Chapter Text
“Venti…?”
Jean couldn’t believe it, the anemo archon of Mondstadt was standing right before them. Everyone watches in astonishment as Venti turns toward them, grinning. Jean could already see the gears churning inside their heads, realizing that the drunk green bard frolicking the city taverns were their beloved archon.
“Evening ladies and gents! Apologies for the windy entrance but…it seems to me we have a peculiar guest…” Venti sways back, towering towards the harbinger across them. There was something in the way his eyes shone that made Jean believe that this wasn't just any hasty interruption.
For Venti to reveal himself to the people and sacrifice his secret identity means that this dangerous entity in front of them is a threat that even Archons would meddle their affairs with. Diluc smirks back, his crimson eyes catching in the moonlit glow "Barbatos”.
The God smiles, his lyre slowly manifesting into his famous bow. He takes a step back, then another, and another until Jean herself is within his earshot. “This man is not one of the people nor the Ragnvindr you once knew.” The weapon glows in his grasp as he chants the warnings, whipping and snarling as if they were a hurricane trapped within this singular form. “It is a parasite taking its form and spreading plague across my lands”.
Jean looks up at the God, mortified to hear such bold declaration from his lips. Venti was many things to the acting grandmaster, before discovering his true identity Venti was an unfettered bard under her steady protection, an eccentric individual strumming his tune for all the good and bad this nation had to offer. Jean could even clasify him as a dreamer, weaving his poetry into songs. Sooner on he would prove himself to be a selfless deity, showing just how much love he has for his people.
Eventually, Venti would then be somebody Jean would really on as not just her archon but as her friend that she could trust in body, mind, and soul. Her head was already spiraling with the responsibilities of her title, the hidden politics corrupting their influence through the shadows of her beloved city. Venti was one of her consultants in this, sharing ideas and thoughts she could not have formulate herself. Jean turns her head to the battle-hungry figure across them and then towards her archon who seemed to be just as ravening.
“Your streak ends here, creature” Venti declares, the breeze around him, picking up at his garments. Centralizing themselves towards the force of nature known as the Anemo Archon. Jean has read plenty of books regarding the history of Teyvat, in those works of literature they always describe the Archon War as one of the most difficult periods this world has ever seen. Through the depictions of bloodshed and warfare, Jean could only shudder imagining what it was like to live in such era. Could this be what the scriptures would describe? The heedless waste of innocent lives and the war-monger ruthlessness of the Gods?
Seeing Venti transform into a heavenly thing in front of her, eyes blazing and white wings spreading. His usual green cloak being replaced by a flowing white garment draping down towards his feet and Jean desperately wishing they would not reinact the same fate. She doesn't know where this sudden savageness within him came from but Jean knows Venti well enough to see that his cheery nature and this territorial God in front of her were not one and the same. Barbatos was many things, but not a single statement stated he would abandon his people like this.
“Ah, I see that my presence does have an effect on you.” Diluc smiles, twirling his claymore. “Tell me, Lord of Freedom. Do you consider me so threatening that you would face me yourself?”
“Songs of sorrow have told me about you harbinger...but I do not fear what they warn, only what I see.”
Venti grins back. “And what I see now is a vermin ready for extermination.”
Diluc laughs, the winds overtaking the whimsical sound as they swirl around him.
Venti looks him closely, eyes alight with a burning azure. The winds pick up speed and slowly, the roofs of buildings began to flutter. Pieces of buildings and hanging ornaments straining to their currents. It did not take long for objects to follow such as the nearby plant pots, utensils from Good Hunters, and market baskets are taken with the breeze entirely. The winds wail and moan as they overtake the sky, growing massively, forming deep clouds of gray. Amidst the chaos, Jean sees her Archon nock his bow.
“Venti!” she yells, her feet moving faster than the winds could push her. She does not think further as she grabs the man’s shoulder. Pulling him aside as Diluc’s claymore flies past them both. The battlefield is silenced as the mighty greatsword cuts through the haze. Its impact blowing through a cloud of smoke as Diluc waits for it to fade.
A spark of beryl plays amongst the particles, crackling like strings of electro as a silhouette forms amidst the blur. Diluc takes in the sight of her, a smirk ghosting off his lips as long fingers flex in anticipation.
With Venti plopped down behind her Jean scowls at him, her anemo radiating her skin in swirling waves. She was glowing, not in the way you’d think goddesses are made but a heroine rising from the rubble. Perhaps it was the adrenaline making Diluc see things the way it is. The acting grandmaster hasn’t even noticed her tousled complexion, surviving his claymore a second time while saving her God from being decapitated.
Spectators watch in stunned awe, as the symbol of anemo appears over her head.
“Let's finish this” Diluc smiles, closing the gap between them with fire and steel. Jean stutters in her step, having no time to react as each of them share deadly blows. Jean has never felt this light in battle before, as if she was gliding through air. Diluc on the other hand could see it clearly, weaving past his claymore and dodging strikes just at the right moment. Her Anemo vision thrums heavy by her hip, singing with all the weight of a condensed whirlwind. She has the capability to end this and she takes it, devouring their distance.
They go back and forth like this, parrying attacks. Wind and fire bending against one another as neither side refuses to be engulfed. Diluc sends a wave of flames that Jean swiftly maneuvers back, sending with it her own burst of gale. The harbinger cleaves through the blow, separating the elements before Venti lets loose his first arrow.
The archon was just waiting for his moment, soaring above the clouds observing the two enhanced individuals until an oppurtunity opened for him. Diluc dodges the strike and a black hole emerges behind him where the arrow struck, pulling everyone and everything towards it. Knights scream in the background as they grapple on to each other, desperate for their lives. Eula digs her claymore to the ground as an anchor while Albedo and Kaeya work together to create an reinforced wall to hold back the pull. Some of the fatui that followed behind Diluc were sucked in instantaneously.
“Help!” a voice calls from beside her just as she sees them fly pass. Jean quickly shifts at her heel, feet firmly suctioned to the ground as she grabs their hand. She grunts as a few more that pass grapple onto the survivor, bracing for their own safety as they dangle for their lives. Diluc on the other hand battles the force by transforming into a giant creature, similar to that of the foul legacy transformation of 11th Harbinger.
But unlike the 11th harbinger the beast had an unsettling appearance, it was human in stature but bent crookedly due to the massive drape on its back. The cloak was similar to that of cooled magma; lava being encrusted over and over until the bright orange was coated in black. At the helm of its body was a metal falcon mask that covered the entirety of its face, accompanied with large metal talons hidden underneath. The sight provided nothing but nightmare fuel and gone were any signs that this monstrosity was once human.
“Foolish God.” a corrupted voice booms over the square just as the void dissipates and the knights quickly scramble to the sides as Jean blocks his attack. The two clash once more, sending flames and hurricanes as they pull one another to their graves. Despite this newfound strength gifted to her, it was still incomparable to the harbinger’s new form. Her movements slow as she feels her legs grow heavy, she barely dodges a swipe of a claw when Jean knew she was slowly losing her cards. By this time all of Mondstadt was now fighting in the distance as hordes of fatui appear from the entrance. Sword, spear, and greatsword users battle the invaders head-on while archers provided fire from above.
“What's wrong?” It mocks, noticing her distress. “No more tricks up your sleeve?” he taunts once more, sending out waves and waves of fire for her to deflect, practically blocking all means for escape.
“Gragh!” It was futile, her body is drained of its essence but Jean yells, pushing her weapon forward and overwhelming him with the same remnants of power he did onto her. The monster steps back, flames prickling his hand, and towards the wooden settlements. The pyro catches quickly and combined with the winds of her anemo vision, Mondtadt catches fire.
"You did this to yourself". The creature roars, scooping her from the ground and taking her by the throat, Jean squirms in protest as its giant claws constrict around her neck, body thrashing wildly just for a breath of air.
“This is the end for you acting grandmaster, no one is coming to save you,” it whispers as he holds her head closer. Jean sputters, spots of white clouding her vision just as she sees Venti come into view.
“Diluc!” the creature turns, its animalistic head moving towards the sound. Kaeya stands across him, desperate and unafraid. Facing a figure 5 times large than he was, searching its eyes for what's left of his brothers soul. It was a brief moment of hesitation, a short lapse of judgment on the harbinger’s side for Venti to fire his arrow from behind. The arrow pierces through his armor just as expected and Jean takes this momentary suprise by following it with a front stab in the chest.
A mighty roar is released as the beast falls over the large portal awaiting him underneath. Jean is still clutched within its grasp when Kaeya realizes this a second too late. He chases after them, screaming over empty air.