaks. The ancient gods arrive, and you'll have nowhere left to run."
His smile sharpened. "And your Geo Archon still hasn't shown his face. Hiding in the back like a coward."
Keqing's eyes flashed, but Childe didn't care.
"No more talking." He lifted a hand. "Kill them. Everyone on the Jade Chamber—none of them leave."
Elemental power gathered in his palms, forming twin blades as he lunged into Keqing and Tabibito.
The clash was instant—and brutal.
Against a Harbinger, even they were being forced back.
"I'm here!" Xiangling shouted, racing in from the rear with her polearm.
"And us!" Xingqiu and Chongyun arrived together, joining the fight in one motion.
Hu Tao and more Vision holders poured in behind them, and the battle turned into a furious swarm—nearly ten Vision holders surrounding Childe at once.
Even so, he only looked more entertained.
Boom!
He blocked with both blades and slid backward, laughing. "Now this is more like it. I can finally feel something."
His eyes gleamed. "So… die."
A horrifying pressure rolled off him. His clothes shifted, his weapons twisted—twin blades becoming a spear—and his presence surged to an entirely different level.
So this was what a Harbinger looked like when the mask came off.
[Ding! Battle Frenzy activated!]
[Ding! Battle Frenzy activated: 7 targets. All attributes +700%!]
Ryou didn't rush to join the melee.
He looked out over the sea instead.
The Adepti battle above the water had reached a fever pitch. His first palm strike had created an opening, and the Adepti had seized it—they were pushing the ancient gods back.
But at the front of the harbor—
The tiger-shaped ancient god, and another one beside it, locked onto the Jade Chamber and let out furious, ragged roars.
Ryou flew forward and hovered above the docks.
"Human… you will die!"
"You will die!"
Their voices pressed down over Liyue like a nightmare, making the entire city tremble.
"As long as I'm here," Ryou said, staring them down, "you're not setting foot in Liyue."
The tiger-shaped one snarled, "I don't care how a human killed one of us. You're strong—but you're not beating two gods."
The other ancient god was like a walking mountain. It slammed forward, trying to crush Liyue with sheer mass.
Ryou raised his hand.
"Buddha Palm!"
Another colossal palm dropped from the sky—this one even heavier than the last.
The tiger-shaped ancient god hadn't even reached the docks before the mountain-sized one was erased, exploding into three clouds of bloody ash.
Ryou went quiet.
Part of it was the strain—his mind felt stretched thin, especially with flight draining him nonstop.
The other part was… disbelief.
That was it?
One strike?
La Signora had survived his power before without being crippled—she'd been going all-out, sure, but she hadn't felt weaker than an ancient god.
Then it clicked.
They'd been sealed for thousands of years. Worn down. Eroded. Still terrifying—but not what they once were.
And with his stacked buffs, he wasn't "human" anymore in any normal sense. The damage boost alone was absurd—enough to turn a single palm into something those weakened ancient gods simply couldn't withstand.
Ryou steadied himself and turned to head back to the Jade Chamber—
Then his vision doubled.
Black and white overlapped, sliding out of sync. The world blinked, flickered, and began to drain away like ink in water.
Ryou's body tilted.
He started to fall.
A wind rushed up, trying to catch him—
But something faster cut through it.
A force shot up from Feiyun Slope and reached him first, wrapping him in a firm hold.
Ryou's awareness slipped toward nothing, but one thing lingered: a faint, intoxicating fragrance.
With his last shred of consciousness, he realized who it was.
La Signora.
[End of chapter]
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