Stepping into the arena, Feixiao first gave her teammates in the stands a reassuring look.
Only then did she turn her gaze toward Jean.
"Ready to begin?"
"Yes."
Jean nodded. She was here purely to probe the depths—there was no need to think about tactics anymore.
The battle began.
With a casual wave of Feixiao's hand, an overwhelmingly terrifying army materialized on the battlefield.
Jean froze.
She had expected Feixiao's forces to be large—but not this large.
Archangels ×1300
Behemoths ×1500
Black Dragons ×1000
Titans ×700
Gold Dragons ×600
Phoenixes ×2000
Greater Demons ×900
"…What?"
Jean's mind went blank.
"No—how do you have this many troops?!"
This wasn't right.
Why did one person have more soldiers than all four of them combined?
"Almost all of our forces are with me," Feixiao replied calmly. "Having a bit more isn't strange, is it?"
"That's not what I'm asking," Jean said, staring at the army in disbelief.
"I'm asking how you managed to obtain this many troops in the first place."
She couldn't be blamed for her shock.
Feixiao's army wasn't just large—it was absurd. Compared to this, Jean's forces didn't even amount to a fraction of the enemy's vanguard.
"Heh."
Feixiao chuckled and explained, "Advanced Diplomacy. Neutral monsters have a very high chance of surrendering and joining."
"I know that," Jean replied immediately.
"But Miss Bronya alone could never have recruited this many troops."
Jean had already learned about Diplomacy through Klee. In her estimation, Bronya must have relied heavily on it early on—but even so, this scale was impossible.
"Bronya alone couldn't," Feixiao said calmly.
"But what if most of us learned Diplomacy?"
Jean fell silent.
So that's it…
They'd all gone into the wilds recruiting monsters.
At that moment, Jean's heart sank.
On their side, only Hu Tao had been stockpiling troops. Everyone else had essentially been supporting her. All the low-tier units produced in cities had been handed to Hu Tao to be converted into skeletons.
They'd thought this was a guaranteed win.
But now…
The enemy's army was no less terrifying. While they might not match Hu Tao in sheer numbers, their quality surpassed hers by an absurd margin.
In the stands, gasps rippled through the crowd.
Especially among the Genshin players—despair was written plainly on their faces.
What's the point of fighting this? Might as well surrender.
"So many…"
Even Ningguang felt uncertain now.
She had initially been very confident in Hu Tao. After all, Hu Tao's troop count was something no normal player could match.
But after seeing Feixiao's army, doubt crept in.
If the two really fought…
The outcome was far from certain.
"This is insane…"
"My god, this is straight-up cheating!"
"We're done for."
"I can already see the rewards flying away…"
Wails of despair spread across the Genshin side.
Facing an army like this, victory felt impossible no matter how they looked at it.
"What are you panicking for?"
At that moment, Arataki Itto stood up and shouted loudly:
"With just this many troops, what can they even do? Not enough to fill Hu Tao's teeth! Hahahaha!"
"…Really?"
"You sure?"
"Of course! What can such a tiny force even accomplish?"
No one had expected Itto to be so calm.
Strangely enough, his confidence actually eased everyone's nerves a little.
"I didn't expect Inazuma's resident loudmouth to be able to stabilize morale," Keqing muttered in surprise.
She'd originally planned to say something herself—to keep everyone from losing heart before the battle even began.
But Itto's performance genuinely caught her off guard.
Seems you really can't underestimate anyone.
If even Arataki Itto had this level of insight, then looking down on others would only invite disaster.
After calming the crowd, Itto folded his arms and sat back down, looking smug as ever.
"Boss, that was well done."
Kuki Shinobu gave him an approving nod.
"Heh, what's the big deal? Hu Tao has so many troops—how could she lose?"
Itto grinned arrogantly.
Give me that kind of army and I could win too.
"…Do you actually think Hu Tao will win?" Shinobu asked.
"Absolutely."
Shinobu understood immediately.
He's not boosting morale—he genuinely has no idea what's going on.
Still… somehow, it worked.
That said, she did have confidence in Hu Tao—not blind confidence like Itto's, but because Hu Tao's army truly was enormous.
Even if it was a brutal victory…
A win was still a win.
On the Battlefield
Jean looked at the ocean of enemies before her and felt like crying.
What did I ever do to deserve this? Why are you sending this many troops just to deal with me?
"…Sigh. I'll just kill as many as I can."
With that thought, Jean decided to cast as many spells as possible before being eliminated.
But when she tried—
[Magic cannot be used.]
"…What?"
"Anti-Magic Sphere," Feixiao said calmly.
"Neither of us can use magic."
Jean was stunned.
So it was pure melee.
Feixiao didn't bother waiting. She raised her hand and commanded:
"Advance. Titans, attack."
As the order was issued, a beam of light washed over her entire army.
Jean's eyes widened.
The enemy troops looked like they'd been injected with adrenaline—their speed skyrocketed.
In just a few blinks, they had already closed the distance.
Melee combat erupted.
Then something even more horrifying happened.
Jean realized her troops simply couldn't win.
They were both Tier-7 units. Both Archangels.
Yet three of her Archangels attacking one enemy Archangel were still being counter-killed.
"This… this isn't right."
Jean hurriedly opened the status panel.
And her heart skipped a beat.
Feixiao
Attack: 41
Defense: 39
Strength: 25
Intelligence: 25
Then she checked Feixiao's Archangels:
Attack: 30 (79)
Defense: 30 (77)
Speed: 18 (26)
What's the point of fighting at all…
Jean felt utterly hopeless.
Numbers aside, even quality was completely outmatched.
She couldn't understand it.
Feixiao's stats were far beyond Hu Tao's—so much stronger it was ridiculous.
"…Why are your stats like this?" Jean finally asked.
She had to know.
Just before, everyone had been roughly on the same level. How had Feixiao become this monstrously powerful?
Feixiao didn't bother hiding it.
The final battle was about to begin anyway—troops and artifacts were already locked in place.
"There's no harm in telling you."
She spoke calmly.
"Angel Alliance. A combination artifact."
"All attributes +21."
"…There's such an artifact?"
Jean was speechless.
At that moment, she felt a deep sense of injustice.
Both are combination artifacts—why does Angel Alliance give +21, while Cursed Armor only gives +3?!
Isn't that completely unreasonable?!
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