Revelation : Domination

Seeing Zhongli appear by herself, Atena couldn't help feeling a little annoyed as she asked, "What the heck? It's just one woman?"

As Zhongli was the person who crushed her previous body, the Black Knight involuntarily tensed as she replied, "She is appearing alone for a reason. Don't underestimate her..."

Snorting through her nose, Atena unsheathed her Killer Roscoe Mk 3 and said, "I'll go first."

As Atena attempted to step forward, Azura promptly blocked her path with her spear, stating, "We already decided that I would be going first. Besides, look at her weapon. It's not often I get the opportunity to pit my spearmanship against another."

Interrupting before the duo could reach an accord, the Black Knight firmly stated, "We should go together. This one's earth magic is in a league of its own. If she isn't God-Ranked, no one is..."

Hearing the Black Knight mention their opponent was God-Ranked, Vashti took a step back as she nervously remarked, "I'm not so sure about this..."

Significantly less unnerved by the revelation, Vahka began stretching her right arm and shoulder as she teased, "Relax, Shti. What's the worst that can happen? We die~?"

Deciding to join in on the conversation, Zhongli replied, "Unless you take your own lives, you need not fear such an outcome. My Master has asked me to capture and, if necessary, seal you away. Inversely, you can choose to sit the fight out or engage in a dialogue. We are not here to lay waste to the castle and weaken its defenses."

Since she hadn't been able to gather any significant information from Sayu, the Black Knight seized upon Zhongli's words, asking, "Who is your Master? What do they hope to achieve by claiming my former throne...?"

Exhibiting the faintest hint of surprise, Zhongli's eyes widened ever so slightly as she echoed, "Your former throne...?"

Though she didn't remove her helmet, the Black Knight allowed her visor to retract, revealing the near-identical face of Kishirika beneath. Her aura was strikingly dissimilar, but she could pass as the 'authentic' Kishirika's twin.

"Oh, my...you're a dead ringer for the former Demon Empress, Kishirika Kishirisu. The only problem is...we've met the real deal. In fact, the entire reason we've come here is to help the 'true' Kishirika reclaim her throne..."

"What the hell did you just say, you big-tittied bimbo...!?"

Unable to contain her fury, the Black Knight unholstered her oversized, ancient-looking flintlock and aimed it in Zhongli's direction. She didn't pull the trigger, but her finger squeezed around it as she exclaimed, "What do you mean the 'true' Kishirika!? There's only one true me, and I'm standing right here...!"

Without considering whether or not the woman in front of her was a genuine article, Zhongli shook her head and argued, "The 'real' Kishirika isn't someone who transfers bodies upon death. You undoubtedly have a connection to the original, but we need only look at the objective facts to determine you're one of Laplace's experiments. He failed to replicate the reincarnation ability of the original, yet the Kishirika I'm acquainted with has died and reincarnated at least once since the end of the Laplace War. Can you make the same claim?"

Unable to argue with Zhongli's logic, the Black Knight shouted, "You're lying!" before squeezing the trigger of her flintlock. However, instead of firing a metal ball, the peculiar pistol unleashed a swift, highly compact ball of Fire Magic that gradually expanded as it traveled.

Though she had been willing to settle things with a discussion, Zhongli couldn't help smiling as the Black Knight's attack neared her. She hated conflicts that imperiled the lives of the masses, but battles of ideologies always got her blood pumping.

After slicing through the Black Knight's ball of flame with considerable ease, Zhongli's amber eyes shifted to the 'phantom' attempting to attack from her side. Legion wasn't particularly swift in his physical form, but he could dematerialize into an immaterial, shadowy form when he needed to close distances quickly.

Despite Legion's claymore being near twice her size, Zhongli managed to deflect it with a casual smile, remarking, "You're quite fast for someone so large..."

Not one for discussion, Legion responded with a ghastly, "Die." as just his blade became immaterial.

Though her eyes briefly widened, Zhongli avoided Legion's attack without moving from her initial position. The moment his blade connected with her spear, a hexagonal pattern appeared beneath Legion's left foot, erupting into a pillar of Geo Energy that knocked him off balance and changed the trajectory of his attack.

Reacting much faster than her titanic opponent, Zhongli stabbed through the abdominal section of Legion's armor. When she felt there was nothing inside, she surprised nearly everyone present by spinning her waist like a bow and kicking him in the chest with enough force to send him crashing into the far wall, covering nearly 300m in an instant.

Thanks to the durability of Goseki Stone, the castle walls were largely unaffected by Legion's two tons of mass impacting them. Legion himself, however, could barely stand as ghostly blue flames bled out of his body and pooled on the ground in front of him.

Raising his visored face, Legion intended to 'glare' at Zhongli with the ghostly blue orbs that made up his eyes. Instead, he was greeted by the pointy end of his very own claymore, separating his helmeted head from his shoulders.

"And then there were six..."

Turning her attention to the Black Knight and her remaining Guardians, Zhongli's smile became fairly mischievous as she asked, "What's wrong? Weren't you competing to determine who got to fight me first? No need to be shy."

Though she had no intention of killing anyone, Zhongli didn't mind playing the part of a 'villain' to intimidate her opponents. Legion would regenerate so long as the Mana comprising him wasn't purified, so, as ruthless as her actions appeared, they were ultimately harmless.

Whether she saw through Zhongli's intentions or simply didn't care, Vahka stepped forward and playfully replied, "Guess I'm up~." before vanishing into thin air. In reality, her initial burst of acceleration was so sudden that she appeared to teleport, reappearing next to Zhongli in an instant.

Catching Vahka's bare foot by the ankle, Zhongli noted, "Excellent speed." before moving her head to evade Vahka's follow-up kick. Then, as Vahka giggled like a child enjoying a carnival ride, Zhongli spun the red-skinned Demoness around before flinging her toward the nearest wall.

Despite Zhongli's tremendous strength and the speed at which she was thrown, Vahka managed to right herself mid-air, landing against the wall in a crouched posture as she remarked, "You're pretty strong."

Turning to meet Vahka's gaze, Zhongli replied, "I have my moments." while simultaneously erecting a wall to defend against the Black Knight's tendrils.

Bounding off the wall, Vahka's smile stretched at the muscles of her face as she shouted, "I'm pretty strong myself...!"

Twisting her body mid-air, Vahka slipped past the tip of Zhongli's spear and landed a meteoric punch on the latter's face. A visible shockwave emanated from the point of contact, but, despite packing all of her power into the blow, Vahka was unable to send Zhongli flying. Instead, she felt a combination of pain and heat radiating from her diaphragm, the result of Zhongli's fist sinking into it.

Though others might have been debilitated by such a precise counter, Vahka afforded Zhongli a bloodstained smile as she gripped the Archon's shoulders and said, "You shouldn't have done that~" in a sing-song tone.

Adopt a smile of her own, Zhongli replied, "Perhaps." as she attempted to send Vahka flying away from her with a zero-distance punch. The force behind the blow was enough to make the back of Vahka's outfit explode, exposing the skin beneath, but the Demoness herself just smirked as the muscles in her back, arms, and shoulders spontaneously swelled.

Realizing that her opponent grew stronger as she sustained injuries, Zhongli promptly lowered her center of gravity, forcing Vahka off balance as a pillar of Geo Energy rose to impact her abdomen. She did her best to cling to Zhongli's shoulders, but the stone-faced Archon readily discarded her overcoat, revealing a white, qipao-like undertunic.

As Vahka was promptly pinned against the ceiling, Zhongli performed a backhand sweep to slice through another expanding fireball. At the same time, she discharged Geo Energy into her surroundings, producing several large pillars that periodically pulsed with golden energy. However, instead of providing barriers to everyone nearby, each pulse caused the ground to quake with debilitating force.

Unaffected by the vibrations, Zhongli rapidly vaulted between the pillars, evading the Black Knight's Magic as she began to pepper the formation of Magic Armors and Anti-Magic Golems with a seemingly endless volley of spears. The Black Knight and Vashti did their best to erect a magic barrier, but the vast majority of Zhongli's spears tore through it like paper.

"Hmmm...?"

Emerging from behind one of the pillars she had created, Zhongli dodged to the side and caught a thrown spear out of mid-air. Before she could get a good look at it, however, the figure of a man appeared next to her, hand gripping the spear as he said, "You're powerful." with a confident smile on his face.

Interrupting before Zhongli could respond with a compliment of her own, Brahm attempted to slit the cordial Archon's throat with a bone knife. She was able to move back her head in time to evade it, but the fact the knife cut through her barrier didn't escape her.

Using Brahm's grip on his spear as leverage, Zhongli slammed the Ancient Spirit into the adjacent pillar, musing, "That's a neat little toy." before side-stepping and spinning around a sneak attack from her blindspot, courtesy of Azura.

"Wha-!?"

Interrupting the petite spearwoman's exclamation, Zhongli chopped the back of Azura's neck only to realize the ineffectiveness of such attacks. The force behind the blow was enough to send Azura face-planting into the ground, but it failed to disrupt the connection between her brain and body. Instead, the moment Azura crashed into the ground, the tip of her mechanized tail attempted to skewer Zhongli like a scorpion.

Though she managed to catch Azura's tail with her bare hand, a rare frown marred Zhongli's face as she felt a numbness encroaching up her forearm. The barrier coating her body was thinner around the extremities, so Azura's Mana-infused tail was able to slice into her palm, invading her system with some kind of toxin.

In reality, what Azura infected Zhongli with were nanoparticles powered by microscopic fragments of enriched Mana Crystals. Most people were incapable of using Touki and casting Spells when their body was infested with foreign magical energy, so they were effective against both Mages and warriors.

Unfortunately for Azura, Zhongli wasn't 'most people.' The moment she sensed 'something' invading her system, a dark brown, nearly black hue began to spread down the length of her arm. When it reached the tips of her fingers, a golden hue began to spread from her palm, climbing up her forearm as a similarly golden pattern developed across the contours of her muscles. At the same time, a peculiar red blush appeared around her eyes, followed by her pupils contracting into slits.

Discarding the smile she had worn throughout much of the fight, Zhongli's expression and tone were cold as she remarked, "It appears I need to get a little serious..."

Without giving Azura the chance to respond, Zhongli gripped her tail even tighter before utilizing the petite spearwoman as a flail, smashing her into Brahm. The latter attempted to grab and hold onto her, but that just gave Zhongli the chance to utilize both of them, smacking away the large, ball-shaped golem that came barreling toward her.

Instead of allowing the ball to crash to safety, Zhongli made a series of cutting gestures with her left hand, each causing a pillar of Geo Energy to erupt from the ground, impacting the spherical golem. She wasn't familiar with the game of pinball, but that didn't stop her from bouncing Atena and her golem around like a helpless ball bearing...

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