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The rain lashed down, torrential and unforgiving amidst howling winds that tore through the Liyue Harbour like a feral beast. It stripped leaves from trees and sent the propped-up stalls tumbling as frantic merchants tried to gather their wares. The sea, which had been crystal-clear only minutes ago, now ran murky and dark, spraying white foam every time it crashed against the city’s shores.
In the distance, Childe sees the enormous silhouette of the Jade Chamber, glowing like a guardian star as it stood between the rampaging God of Vortex and the city of Liyue. There’s a flash of light. An ear-shattering roar as the sea serpent Osial wailed, then fired several concentrated blasts of water in retaliation. Strayed shots missed the Jade Chamber and plunged into the ocean, creating a tsunami of waves that surged across the city streets.
There’s a chorus of screams as the last of the confused onlookers scatter like ants, scrambling to board themselves back up in the false safety of their homes. Childe narrowed his eyes and continued to watch from his perch atop the roof of the Northland Bank.
Whatever Ningguang had up her sleeves, it won't be good enough to go against a real god like Osial. The Sigils of Permission that Childe had used to undo its seals are temporary, of course, but it had done its job.
As for the rest of Liyue…
Briefly, Childe’s gaze flickered in the direction of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
It’s not as if he wants to destroy the city. Childe had never liked needlessly involving those weak and incapable of defending themselves, but at the same time...when push comes to shove, there are only so many options available to him. His priority is luring out Rex Lapis. If the rest of Liyue’s citizens are to be caught in the crossfire, then so be it.
(And even if Osial really flattened this place, he should at least have time to carry one person to safety.)
Up in the sky, the Jade Chamber glows gold again, unleashing a concentrated blast of energy larger than any before. Osial shrieks, but shows no sign of being pushed back. Even from a distance, Childe can see the way its five heads turned towards each other, and the enormous swirl of energy gathering in the air between them.
The sky lit up in a brilliant splash of blue, and blasts of hydro fell from parted clouds like a shower of meteors. But it’s not aimed for the Jade Chamber.
It’s coming straight at Liyue Harbor.
An attack like that would instantly decimate the city and flood whatever is left. Childe tenses, his own instincts screaming for him to move and find cover, but then–
Shadows shot across the skyline, and for a moment he couldn’t see anything at all.
It takes Childe a moment to realize that the very form of Mount Tianheng behind them had shifted, a wave of stone rippling forward and curving over the city like a living shield.
Osial’s hydro attacks splashed harmlessly off its surface. At the same time, a gigantic spike of rock shot out from beneath the ocean waves, spearing one of Osial’s heads clean through the center and locking it in place. A chorus of gasps echoed across the city, the awe and elation mixed in with cries of relief.
“That power, it’s–”
“I knew it, this has to be–”
Childe is no longer listening. The tower of stone above them is wavering again, retreating slightly so as not to block out the entire sky, but Childe had already circled around to haul himself up its edge. There’s a speck of light in the distance, right above the city at the cliffside of what used to be Mount Tianheng and it’s tiny, but somehow glowing even brighter than the Jade Chamber had ever before.
There you are.
As expected, there’s no way Rex Lapis can stand idle when his beloved city is in danger. Childe pushes himself faster, hydro energy swirling around the tip of his fingers. The glowing figure is right around the corner, and amidst the pouring rain he sees the silhouette of not a towering dragon, but a human man.
No matter.
Regardless of what form he chooses to take, this is undeniably–
The last of the distance between them is cleared with a single leap as Childe finally, finally, lays his eyes on the man before him.
And feels his heart stutter to a stop.
Even without seeing his face, Childe knows. A tall, slim figure. The dignified suit with golden coattails. His dark, silky hair, clasped together with a single cor lapis pin.
“Zhongli...?”
He hates the shock and uncertainty and weakness of his own voice, but somehow, it’s even worse when Zhongli finally turns to face him and his expression hasn’t changed at all, calm and impassive as always.
“Childe,” he acknowledges. “Or should I say, Tartaglia? ”
He knows. Of course he knows.
“...I gotta say, this is unexpected.” Despite his best efforts, Childe can feel his smile quivering around the edges so he hardens his expression instead, baring his teeth. “I knew I’d be able to lure out Rex Lapis like this, but to think...you, of all people…”
Zhongli, who had been eccentric but gentle. Zhongli, whose eyes had always shone with warmth past his solemn demeanor. Zhongli, who would happily ramble on for hours on end about obscure Liyuen customs, yet was so perpetually air-headed that he could never even remember to bring his wallet...
What did their time together actually mean? How could this man be–?
No, a small part of him acknowledges. The signs were there. I was just too blinded by...
“Childe,” Zhongli says again.
The ground beneath them rumbles as Osial finally jerks free from the rock pillar, seawater creeping up to heal the gaping hole in its head within seconds. With a single flick of his wrist, Zhongli sends several more stone spears shooting out of the water, stabbing through the serpent’s body. “Your plan was well thought-out, even if it doesn’t match your usual style of conduct,” he continues. “But I’m afraid I don’t have time to deal with you right now.”
“Time? You don’t have time? ” Childe barks out a laugh, tinged with disbelief and a simmering undercurrent of anger. To have been fooled like this– for the Geo Archon to have been right beside him, all along–
“You talk as if I’m giving you a choice,” he sneers. “This is not a request, a negotiation, or a suggestion. This is not one of your contracts.”
Childe slides down his mask.
“I’m here to take your gnosis, Morax!”
His bow materializes in a flicker of light and Childe shifts his weight, firing a flurry of arrows at Zhongli in quick succession. No time is wasted as he springs forward, neatly splitting his bow into twin hydro blades and closing the distance between them before the first of his arrows have even begun their downward arc.
Zhongli’s eyes track him with smoldering intensity, but the man himself remains immobile for so long that, for a moment, Childe wonders if his blade might reach its target on his first try after all – but then the ground suddenly lurches beneath his feet and Childe is forced to change his trajectory, twisting in the midair to avoid doing a very embarrassing face plant on the muddy grass.
Childe lands soundlessly on his feet and puts what’s left of his momentum into his blade, but the hydro weapon actually loses its shape upon collision with Zhongli’s geo barrier. Like his arrows, it splashes harmlessly down with the rest of the rain.
Zhongli gazes back, expressionless.
“You cannot defeat me.”
He says this calmly, as a mere statement of fact. Childe’s answering smile is crooked.
“Maybe not under normal circumstances,” he admits. As much as he enjoys the thrill of a challenge, part of being a warrior is understanding your opponent and knowing when to pick your battles instead of charging headfirst into a hopeless situation. After all, Childe understands the extent of Morax’s power.
The power disparity between them is large enough that, if this truly came down to a fair fight, then there would be no fight at all.
Therefore, he had to even the playing field somehow.
“The thing is, I’m not the only one you should be worried about right now.”
A haunting wail reverberates as Osial breaks free again. The stone spears holding it in place had crumbled to pieces, the beast itself is no longer stationary near its summoned location at the Guyun Stone Forest. Slow and cumbersome as its movements might be, it’s unmistakably approaching Liyue Harbor.
The sky lights up with another shower of hydro blasts. At the same time, Childe reaches deep within himself for the familiar flare of his Delusion, ignoring the tell-tale tinge of wrong uncomfortable wrong that accompanies its power, and embracing it instead. A flurry of sparks fills the air as a new weapon appears in his hand, electricity crackling as he flings himself at Zhongli once more.
There’s a flash of gold as Zhongli finally summons his own weapon, blocking Childe’s strike and sweeping the handle of his polearm towards his face in one fluid movement. Childe ducks, feeling the wind as it goes over his head. Irritation swells in his chest when he sees Zhongli’s eyes flickering back to the open sea, making a move as if to turn around–
A blast of lightning splits the ground apart between them, sizzling with heat, and Childe grins wildly when he sees Zhongli falter.
“Eyes on me, Rex Lapis! ”
He leaps through the scattering sparks, taking advantage of Zhongli’s momentary slip to aim at his unprotected side. The geo barrier slows rather than outright stops him this time, but that split second is enough for Zhongli to recover and parry his sword away.
There’s no time to mourn his lost opportunity. Zhongli’s gaze hardens as he switches seamlessly to the offensive, his spear a blur of black and gold. Childe blocks, matching him blow for blow, but there’s such force behind each strike that he practically feels it vibrating in his bones. They lock blades briefly, pushing against each other–
And then Zhongli pivots and drives his boot into Childe’s stomach.
It knocks the air right out of his lungs and Childe goes tumbling head over heels. He recovers almost instantly, landing in a tucked roll back onto his feet, but Zhongli is faster. Childe only catches sight of him holding out his hand before the ground beneath him is suddenly shooting up from all directions, forming a seamless cage of stone.
“What the–” electro flares up around him as Childe smashes his polearm against his impromptu prison. It sends a spray of dust and sharp pebbles back into his face, but the geo construct itself shows no sign of giving. “Zhongli!”
Why this?
Why these stupid walls, when Zhongli could have ran him through while he was still on the ground?
He gets his answer a moment later when something large and heavy impacts the cage from the outside, shaking it to its very foundations. A spiderweb of cracks spread all over the stone and, through it, water seeps down.
That had been one of Osial’s attacks just now.
Zhongli is protecting him.
An indescribably bitter emotion wells up within Childe before it’s abruptly drowned in a rush of overwhelming fury, and he shatters the rest of the geo construct with an explosion of lightning.
Zhongli is facing the sea again. In the few short seconds Childe had spent trapped inside his stone prison, the foundations of Mount Tianheng had once again shifted to protect Liyue against Osial’s hydro blasts. The city itself seems to have been raised high above sea level, clear of the flooding waves Osial sent their way. The Jade Chamber is still floating overhead, casting brief blasts of energy upon the sea serpent from behind, but Osial had long stopped paying attention to the small fry.
Right before his eyes, one of Osial’s serpentine heads sent a blast of high-pressure water towards Liyue, cutting clear through a solid stone pillar as if it was made out of paper. Zhongli swiftly raised another wall of geo to block it, scattered boulders glowing amber as they pelt down upon Osial like hail.
This is what Zhongli had been focusing on.
Even with Childe right in front of him, he–
“Don’t you dare look down on me…!”
Electro surges through Childe’s veins as he embraces the full power of his Delusion, falling back within the blinding heat of its power and letting it consume him in its entirety. It forms a thick layer of armour over his body, his previously-lightweight metal mask creeping over skin until even everything in his vision had been consumed by a sickening purple tint.
For the first time, Zhongli’s impassive expression cracks. “Childe, I–”
“If you have time to play around,” Childe snarls. “Then fight me properly! ”
He doesn’t feel entirely himself under the Foul Legacy Transformation, as if some other force is piloting his limbs and he’s half a step behind his own actions. But the Delusion’s power is undeniable as Childe rushes Zhongli once more, throwing his entire weight behind the blow and giving an exhilarated laugh when he actually shoves Zhongli back.
Somewhere in the distance, Osial roars. It’s definitely closer to Liyue Harbor now and Zhongli must know it too, because his eyes keep darting back towards the sea, but Childe doesn’t give him a chance to turn around. He lashes out again and again, a rapid series of slashes and jabs that sends wild jolts of electricity in every which direction. It hurts him, too, a bone-deep ache that drags on his limbs more with each passing second. Childe knows he’ll be facing the backlash soon, but he also can’t bring himself to care.
Not when Zhongli is finally, finally looking at him.
Stone walls rise up around him again, but this time, Childe tears right through them. He knocks Zhongli’s polearm aside next, uncaring of the way it cuts through his armor and flesh, and revels in a sick, twisted sense of pleasure at the way Zhongli’s eyes widen right before he slams his hand against the other man’s throat.
Zhongli lands hard on the rain-slicked stone, the delicately mortal pulse of his human vessel fluttering frantically under Childe’s hand. He tightens his grip. Thin rivulets of crimson trickle down from where Childe’s claws had pierced the fragile skin.
“If you don’t start using lethal force,” he breathes, “I really will kill you.”
Zhongli’s chest heaves as he sucks in a shallow gasp. “You...do not...know your own limits,” he chokes out. “That t-transformation. Your body–”
“Is none of your business.” The smile drops off Childe’s face. Zhongli’s words feel like a splash of icy water, drowning out any sense of enjoyment he had been getting out of their fight.
He’s being pushed to his limits, but it’s not fun at all.
“If you’ve still got energy to talk, then worry about yourself,” he continues, sneering. Osial draws ever closer, so much that Childe can now feel the supernatural weight of its presence in the air. “Or better yet, your precious city. So long as you’re tied up with me here, you won’t be able to protect Liyue.”
Zhongli’s body slackens for a moment. There’s something like resignation in his eyes.
Then a pillar of stone shoots out from the ground and pummels Childe squarely in the chest.
The momentum of it throws Childe off. Zhongli is back on his feet in an instant, his polearm a whirl of motion as he strikes back against Childe once, twice– the sheer force of the second blow knocks Childe’s weapon clean out of his hands and the third sends him stumbling, doubled over as pain blossoms against his side. Still, Zhongli doesn’t stop. The silver of his spear glimmers as he slashes down.
So this is it.
If he’d caught a glimpse of Zhongli’s true power in his last moments, then maybe this isn’t too bad.
Except–
Childe doesn’t see the motion, exactly, but what strikes him is not a sharpened blade. While it’s still enough to shatter half of his mask, the impact itself is blunt. Childe’s head snaps back, ears ringing. Blood streams down from the cut on his face.
It takes a moment for him to realize that Zhongli had struck him with the shaft of his polearm instead of its lethal edge.
...And that, once again, Zhongli had turned his back on him.
The ocean had become a field of stone pillars, resonating and pulsing with geo energy as it held a wailing, thrashing Osial within its confines just before it could reach the shore. Zhongli is glowing, too, silent in concentration with his hands held up towards the heavens. Even against the backdrop of the stormy skies he is radiant, every bit the powerful and awe-inspiring god Liyue’s legends made him out to be.
To him, Childe is worth nothing.
Not even worth fighting.
The more familiar power of hydro barely stirs when he calls upon it, but his Delusion still responds, eager and all-consuming like it’s trying to crawl through his veins and burst out of his skin. At that moment, Childe welcomes it.
Look at me.
Electricity crackles through the air, scorching the ground black beneath them. Childe knows Zhongli can hear it, knows he can feel it closing in, but–
Look at me…!
There’s a blinding flash of light. An enormous meteor plunges down from the sky, crushing Osial under its weight and shaking the very earth beneath them to its foundations. At the same time, Childe sinks his hand deep into Zhongli’s body and closes his fingers around the tiny glass heart within.
It burns bright and hot against his skin, the immense hum of power scorching even past the clawed armor on his hands – Childe can feel Zhongli’s very essence like this, delicate and fragile and utterly at his mercy.
Even if the rest of their time together had been fake, even if this is for the briefest of moments...right now, Zhongli can belong to him.
Childe twists his wrist before wrenching it out.
Zhongli lets out a muted gasp and crumples almost immediately, and it’s by some unknown instinct that Childe automatically wraps an arm around his waist to catch him. When his own knees buckle, they sink down to the ground together.
“I…”
The last of his Delusion’s powers disappear, and the remnants of his mask scatter into the wind. Childe draws in a shallow, unsteady breath.
The light in Zhongli’s eyes is rapidly fading, but he still finds the energy to raise a single trembling hand, clasping feebly at Childe’s fingers. Childe jerks back, but Zhongli tries again and ends up grasping onto his sleeve instead.
This time, Childe doesn’t have the heart to move away.
“I warned you,” he finally says, voice low and raspy. “You should have killed me.”
Zhongli exhales quietly, but doesn’t respond. Somehow, the look in his eyes is gentle.
His grip slackens before falling entirely limp, leaving Childe curled over his unconscious body and clutching at the small, fragile warmth of his gnosis.
The fight is over. Zhongli had lost.
But for Childe, victory had never felt more empty.