Xia Yu was reeling internally as she watched a swarming mass of over thirty Clockwork Meka charging straight at her. She hadn't expected the opposition to be this bold—she was currently wearing the identity of the Hydro Archon, for heaven's sake! Were they really trying to use mechanical toys to fight a god?
In reality, Marcel didn't expect these Meka to actually achieve anything. He didn't care if they were torn to shreds by the Hydro Archon the very next second; he harbored little hope. To him, this was simply a final act of defiance against a deity.
But for Xia Yu, this was genuinely life-threatening... thirty-plus Meka... Honestly, she hadn't been in a single fight since she was a kid. But now, looking back at the scarred and trembling girls behind her, she let out a sigh, reached out her hand, and began to commune with her Vision.
When the path is narrow, the brave prevail. She had to go for it!
Fortunately, she was cautious by nature. She hadn't let the prestige of Furina's name go to her head despite her smooth journey so far. She hadn't put all her hopes on the Fontaine Special Security and Surveillance Patrol or the Marechaussee Phantom arriving in time; she had prepared.
As Xia Yu extended her hand, torrents of water hidden in the ceiling, floor cracks, and walls erupted! Carrying a massive amount of debris, the water surged toward the Meka like a tidal wave.
As the pinnacle of Fontainian high-tech, the Meka's combat power was undeniable—even the Traveler had struggled against them. However, they shared a common flaw: an obsession with aesthetics that compromised their durability in messy environments.
Take the common "Area Alert" models—their massive abdominal gears were completely exposed, and the joints in their limbs had zero protection. To be honest, if this were a video game, Xia Yu would think the design looked cool. Now that she had to fight them, she found the design absolutely wonderful—for all the wrong reasons.
Predictably, the thirty-plus charging Meka were swallowed by the sudden tide. While stalling for time, Xia Yu used the water to gather every piece of junk she could find in the ruins.
The lead Meka received "special treatment." The turbulent water, packed with gravel and wood chips, lashed at its joints. The abdominal gears were hit first, with several pebbles wedging themselves firmly inside, followed by the arms, the legs...
The towering Meka instantly stalled.
Its companions behind it met the same fate. This hideout, converted from ruins, was naturally filled with clutter. You couldn't exactly expect a bunch of criminals to keep their lair "palatial" or "tidy." This gave Xia Yu plenty of ammunition.
The group behind Xia Yu watched with expressions of total awe. From their perspective, the Lady Furina had simply waved a hand, summoning a torrent that effortlessly paralyzed an entire squad of Meka. Her calm, composed demeanor made it look easy.
Only Xia Yu knew just how tight the timing was.
While the Meka design was... a bit too focused on artistic flair, it made sense given Fontaine's history. As a nation that had enjoyed long-term peace with few external threats, the "relaxed" attitude Fontainians had toward military hardware was normal. If these had been designed by a war-torn nation, those exposed gears would have been heavily armored.
But the designers hadn't completely abandoned utility. The torque of those gears was immense; they could usually crush ordinary debris. Plus, in a normal fight, even if you jammed one machine, what about the others? These were mass-produced units; nobody ever sends just one to fight you.
What? You're asking about Vision holders? Look, if you're sending mass-produced fodder to fight elite units, you've got a problem. In any other nation's regular army, trying to trade human lives for industrial products is a losing game. These are pure machines; if ordered, they'll charge a god without a second thought.
Xia Yu only succeeded because she maximized her environmental advantage. The nature of a Hydro Vision allowed her to use large-scale water to paralyze the machines, and the ruins provided the "shrapnel." With any other element, it wouldn't have been this simple.
But she knew this was only temporary.
It wouldn't take long for the Meka to use their own power to grind the debris clogging their gears into dust. The junk in the hall was finite; she couldn't trap them forever.
She had to take the initiative.
Thinking this, she walked forward and stopped in front of a Meka.
At Furina's height, she only reached the machine's waist. This annoyed Xia Yu, so she delivered a swift kick. The Meka, already off-balance, tumbled right in front of her.
With enough pressure, even water can cut through anything!
She clenched her right hand. A jet of water, infused with metal shards, bypassed the heavy shoulder and chest plating of the "Area Alert" model, reaching the fragile, protected neck. Then...
A piercing screech of grinding metal rang out until the delicate connection was completely severed.
In the eyes of the onlookers, Lady Furina was furious.
Extremely furious!!
She had even abandoned her usual elegant posture. Instead of using water to shred the machines directly, she was venting her rage on them—literally ripping the heads off the Clockwork Meka with her bare hands!!!
The surrendering thugs watched this and pulled their heads into their shoulders, trembling and wishing they could roll out of the Archon's sight entirely.
What if she finishes the Meka and still isn't satisfied? Is she going to start dismantling us next?!
There was no helping it; the Archon before them was vastly different from the public image of Furina. But not a single soul suspected she was an impostor.
Xia Yu intentionally kept some metal fragments from the dismantled Meka, carrying them in her water stream as she moved to the next unit.
The screeching of grinding metal echoed through the ruins. People watched as she ripped off an arm here, a leg there, and tore the next machine in half... it was a mechanical massacre.
Occasionally, a machine would struggle to move, only for the Hydro Archon to command the water to paralyze it again before slowly taking it apart (in reality, the machine had finally crushed the debris, only to be hit with a fresh "crowd control" wave).
Seriously, if this weren't the Hydro Archon, everyone would have thought they'd encountered a psychopathic serial killer.
Xia Yu's hands were getting sore. These things were way too sturdy. Many were starting to break free, forcing her to trap them with water over and over.
Just then, Marcel, watching the Hydro Archon dismantle her way closer to him, began to laugh.
He didn't even look at the terrified Vallo beside him. He stared with pure hatred at the Hydro Archon, who was currently taking apart an "Assault Specialist" model, and shouted: "You are angry, God of Water!"
"But even in your rage, you haven't taken the head of a transgressor like me! Instead, you choose to vent your fury on a bunch of mindless machines?"
"What are you thinking? Are you still planning to drag me to that ridiculous Opera House for your playground trials? Is this your justice?"
"How laughable! Truly laughable! A laughable country, a laughable god! What do you think you can protect? Do you think your justice—"
Before he could finish, Xia Yu—who was already cranky from the manual labor—picked up a freshly detached Meka arm and hurled it. The cold steel made a very intimate, high-velocity acquaintance with his face.
God dammit, you keep causing trouble and now you're acting like you're the one with a point?!
Xia Yu was fuming. She'd ended up here for no reason, got dragged into this mess, and was currently risking her life against these machines. To others, she looked effortless, but her supply of "junk" was almost exhausted. If she didn't finish them off in this round, she'd have to fight them head-on.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Grabbing the shoulder of the Meka in front of her, she wrenched off its severed head and weighed it in her hand, looking for a good angle to crack that self-righteous idiot's skull open.
But just then, a startled cry from behind interrupted her.
"Lord Neuvillette! I confess! I confess everything!!!"
Fontaine's official forces had finally arrived.
Furina (the real one) stood at the front of the group, staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the aggressive blue figure who was currently holding a severed Meka head, tossing it up and down like a ball as she marched toward the man on the ground.
That person... looks awfully familiar...