“And that's exactly why such a mechanism would be the better option for humans! Its maneuverability allows its users to easily adjust the ballista's location and aims.” 

 

“Perhaps, but being a catapult, its ammunition won't be limited to specially crafted arrows. Rather, any heavy objects would work. It's a more versatile and economic choice for Liyue's defense.”

 

On a mountain far away from Liyue Harbor, a hot debate is proceeding inside the hidden abode of an Adeptus. The Cloud Retainer and Haagentus are staring at each other directly in the eyes; the intensity nearly forms two streams of lightning opposing each other between their sights.

 

“It would appear that neither of us can convince the other of our ideals, Guizhong.” Cloud Retainer says, crossing her arms below her chest. 

 

Seeing that, the Dust Archon puffs out her cheeks a little after quickly glancing at the pair of her source of frustrations. 

 

“Since that's the case, why don't we have Rex Lapis be the final judge of our designs instead?” Cloud Retainer turns halfway facing the exit of her home and sees a robed figure quietly entering.  

 

“Guizhong, Cloud Retainer, has everything been alright?” Morax greets. 

 

Hearing his soothing voice always manages to calm Haagentus' bated breath. However, it would also stir up butterflies in her stomach. Guizhong feels that there’s something new and exciting every time she meets the Geo Archon. Their most recent departure sure kept Guizhong on the edge of her seat. 

 

According to Rex Lapis' divine message, Liyue was to face the most powerful foe it had seen, yet the Archon insisted on facing it alone. Every other Adepti and even Archons, therefore, were waiting far away from the battlefield. 

 

Morax prevailed, naturally, but Guizhong sees in his eyes, a shade of fatigue that has never shown up before. That is despite the fact that Morax's expression remains unchanging like stone. 

 

“Thanks to you, the casualty was quite low, but many people seem to have lost their minds.” Guizhong replies. She then turns towards Cloud Retainer and halfheartedly accuses: “Hey old crane, Shouldn't we let Rax Lapis rest after that battle? It's been only a day, and you've brought him here for our debate.”

 

Cloud Retainer doesn't argue back; she was the first to see Morax after that giant tentacle man's defeat, and from the look of it, their great Geo Archon didn't sustain too much damage. 

 

“I trust that Rax Lapis isn’t gonna need to lie down any time soon. So, what do you think of our mechanical designs?” 

 

The Cloud Retainer slightly lowered her voice when she said that. After all, Guizhong is their Archon of Wisdom. Since combat isn't her strength, research in mechanical engineering had become her method of converting her knowledge to power that could protect her believers. 

 

With a single glance, Morax manages to comprehend the key elements behind both Guizhong and Cloud Retainer’s designs. Putting a curved finger on his chin, Morax carefully considers for a moment before gesturing his palm toward the ballista. 

 

“While Cloud Retainer’s catapult is, indeed, a more versatile and more powerful mechanism, such a power is more fitting for offensive purposes. Like, for example, breaching the walls of a city. However, Liyue’s goal isn’t to conquer, but rather to defend itself from outside forces. We aren’t seeking to win in this Archon War, only that I have promised the people in this nation protection. Therefore, Guizhong’s ballista is the more fitting design of the two.” Rex analyzes. 

 

“Woo-hoo!” Guizhong hops up in celebration, smiling like a little child. Cloud Retainer’s arms remain crossed. She closes both her eyes and turns away, yet nonetheless can’t resist but open one to peek back. 

 

Cloud retainer isn’t jealous of Guizhong of her talent, and the Adeptus is certainly not questioning Morax’s judgment. She is simply frustrated at how obvious her flaw was to Rex Lapis: When she designed her catapult, she was not entirely thinking from the people’s perspective. The people of Liyue do not seek to dominate or conquer, only to defend themselves. She has omitted that during her design, unlike the Dust Archon. 

 

“Either way,” Cloud Retainer exclaims: “Obscural Vulpes is quite an abstract name for a ballista, why not give it a more memorable title instead?” 

 

“Oh? Like what? What would you say is cooler than a hidden fox?” Guizhong leans on her workbench with one elbow, winking at the Cloud Retainer in an attempt to frustrate her friend even more. 

 

“For instance, yourself. Honor the designer. It’d also help the people remember that you are capable of protecting them.”

 

“So, you want me to call it the what? ‘Guizhong Ballista’?” 

 

“It has a nice ring to it.” Morax adds. 

 

Just as Cloud Retainer exits her abode, Morax calls on her: “Cloud, please have Marchosius notify our people that the Ancient Jungle is to be guarded from this moment on, and gathering from within it is now forbidden.”

 

“The newest contract that you have signed with the Dryad tribe?” Cloud Retainer turns and asks.

 

Morax nods. 

 

“Where do you think this Terra Archon is?” She inquires. 

 

“I do not know.” Morax replies. “Perhaps, at this point, only the last Dryad can tell, but currently, she is still asleep.” 

 

“Have you figured out what happened to Mt. Tianheng?” Guizhong asks. 

 

“Right,” Rex Lapis looks in the mountain’s direction. “That certainly was a strange occurrence.” 

 

The Cloud Retainer leaves. Opening both her arms, she transforms into a white crane with sky-blue and golden plumage. She takes to the air but senses that the cloud and wind near Mt. Tianheng are extremely unstable. Being one who borrows the wind and retains the clouds, (Fun fact, that’s the Cloud Rtainer’s Chinese name’s literal translation) this Adeptus is quite sensitive to the weather. She flies at the speed of sound towards that mountain. 

 

-----

 

“Okay, let’s see, our big gun just adios-ed us. I’m running low on carrots. Luckily those hydras are still far away from- nope! Nope! Beisht is rapidly approaching the shore! There’s absolutely no possible way things could get any worse than thi- OH I FORGOT TO DELETE MY BROWSER HISTORY BEFORE DYING!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee……….” Feng’s monologue ends in a pitful squeal. He is dead: on every level besides physically, he is dead. Currently, Feng is only still squeezing the Celebration Mk2’s trigger from spinal reflex. 

 

Just a few moments ago Osial and Beisht were busy shielding themselves from the colorful missiles. Ripples, shockwaves, smoke, and vapors appear from every direction on their hydro barrier. Under such a sensory overload, they fail to notice that Corcell has long flown past them. 

 

A while later, Osial finally reacts. 

 

“Wait! Where is the flying one!?” 

 

He frantically looks around and sees that the clouds in the sky behind them have been shaped into an enormous spiral in the sky. Periodically, lightning lights up a random chunk of the dark clouds. He watches as clouds from all across the sky gather around the center of that spiral. Even the ocean has pillars of vapor rising to add to there. The wind howls stronger as the cloud grows. It is at this moment that the name of an Archon suddenly appears in Osial’s mind.

 

“That’s! No! It can’t be! Corcell the Cloud Archon!?” 

 

“What!?” 

 

“Beisht! We have to get her away from the clouds! She is mustering strength from them!” Osial ignores the missiles and points all of his heads toward the center of the spiral in the sky. He fires five streams of water jet straight at it, but they scatter into harmless snowflakes before hitting their target. 

 

Corcell’s eyes now leak streaks of blood-red lightning arcs. Arua of snow and mist surround her Starfury in a helix. Indeed, being inside clouds, especially ones made by those Archons, has rapidly recharged a good portion of her power. 

 

Back when she was in a cave, the options for regaining her power were few. When she got out, the recent battle nearby had also blown away any clouds around her. When she sees Osial and Beisht, Corcell knows that she now has the chance to charge up. At first, her plan was to attract the clouds to her side, but Beisht was stopping her due to them not wanting the clouds to be too close to Mt. Tianheng. Then, she thought of risk for a chance to bypass the two and reach the clouds on the horizon, but with her dwindled power, Corcell wasn’t confident that she could breach Osial and Baisht’s defense. 

 

However, just then, Feng suddenly opened fire on the two. The assault was powerful enough to momentarily distract the two for Corcell to swiftly sneak by. Now all that she needs to do is to stay in the center of her cloud spiral. 

 

Originally, Osial envisioned a quick kill and thus has not been unleashing his full potential. He seriously can not afford to notify Morax that he is here. However, now that he sees the Cloud Archon advancing with a lightning storm, he can’t afford to hold back any longer either. 

 

Osial opens all of his mouths, and Hydro elemental power gathers around him. Sky-piercing vortexes rise into the clouds, blending and scattering them. Corcell grips her sword firmly and unleashes her elemental burst. 

 

“Wrath of the hail, befall! And impale!”

 

The cloud spiral begins raining down icicles the size of trunks towards the vortexes. With a single penetration, a large portion of the vortex would freeze and fall back to the sea. The hail rains fiercely. Some are cannon-ball ice spheres, while others are spear-like icicles as sharp as blades. When they land in the ocean, they each push away the water with force great enough to form vacuums around themselves. When they strike the ocean floor, they form craters or nail deep into the sediments below. Up on the surface, water splashes and swirls. 

 

Osial is spitting out water jets and spheres as he constantly regenerates his vortexes, but he quickly realizes something that sends five chills down his hydra spines. (Just pretend he has them) In the distance, the ocean surface underneath the cloud spiral is frozen solid, and the ice is spreading toward him and Beisht, slowly, but constantly.

 

When his vortexes make it to the frozen ground, they only shred away a small portion of the ice before collapsing back into the ocean, swirling the Cryo element to freeze even a larger surface. 

 

This is bad, they can not let Corcell carry those clouds to them, especially not with the countless lightning that is striking down. 

 

Beisht knows exactly that, and quickly turns towards the shore. She can not understand why the Cloud Archon, who has always been separate from matters under the clouds by living above them, would appear in this location. However, seeing the stone huts, Beisht suspects that Corcell must be fighting for something or someone situated there. Without hesitation, she charges right at the shore, carrying with her a huge tsunami that dwarfs the salt wall that Havria has raised. 

 

The Cloud Retainer stands at the top of Mt. Tianheng. She feels that she can see a little less far than before as if the mountain has somehow gotten a little shorter. However, she can’t dwell on the thought of that, not with the distant battle in her sight. A momentary shock later, she hastily notifies Morax and every Adepti she can reach telepathically. 

 

Feng has his shellphone in hand. He is willing to fight for those people, but not die for them. Especially when his death isn’t going to add anything to them. He’ll help, but if it’s beyond his power, no one can blame him for retreating. 

 

“Nonsense! Since when does a speck of salt dare to oppose the sea!?” Beisht declares. 

 

When the tsunami hits, the salt wall is easily breached. Feng did not anticipate the speed of the wave and was washed back. Luckily he manages to have his back on a stone hut, so as to not be carried away like a driftwood. 

 

Despite being fully submerged for a while, Havria holds her ground. Her salt ruler is firmly in the beach, and the wall of salt begins to regenerate using the salt in the seawater. More than that, however, each block placed down by Feng is also much more resilient compared to their actual materials. 

 

It’s as if those blocks are reinforced in place by some kind of Sandbox logic. 

(*Cough *Cough Block System *Cough)

 

Beisht is utterly baffled by the fact that even though her wave has flooded the entire town, not a single stone hut crumbled. The trees nearby are uprooted and streaming down the coursing flood. Rocks nearby roll at the bottom, even clashing against some of the huts, yet they remain in place. 

 

She calls forth another wave, and the flood begins to rise. 

 

Feng realizes that when he built those stone huts, he had made them short and with a large opening as the window. He was trying to conserve materials to build more huts. But now, the rising water soon reaches the window and begins pouring into the rooms. 

 

The people press themselves against the far corner of the hut and away from the window. They tremble as water begins flowing into their room. Even though Havria has instructed them all to stay inside, a few panic and open their door at the sight of their hut getting filled up. The moment they open their door the water crashes in, forming a spiral that spins those people until they are launched out of their huts. 

 

When the water calms down, no one will find their body. 

 

Neighboring residents who see that through their windows breathe faster and faster. Cries of children and screams of adults echo across the town, all are drowned out by the sound of the crashing waves. 

 

Feng watches as logs that are thicker than his waist are getting washed away like twigs by the flood. It pours down the hill, decimating the surroundings and swallowing everything outside the huts. He suddenly wonders why wasn’t he washed away, and he looks back to see a grappling hook firmly anchoring him onto the wall of a hut. 

 

Beisht naturally notices Feng, and the huts that are still standing firmly in place tell her that perhaps she and her husband are currently facing three Archons, even though she can’t sense anything from Feng. 

 

She launches a water sphere right at Feng, and Feng only has the chance to unhook himself. Just as he is frantically grabbing his shellphone again, his vision blurs. Feng feels a powerful streak of wind rushing by him, and he sees that Corcell has carried him into the air. 

 

Feng looks down and, accompanied by the fear of the height, he sees a puddle of red momentarily flashing on the surface of the flood from the hut he was at; it has now crumbled from Beisht’s attack. 

 

Beisht lets out a sigh; she betted correctly. Corcell has left her cloud spiral in order to rush to Feng’s rescue. Osial soon joins his wife after dissipating the spiral. Even though Corcell regained much of her power from the charging before, the clouds were still her primary source of damage. Unfortunately, she travels too slowly with it around her. 

 

“Humph! What has brought the Chatelaine to the lands below?” Beisht taunts. “Shouldn’t you be floating in your city right now?” 

 

“Havria isn’t a stranger, and I won’t allow you to harm this man. Leave!” Corcell loudly declares as small pieces of thunderclouds once again begin to form around her.

 

Feng is lying in her arms. He feels the enormous strength of her wings, yet they transfer only gentle and comforting bobbing to him. 

 

Osial’s arrival carries with it another wave that once again crashes upon the town. Water rises to the people’s waist level. Some of the elders who have their backs hunched already have their beards floating. Parents are holding up their children until their heads are pressed onto the roof. A good amount of people have already opened their doors in search of an escape route, but they only serve as warnings to the rest that only demise awaits outside. 

 

Suddenly, the Vortex Archon and his wife both sense a powerful presence approaching them. Osial looks to Beisht who gives a stern nod. 

 

Morax is on his way!

 

Beisht suddenly strikes; one of her heads slams hard on the shoreline in search of Havria. Her other two heads emit out streams of mist at Corcell. Corcell doesn’t understand what Beisht is doing, but having mist assists her in forming clouds. She concentrates on the mists, but without being able to gesture, the process is rather slow. 

 

“WATCH OUT!!!” Feng suddenly shouts, seeing that Osial is preparing to attack. 

 

Corcell quickly commands the clouds to rain down hail shards at him. Her pupils widen when she notices that Osial’s attack does not contain any Hydro element. Instead, he has launched an Anemo attack. Osial’s wind blasts towards Corcell. Due to her lesser control over the newly-formed clouds, the hail shards are close enough that she’s in range of the upcoming reactions. The Anemo swirls the Cryo in the hail, and since both Feng and Corcell are drenched in Hydro elements from the mist and flood, the swirled-up Cryo freezes the water on them. 

 

Corell thought of countering it, but she puts Feng down on a piece of cloud at the last moment instead. While the two are busy breaking free, they are both caught off guard by Osial suddenly leaping out of the ocean and right at them in the air. 

 

Yes, the Vortex Archon, a five-headed water hydra, is leaping out of the ocean. 

 

Osial extends his long neck at the two. Feng breaks free from the ice first, but by then he is already inside Osial’s mouth. He sees that Corcell is right between the hydra’s teeth, and without thinking, Feng pushes her out. 

 

“FENG!”

 

Crocell’s face turns pale as she watches Osial slamming his enormous jaw down, enclosing Feng. Thanks to Feng pushing her, he himself is also pushed backward, saving him from the bite. However, Osial instantly swallows, and Feng enters the Vortex Archon’s stomach like a bug that has just been flushed down the toilet. 

 

Osial’s other heads move for another bite, but they are no match for Corcell’s agility now that she’s no longer frozen. 

 

Seeing that, he quickly returns to the ocean, smearing the crushed huts beneath him further into a finer bloody mess that’s quickly washed away by the floods. 

 

It is not just the huts right beneath Osial that are destroyed; his leap also further raises the water level. By now, the shorties and many elders are already submerged, and most barely manages to keep their nose above the water. 

 

Osial knows that he stands no chance against Corcell if he is out of the ocean for too long, but that risky move was worth it. He and Beisht both noticed that even when Corcell was using both Hydro and Cryo elements when in the clouds, she was not freezing herself. Her secret was the lightning bolts that were radiating around her. Osial deduced that Corcell must be immune to Electro, and was using that to react with the Cryo or Hydro elements on her first. That way, Neither of the two will be left to react with each other. 

 

This is also why Corcell has not been using any Hydro power against Osial and Beisht. Knowing what they are, they are probably immune to the Hydro element. 

 

However, Osial and Beisht both used Feng against Corcell. Because she was holding Feng, she herself could not radiate Electro, so as to not hurt Feng. This is why when Osial swirled the Cryo in her hail, she couldn’t counter the freezing reaction. Had Feng not pushed Corcell away, she could have been finished by that bite. After all, when Cryo meets Electro, a superconduction reaction occurs, severely lowering one’s resistance toward physical attacks for a short duration. 

 

Speaking of Feng, Osial returns to the ocean, and a shockwave spreads from his body. He has clenched his abdomen hard in an attempt to crush Feng in his stomach. 

 

What is it like inside an Archon’s stomach?

 

Dark

 

Darker

 

Yet Darker

 

Feng sees nothing besides his inventory now. He feels that he is being pressed from all directions, yet he receives no damage. 

 

That was a nice attempt, Osial, unfortunately, Terrarian is immune to water pressure. As long as he has air, he can walk on the bottom of the Mariana Trench. 

 

He holds his breath and quickly comes up with an idea. A bit of light is fading from Corcell’s eyes until she once again sees a line of text at the bottom left of her sight.

 

“Corcell, aim my portal at his eye!”

 

She quickly locates that cloud platform and controls it to fly at her. 

Meanwhile, Beisht has locked Havria in her Jaw, but she has formed a shell of salt crystal around her. Beisht clenches down harder on the thought that such an insignificantly weak Archon dares to oppose her. 

 

“Since this war’s beginning, I have been giving my all. I’ve been sacrificing everything I had, only so that me and my people may live nothing more than mere ordinary lives, yet even that is not allowed!” Havria speaks, though she isn’t sure to whom she’s speaking. “He sounds quite young, even for a human. Telling me to grow a spine, as if that is something that can solve all the world’s problems. But, knowing my eventual demise, I can’t allow my people to be the ones impacted by my death!”

 

The salt crystal begins to grow spikes. While they quickly are flattened upon hitting Beisht’s palate, they still lessened her bite a little. 

 

“I may fall! But it won’t be by my people’s hands! No longer can I tolerate their loss!” 

 

Beisht brings forth her other heads but notices in the next moment that a little piece of white cloud is hovering over Osial’s eye. He looks through it and sees nothing. Feng has shut down the blue portal before the flood. 

 

Corcell readies the orange one, but she has no way of notifying Feng that she’s ready. 

 

Feng realizes the issue too, but with his oxygen bubbles depleting, he does not have the time to waste. 

 

“Corcell, get it ready! Even if you can not, you must point the portal AWAY from you!”

 

“5”

 

“4”

 

“3”

 

“2”

 

“1”

 

She reads those texts, and her heart beats a little calmer than before. However, Corcell finds herself disliking how only he gets to speak to her, yet she can’t talk to him back. 

 

Feng knows, from how Corcell guided that cloud platform before, that she can see his text. After giving the countdown, he opens the blue portal right inside Osial’s stomach. 

 

Osial is still contracting his abdomen, trying to crush Feng into nothing, but suddenly, the portal by his eye shoots out a stream of water with frighteningly powerful force. The pressure inside his stomach rivals that from the deepest depth of the sea, and the portal provided a sudden path for the water to unleash. The enormous pressure is suddenly let out, piercing Osial’s skull from the eye. 

 

Imagine chewing normally, and suddenly your teeth get teleported onto your eyeball just as you clench down. 

 

Osial’s roar travels across the land, and blue blood pours out from the eye sockets on that head. 

 

Feng slams down his pickaxe into the stomach wall to prevent himself from being washed out from his portal, but suddenly, the direction of the water flow changes. His pickaxe is lifted out of the stomach wall, and Feng is pushed up into Osial’s throat as he vomits out the water in his stomach. 

 

Feng travels fast, and when he slams in Osial’s mouth, it stuns him for a little, enough for him to not notice that he has already been placed directly on the roll of teeth. 

 

“Now, now, is it possible that I am also immune to teeth? The answ------”

 

The Vortex Archon chomps down. When the dinosaur-sized teeth close on Feng’s abdomen, he feels the pressure traveling through his body for real this time. Looking up right, HOLY SH!T there goes 18/20 of his heart icons. Red instantly floods his vision. Osial slams down once again, and Feng watches as the cracks connect in the center of his eyesight and shatter. 

 

His mind suddenly is turning extremely fast, yet all he realizes is that even when he is thinking at his current speed, there’s nothing he can do to avoid the next chomp. He watches in slow motion as the roll of dagger-like teeth sinks down his clothes. He can anticipate the exact moment when the tips of those teeth will breach his skin. When that happens, Feng doesn’t feel any pain, all he feels are a short-lived push force inside his spine, and his body going limp right after. 

 

Feng’s neck loses its strength. The world appears sideways to him as his head hangs back. His sight and sense of balance are sending different messages, confusing him about his current position.

 

Osial bites down harder, and Feng feels the pressure traveling from his stomach to his head. He isn’t sure whether that’s his blood or something else, only that they will probably pop his eyeballs out of their sockets soon. 

 

“Am I? Going to Die?” Feng thinks, still confused as he feels that something is missing. 

 

Osial looks at Corcell, who is flying at him. Lightning blasts out from the tips of each of her wing feathers, forming an electric net. She draws her Starfury, and the Electro element is infused onto the blade. 

 

Feng also sees her. And from her widened gaze, within those crimson eyes, Feng sees himself being half-inside a dragon’s mouth. He sees a streak of red pouring down its mouth, but the amount is not as dramatic as he had thought, almost as if he has only suffered a light wound. 

 

But her eyes do not lie.

 

“Oh right,” Feng remembers: “It's supposed to hurt.”

 

As if a closed gate was suddenly opened, the realization floods Feng’s entire body with an overwhelming sensation of pain. He opens his mouth to scream, but the enormous amount of pressure seems to have locked his throat. Feng now feels like he is trying to swallow at the exact moment as he vomits, and the opposing forces in his throat cause it to be cramped tight, not letting a single sound escape. 

 

“I…I, I must heal!”

 

Seeing Corcell approaching Osial, Beisht hastily swims between her husband and the Cloud Archon. The Guardian of the Vortex charges up her elemental power, ready to face Corcell’s lightning blade. 

 

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!” They both shout out at the top of their lungs. 

 

Beisht fires her shot, and Corcell flies up to dodge. She quickly sees that her trajectory is intersected by Osial’s enormous bites, but to Osial’s surprise, Corcell twists her wings and maneuvers further backward. A piece of cloud flies to catch her in her flight, and on the cloud is an orange portal. 

 

Corcell enters Osial’s stomach, and because he just vomited out most of the water, it is only half full. Corcell swings her Starfury with all her might, sending down a pink star from the sky that pierces Osial’s back and lands directly in her palm. 

 

Grasping the fallen star, Corcell channels her power. 

 

“Slothful ice, take thy shape! Hold thy form!”

 

The star in her hand explodes into one that is made of ice, growing rapidly in size and weight. Five razor-sharp tips pierce Osial’s body from the inside, causing wave after wave to crash on the shore as he twists and turns in pain. 

 

“Osial!” Beisht screams seeing the ice tips puncturing out of Osial's back that has previously sustained a heavy blow from Morax. The ice star’s other tips also penetrate Osial’s lower side, nailing deep into the ground and locking the hydra in place. 

 

Corcell exits for Feng, and Havria has also escaped from her crystal shell, leaving a chunk of hardened salt behind that sealed up one of Beisht’s mouths.

 

Knowing that they do not have much time left, Beisht quickly cuts off the tips of the stars with high-pressure streams of water jets and frees her husband. Corcell has her sword in hand and is searching for Feng. 

 

Suddenly, Osial once again screams in pain, and they all watch as his mouth from that eye-less head erupts into flames of orange, blue, purple, and green. In Feng’s attempt to obtain health potions, he was infected by the Otherwroldy Alignment debuff.

 

Otherworldly Alignment: effects of Hellfire, Shadowflame, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno. “You have used the power that belongs neither to you nor this world, the flames shall cleanse what ought to not exist.”

 

This causes Feng to burst out into flames, burning Osial who was holding Feng in the mouth. The pain tenses every fiber of Feng’s muscles, and as a result, Feng crushes one of his two bottles of healing potion in his hand. Luckily, he soon sees five hearts appearing back on his health bar on the top right.

 

The Vortex Archon shoots out several streams of water in an attempt to extinguish the flames, even blasting Feng right out of his mouth like a bullet. The attack is powerful enough to send Feng flying, despite him having his flesh deeply anchored by the teeth. As a result, Feng’s stomach is literally shredded open upon being propelled, draining his health back to zero. Despite that, Osial only manages to put out the orange flame. 

 

Another shattering noise plays in Feng’s head, and he feels himself flying exposed. With Beisht busy tending to Osial, Crocell catches Feng in midair and prepares to land with him. At that exact moment, another one of Osial’s heads angrily strikes.

 

Corcell can’t perform movements too suddenly with Feng’s open belly in her hands. As a result, Osial clenches down on one of her wings so hard that is loud boom sound blasts out. She fights the pain and tears it right off of her own back, and then, with a single thought, the feathers on her broken wing scatter into countless blades of wind. A few strikes right onto Osial’s burning mouth, and that swirls the remaining three flames to even more parts of his body. 

 

Now entirely free from the hydras, Corcell lands with Feng on the top of a stone hut. At this point, only a few huts’ roofs are still visible in the water. Seeing Feng as he is right now, the Cloud Archon feels as if her heart has become a bit heavier; each beat feels a tad more muffled than the last one. 

 

She wastes no time controlling the Hydro element and forcefully stops Feng’s bleeding, but as for his literally exposed insides, Crocell can only pray. In that instance, the Archon momentarily grasps when and why would humans pray to their gods. 

 

She looks around. Havria is on an elevated salt platform, helpless while facing the rising water, just as she herself is facing Feng’s fatal wound. Corcell’s mind is storming; she doesn’t understand what is happening to her, but feeling Feng’s breath becoming lighter and lighter, her thoughts towards the hydras become more and more malicious. 

 

When Osial and Beisht are still recovering, they see that Mt. Tianheng’s top is no longer visible as a blanket of dark clouds has completely covered it. 

 

“Osial! We have to go!” 

 

“But-”

 

“You Promised!”

 

“To the Archons below, cease your battle, or suffer the wrath of the rock!”

 

Suddenly, a new voice befalls the ocean, and a city-sized meteor in the form of a golden Chinese cross puzzle appears in the sky. As it falls, it blasts away the clouds into a ring that rapidly spreads to miles away, allowing sunlight to once again appear on the land. Air that flows past it is ignited, melting its surface into molten hot rock. Corcell looks up to the meteor with clenched teeth, but with the clouds gone and her wings broken, she can’t do anything at this point. 

 

Morax has arrived at the battlefield. Sensing that there are humans on the shore, he closes his open palm into a fist, and the meteor fades into speckles of light in midair. Even though the Geo Archon does not yet know which god’s believers those humans are, he still raises several pillars across the stone huts. A stream of golden lights connects the pillars, manifesting into a jade screen that slowly advances forward toward the ocean. 

 

The screen moves steadily from the beach to the sea, and as it passes by, all the water on shore is pushed back into the ocean. When a screen meets a human, it simply passes through, even drying them off in the process. 

 

While some people did drown, a vast majority of the residents finally catch their long-desired breath of fresh air. Soon, the Jade Screen stops at the shoreline, separating the hydras and everyone else on land. 

 

“I am Morax the Geo Archon! And I demand from you all, an explanation for bringing the flames of war to my nation!”