At this moment, Lumine was like she had regained her former strength, effortlessly handling Balladeer's attacks. Balladeer once again unleashed a lightning field, but unfortunately, Lumine wouldn't be controlled a second time.
"Hmph! Tremble!"
The power of the Geo element almost covered the entire field, directly nullifying Balladeer's lightning field.
"Wind, soar into the sky."
Using the Anemo element to lift herself into the air and unfurling her Wind Glider, she then used the Anemo element to control her direction while attacking Balladeer with her sword. Balladeer couldn't catch Lumine at all, unable to hit her or grab her, causing him to become enraged.
"Paimon: Yay! Good job! Lumine, beat him up good."
Finally, Balladeer could no longer hold back and unleashed his ultimate attack.
(Lumine: To be honest, my normal attacks baited out his ultimate.)
A massive Electro element energy orb condensed in shouki no kami, the prodigal's hand, and Nahida also began to channel energy to Lumine to interrupt Balladeer's charge. With a bang, Lumine launched a "Nahida Missile" at Balladeer! shouki no kami, the prodigal knelt on one knee.
Lumine seized the opportunity to rush forward, aiming for a critical spot, but Balladeer fired several lightning orbs from his chest, delaying shouki no kami, the prodigal's recovery. After a few seconds, he stood up again.
"Qixuan: So fast! By the way, was Ei this fast when he was first designed?"
"Paimon: ........."
"Nahida: Be careful, he's attacking again!"
Lumine dodged with a roll, then unleashed a "Electro, Dendro" Catalyze. And so, the grinding continued until Balladeer finally fell first.
The massive shouki no kami, the prodigal knelt on one knee yet again.
"Paimon: Yay! We finally knocked him down."
Inside, Balladeer gasped, "Damn it, why is it always like this!"
Lumine deactivated her Wind Glider and landed.
"Qixuan: Are you okay? How do you feel compared to last time?"
"Lumine: I'm fine. Although he's very strong, he's still far from the God of the Vortex."
"Paimon: Hehe, I knew Lumine would win."
"Lumine: Oh? I didn't know that, and you've been hiding behind me all this time, not even helping me. Just you wait until I deal with you!"
"Paimon: Waaah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Nahida: You two should rest. I'll take care of the rest."
"Lumine: Mm, be careful."
Nahida flew forward and with a wave of her hand, broke through the shield. The Gnosis was exposed before her. Just as Nahida reached out to retrieve it, an anomaly occurred! Black energy surged from within, carrying a hint of Forbidden Knowledge, enveloping the Gnosis.
Qixuan, who was still chatting and laughing with Lumine, immediately sensed something was wrong. She instantly opened a spatial portal and teleported in front of Nahida, bringing her back. Lumine and Paimon were still stunned.
"Nahida: What happened?"
"Qixuan: Let's leave here first, it's about to collapse."
From afar, Balladeer, still inside shouki no kami, the prodigal, felt a power invade his mind, gradually taking over his consciousness. Soon, only the command to "destroy" everything in front of him remained.
(Balladeer: Buer! I bring you destruction!)
And shouki no kami, the prodigal also underwent a transformation, turning dark purple overall, with two black horns appearing on its head, and dark purple lightning swirling around it. It then broke through the area and headed straight for Sumeru City. The mastermind behind all of this, Dottore, was still observing the situation in the city from not far from Sumeru City, thousands of miles away.
"Dottore: Hehe, Forbidden Knowledge ∞ Abyssal Power, how will you deal with that, Sumeru's God of wisdom, and... that woman who killed so many of my segments."
His original intention was to seize Nahida's Gnosis while Qixuan was dealing with the corrupted Balladeer, and then take the Gnosis after Qixuan had defeated Balladeer. He believed he had escaped previously because of his excellent escape skills. On the contrary, Qixuan dealing with Dottore was as simple as eating a Paimon. There really weren't many villains left, so Dottore was kept to make do.
.........
"Paimon: What do we do! He's heading towards the city!"
"Nahida: No... I absolutely cannot let him harm the residents of the city."
"Lumine: There's no time to lose, let's go quickly."
Just as Qixuan was about to use a Void Impact to resolve Balladeer, she suddenly smiled.
"Qixuan: You go ahead, someone will help you. I need to go deal with the mastermind."
Then Qixuan opened a spatial portal and teleported to Dottore's location.
"Paimon: Really..."
"Lumine: Alright, alright, trust Qixuan-jie, let's go quickly."
.........
At this moment, Balladeer was still struggling with the power in his mind, but he was ultimately controlled. The massive machine caused chaos in the city, as Electro element energy mixed with Abyssal power bombarded Sumeru City, instantly causing fires to break out and many residents to be injured.
"Dehya: What in the world is this thing? Such a strong oppressive feeling."
At this moment, Cyno and Alhaitham rushed over.
"Cyno: Is this..."
"Alhaitham: I suppose so, but why do I feel the power of the Abyss and Forbidden Knowledge on him?"
"Rahman: What? Then what do we do, can we even defeat him?"
"Dehya: You're not joking! If he claps his hand down, we'll all be pancakes."
At this time, Lumine and Paimon arrived with Nahida.
"Paimon: Phew... Slow... Slowly!"
"Lumine: Everyone, I had already defeated Balladeer, I don't know why..."
"Nahida: It should be Dottore's doing. Other than him, I can't think of anyone who would research and use this power within a God's body."
"Paimon: Ah! Didn't Dottore go back to Snezhnaya?"
"Cyno: This is not the time to discuss that."
"Alhaitham: My suggestion is to evacuate the residents from the city first."
"Nahida: Okay, let's do as Alhaitham says."
"Dehya: Alright, Rahman, take the brothers, quickly!"
"Rahman: Got it!"
.........
At this moment, Qixuan was clutching Dottore's neck and saying, "I'm keeping you alive because your Empress still has some respect... no, that's out of my respect for the Seven Gods, it has nothing to do with you."
"Dottore: Cough cough... Is... is that so? Then I'm truly honored."
"Qixuan: I told you to do your job and then get lost. This is the second time. It seems you have new clones again?"
Qixuan then stopped talking nonsense and directly obliterated this Dottore, then her gaze turned towards Snezhnaya, her eyes cold. After watching for a while, she left the area.
Far away in Snezhnaya, Dottore was already breaking out in a cold sweat from Qixuan's gaze just now. At this moment, a voice beside him spoke.
"What? Who could scare the formidable Fatui's Second of the Eleven Harbingers like this?"
"Dottore: Hehe, why aren't you going back to manage your little brats? What are you doing here? What? Have you thought it through? Selling yourself to me for experiments?"
Upon hearing this, the voice that had been somewhat normal immediately turned cold, and the surrounding air seemed to twist.
"Arlecchino: I-told-you, if you dare to scheme against them, I will kill you. Hmph, I hear you don't have many clones left, you'd better go find Her Majesty to save your life, lest you die too quickly."
After saying this, Arlecchino left, leaving Dottore slumped on the ground.
.........
Inside Sumeru City, although many had been evacuated, it was still not enough. Many residents were still trapped under collapsed houses. Lumine and the others immediately went forward to help.
And shouki no kami, the prodigal had already charged his ultimate in the sky above Sumeru City, preparing to unleash it. Seeing this, Nahida also fully activated her Gnosis, expanding a massive energy shield over Sumeru City, covering the entire city. This put immense pressure on Nahida, who was still a new God.
"Nahida: This is... the place Greater Lord Rukkhadevata led everyone to build. I... I cannot just watch it be destroyed!"
The corrupted Balladeer didn't care about any of that and directly unleashed his ultimate! The massive energy slammed into the shield. Nahida endured the immense pressure, while Lumine and the others were stretched thin. Cracks began to appear in the shield little by little, and it was about to give way.
"Nahida: Am I... am I still unable to do anything? Indeed... I am not a qualified God, I can't even protect my own people... But at least... I must protect this place!"
Just as Nahida was about to burn her own essence to strengthen the shield, a gentle voice resonated from the Akasha, spreading into the minds of every Sumeru person and Desertfolk. Lumine and Paimon also heard it.
【You are already excellent enough, Nahida. Behind you are the people who acknowledge you. I am truly happy for you.】
"Lumine: It's that time's..."
"Nahida: You... who are you?"
All the living beings and plants in Sumeru became excited, as if to welcome their God. Streams of emerald green energy converged, gradually forming a figure.
The people of Sumeru all felt that the figure was particularly familiar, until someone spoke her name... Greater Lord Rukkhadevata!
"Paimon: What! Didn't she already..."
"Lumine: So the helper Qixuan-jie mentioned was Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, but... how did she know?"
"Nahida: You... why..."
"Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: Nahida, you've done very well. I will answer all your questions shortly. For now, leave this place to me."
Then, with a single wave of her hand, a vast life energy dispersed Balladeer's energy orb, and also healed the injuries of the Sumeru people.
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata looked at Balladeer and said, "You were ultimately used by others. I do not know your past, but now, please sleep for a while!"
The immense energy forcibly purged the Forbidden Knowledge and Abyssal power from Balladeer. The so-called "God's body" finally could not bear the burden and dissipated, leaving only Balladeer's body and a Gnosis...