As Tartaglia let his arrow fly, Keqing took a leaf out of Aether's book. She dodged to the side, running close. She remembered the combat tips he had given her. If your opponent has a ranged weapon and you have a melee weapon, get in close. If both of you have ranged, conceal yourself as best as possible. If you both have melee weapons, and your weapon is shorter, get in close. If it's longer, keep your distance.
As she dodged the arrow, she ran at him, stabbing. Tartaglia caught it with his bow, and pushed her back. Keqing ran at him again, slashing, while Tartaglia either dodged or blocked. Maybe with a few more strikes, she could try and snap his bowstring so his attacks would be useless, but just as the thought occurred to her, Tartaglia moved with insane speed, leaving little puddles of water in his wake. He reappeared at the opposite side of the Golden House, firing more arrows imbued with Hydro at her. Again, she dodged, and ran at him. Rinse and repeat, Keqing thought. If she kept at it for a few more hours, she might be able to take him down.
After half an hour of this, Tartaglia yawned. "This is boring," he said, lowering his bow. "Let's shake things up a little." He jumped up, and shot arrows into the ground that went towards Keqing in the forms of small waves. Keqing either jumped or dodged, but got hit by one. It knocked her off balance, but she regained it immediately.
Once she got close, however, Tartaglia had a trick up his sleeve. He split his bow, and it turned into two swords made of pure Hydro. He attacked back, and keqing caught both of his strikes on her hilt, and slashed again. Tartaglia was forced to roll, slammed his two swords together, and it became something like a polearm, but with two blades on either end. He unleashed a wide slash, and Keqing used her lightning stiletto to dodge. His swords were shorter than hers, so she kept her distance and attacked using the tip of her sword. The fight was equal, with both sides continuously parrying and the clash on blade on blade with glancing hits to either person.
Keqing noticed, however, that every short while, Tartaglia would always switch back to his bow for a while before getting back into the fight with his swords. Every time he switched, there would be a short period of time where he was left weaponless when he tried to get his other weapons to fight. Keqing tried to take advantage of this, and the next time he switched, Keqing dashed forward and thrust her blade. Eyes wide, Tartaglia tried to dodge, but still got a deep cut at the side of his stomach. He grunted, and teleported to the middle of the Golden House.
"You've got some skills, I'll admit that. I guess I should… take you more seriously…" A sphere of water concealed him, and it sparked with electricity. It blasted open, and Keqing noticed he had put his mask on. The banner flowing on his back, nowhere as beautiful as Aether's, was now a flowing cape of electricity. He no longer carried a bow, and used two swords that had the same shape as his Hydro swords, but now crackled with Electro.
They circled each other for a couple of seconds, and Tartaglia made the first move. He dashed forward, unleashing a wide slash. Keqing blocked, and counterattacked. Tartaglia jumped back, turned his dual swords into the long polearm-like weapon again, and it started to glow. Keqing, sensing danger, moved out of the way just in time. Tartaglia dashed forward, leaving an electro trail in his wake. He lunged at Keqing multiple times, always barely missing. The biggest shock came when he dashed to the other side of the Golden House and summoned a whale made of water and threw it at Keqing. She had no doubt that it would hurt, so she ran out of its path. That was the only main surprise really, except for the fact that Tartaglia was a lot more aggressive. Always attacking first, and occasionally getting a small hit on each other.
Again, this repeated for quite a while, until Tartaglia summoned his whale again. Keqing, like before, moved out of the way, but she was tiring. As she was tired, all her attention was focused on avoiding the whale, and didn't notice Tartaglia charging up. He lunged, and Keqing was too slow. He cut her across her thigh, and she was knocked over. She landed in front of the Exuvia, clutching her leg. Tartaglia grinned under his mask.
"You've fought well. But I am not here to claim your life. I am here to claim the Gnosis, and now that I've defeated you, no one else is here to stop me."
He walked past her, and pushed one hand against the Exuvia, bracing himself. Purple energy gathered in his fist, and he punched his hand into the Exuvia, and drew out… nothing. He turned and looked at her, rage flickering in his eyes.
"Where is it? WHERE DID YOU HIDE IT?!" he yelled. He walked towards her, taking out his bladed polearm as he did.
Keqing smiled smugly. "You will not possess it. I don't care if I have anyone else fighting with me. I will stop you and the Fatui's nefarious plans."
"Well, that's a shame." A new voice said, echoing around the House. The hooded figure Keqing had seen all around Liyue was stepping in. She saw a glint of silver under his hood. "I'd hate to think I made a special trip for nothing."
Both Keqing and Tartaglia were surprised. "Who are you?" Tartaglia asked, stepping back. The hooded figure regarded the two of them, as if gauging how much to tell them.
"A guard, assigned to protect this young lady by Prince Aether. As you are threatening this young lady's life, I must step in."
"And what if I kill you, right here, right now?" Tartaglia sneered. "I defeated her quickly, what makes you think you can do any better?"
"You call two hours quick? I may not understand the laws of time in this world, but I'm fairly sure two hours is not quick."
"How do I know Aether sent you?" Keqing asked, looking at the guard suspiciously.
The guard grunted. "I can see why he likes you. Number one, it's Prince Aether, and two, I am a commander of the Lunar Knights, or the Lunar Guard. My name is John Lunarweaver. I owe Prince Aether my life, so I owe him one favor. He sent me here to protect you once he died. I cannot sense his presence, but I must finish my orders. I am only allowed to leave once I am dismissed by him. And as you are near death, I am obligated to protect you. I do not lie."
He turned to Tartaglia, who was watching the exchange. "You leave her alone, or I will be forced to defend her against her attacker. I don't know who you are, or anyone here is, but I was given specific orders. You leave, or I will be forced to fight you. I do not enjoy combat, but I understand that it is sometimes necessary."
"You fight me? Nice one! Tell you what. If you leave, and she tells me where the Gnosis is, there won't be any further problems." Tartaglia said, crossing his arms.
"If she would not like to tell you where this 'Gnosis' is, then you must accept that answer. If it comes to combat, I will defend her."
"Fine! Get ready for a world of pain." Tartaglia said, grabbing his staff. He lunged forward, and John summoned a sword glowing with ghostly silver light. He caught the first strike, another sword materialised in his other hand, and he immediately slashed back, his blade leaving a silver trail in its wake. Tartaglia, not expecting this, jumped back, but much too slow. The blade slashed across his chest, leaving a deep cut. Tartaglia roared in anger.
"Fine. If you want to play like that, SO BE IT!" He hit the ground with his spear, and more water circled him. Armor covered his body, and his mask now had a shiny orb in the middle. "Not bad!" he said through his mask, his voice somewhat similar to an Abyss Mage's. "But this is going to cost you!" Dark purple energy, even more powerful than regular Electro, covered his blade. Again, he lunged forward, and John crossed his sword and stopped Tartaglia dead in his tracks. He pushed back, and Tartaglia skidded backward a foot. He teleported to the side, and slashed the air, leaving great slashes of Hydro soaring towards John. John threw up a ghostly silver barrier, and waved his hand. Keqing was teleported to a safe place near the top of the Golden House, where she could watch.
John then thrust out his hand, silver ropes shooting out from his outstretched hands. They encircled Tartaglia, and he slashed through them. He summoned another whale, and John slammed it out of the way with a large amount of silver energy. He threw one of his swords, and it smashed into Tartaglia's face, exploding in a pillar of fire. While Tartaglia was blinded, John lunged forward, and stuck the point of his sword under Tartaglia's chin.
Tartaglia teleported away, and threw his weapon. It turned into a spinning wheel of darkness and Electro, spinning around the House, making sparks as it skidded across the floor. Tartaglia shot an arrow into the sky, and blue rings appeared on the floor. Arrows rained down from above, and John was forced to move to a place where the blue rings didn't cover. After the rain of arrows, John dashed forward, and slashed his sword across Tartaglia's chestplate. It cut into the dark metal, leaving a silver slash ingrained into it. John smiled, satisfied, then turned away. As Keqing watched, the silver slash grew something like roots, and formed cracks across all of the armor pieces. As time went on, the armor continued to crack, until it shattered into bits of dark energy.
Tartaglia roared in outrage. "What did you DO?!" he yelled. He drew his bow and aimed it at John, but John simply held up his hand in a gesture to stop.
"You've lost. Admit it. The only thing you can do is to train harder to get better in hopes of defeating me. Right now, you have no chance." John said, shaking his head.
"Hmph. Fine. I'd like to fight you again someday, once I get stronger. Or your trainer. As long as it is someone stronger than me, I'd like to battle them. However, I have a job to do here. I was stupid to think the Gnosis would be inside the Exuvia. The Liyue Qixing would have obviously moved it. I'll resort to my backup plan." He spread his arms, and Sigils of Permission swirled around him. "I will summon the god that lays dormant under Guyun Stone Forest. Osial, Overlord of the Vortex, come! Let's see… Will the nation that has lost its deity be swallowed up by an ancient malice once more? If you want to drown with the people of Liyue, you're free to stay and enjoy the show!" Water enveloped him, and he disappeared through the top of the Golden House. John waved his hand again, and Keqing teleported back down.
"I'll heal that wound on your leg, but I cannot interfere with what is going to happen next. My only goal is to protect you, and only you." He muttered something under his breath, passing his hand over Keqing's wound. She caught a few words of what he was muttering. Healing, Aether, god, warmth. When she looked down, her wound was gone. John saluted her once, then disappeared in a shimmer of silver light. She ran out of the Golden House, full of new energy. Today's surprises were just starting.
When she reached the Jade Palace, she noticed the adepti and Ningguang gathered there, as well as an old lady. "Are the negotiations closed?" Keqing asked, looking at Ningguang.
"The negotiations are not, but faced with a threat of such magnitude, we have agreed to put aside our differences for now," Ningguang replied.
"Enough time has been wasted in idle chatter." Cloud Retainer said, looking at the monster, ever approaching. "We begin battle at once!"
Ningguang teleported to the top of the Jade Chamber, and summoned something like a control panel. She moved her arms, and ghostly blue light formed a platform in front of the Jade Chamber, with three Guizhong Ballista. The three animal adepti, Moon Carver, Cloud Retainer, and Mountain Shaper went to the Ballista. Xiao and Ganyu remained with her on the ground, providing assistance if needed. This turned out to be a good move, as the Fatui came in from portals, attacking the Guizhong Ballista. Keqing, Xiao, and Ganyu were all tasked with defending one Ballista. Ganyu was in charge of defending Cloud Retainer, Xiao was defending Mountain Shaper, and Keqing was tasked with defending Mountain Carver.
Droves and droves of Fatui Agents and Skirmishers flooded out of the portals. Ganyu, Xiao, and even Madame Ping, who she had no idea was an adeptus, granted each other effects. Ganyu gave everyone increased survivability. When Keqing was hit by the Fatui, it didn't hurt nearly as much as before. Xiao gave everyone increased running speed and attack, while Madame Ping caused every few hits to release shockwaves that dealt immense damage. When another huge wave of Fatui came, Ningguang scoffed from above.
"Ha, how daring. Snezhnaya's diplomats will answer this. Every. Last. One." The second wave kept coming and coming. Even with those buffs from the adepti, it was still difficult to deal with them. Until Keqing heard a battle cry.
"For Liyue!" As if dropping out of nowhere, Zhongli and a wave of Milellith came running to their aid. Keqing saw Zhongli run to Xiao, and give him some small white… rocks? Xiao popped them into his mouth, then continued battling with Zhongli in perfect synchronization, as if they had done it for years. Being millenia old, maybe they had. A squad of Milellith went to aid Keqing and Ganyu.
"Nice night for it!" one of the Milellith said, spearing a Fatui Agent. "A clear starry sky, the moon is nearly full, and of course, the giant water monster about to destroy Liyue Harbor. The usual," he summed up, moving away to another small group of Milellith who were having trouble with a couple of Fatui Skirmishers. A small group remained with her, pushing the Fatui back and defending the Ballista. Once this second wave was finished, more Adeptal energy was shot towards Osial. As Keqing looked at the monster, she didn't hear the Milellith yelling at her to move. She looked up, and saw a huge ball of water coming down. She had no time to move, so she shielded herself as best as possible. Once the bomb of water landed, she wasn't hurt, but she was knocked off the platform of blue energy. The ocean was coming closer and closer. The ocean being water didn't help, as falling onto water from that height was the same as falling onto solid stone. Just before she hit the surface of the water, a spinning hole of white light opened underneath her, and she fell into it.
She found herself in a mildly lit space. Wasn't too dark, wasn't too bright. There was no up, no down. She wasn't sure where she was, or how she was there. She felt as if vaguely floating, but could still walk despite there being no solid surface. She noticed a swirling hole of white light, much like the one she fell into, and ran toward it. When she got close, however, beams of red-outlined black cubes blocked her way. A figure floated down toward her from the sky. She was clad in white clothes, with red parts of a dress flowing out from behind her. Her visage was full of anger.
"I already restricted the golden twins from travelling from world to world and defying death, and NOW THEY BRING OTHERS WITH THEM?!" she yelled. She opened her hand, and a bright yellow cube materialised there. It cooled rapidly to the same red-outlined black cubes like the ones blocked the portal. She pulled her hand back, about to use it, until something interrupted her. A flash of gold knocked her sideways, and the cubes blocking the doorway crumbled. Aether appeared in a flash of gold, his clothes glowing white. He was breathing heavily.
"I'm not sure why you're here, but you're not supposed to be," he said, studying her face. "Go back to Liyue, and defend it with your life. John will help if the situation gets dire." he planted a kiss on her cheek. "I love you. Now, go!" He pushed her slightly towards the white portal. Just before Keqing jumped into it, she turned and looked at Aether again. "Will I see you again?" she called. Aether nodded, looking back at the sky. "I certainly hope so," he said. He launched himself into the sky, where the floating woman was. They fought, and Keqing ran to the doorway. She felt something extremely heavy zip by her ear, and earth-shattering yell of "No!", then the sensation of falling down, down, down…
She didn't know when, but at some point she realised that the world had darkened. The clashing of blades and the heat of energy came from below her. She was falling, back onto the blue platform on the Jade Chamber. She angled herself, then plunged with her sword downwards, obliterating a group of enemies. All the Milellith looked surprised to see her there. "You're alive!" One of them marveled. "How did you-?" another Milellith asked. Keqing shook her head to show that she wasn't going to answer questions right now, and gestured to the last of the Fatui. Once they were gone, Moon Carver spoke.
"The interlopers are no more. Now we may commit ourselves fully!" The three adepti concentrated, and three balls of adeptal energy floated from above the Guizhong Ballista. They combined, and a superheated beam of energy shot toward the ocean monster. A huge explosion erupted from above the water, flames spreading in every direction. She thought that Osial would be gone from such a powerful blow, but it didn't seem affected. Its three mouths stretched upwards, and launched a counterattack. Tons and tons of water bombs rained down upon the blue platform, shattering it. The Milellith ran, and the adepti stayed behind to catch those who fell. Keqing had only made it off the platform just in time.
"What do we do now?" Ganyu asked, stepping forward.
Cloud Retainer looked at Osial in concern. "We need the Guizhong Ballista. Without its covering fire, retaliation shall be difficult."
"But the Jade Chamber is our last line of defense!" Ganyu protested. "We can't give another inch, no matter what."
"I have… another idea." Ningguang said, teleporting down to them. "I'll sacrifice the Jade Chamber." It soared through the air until it was right above Osial. "What meaning is there to this?"
Keqing looked shocked. "Ningguang, are you sure? I mean, after all the time we spent planning-!"
"It's all right, Keqing." Ningguang said. Being colleagues for years had developed into some sort of bond, meaning that they didn't need formal titles with one another. "We can always rebuild it, the magic is always there."
"Very well." Keqing said, sighing. "It was a fun ride, building this."
"Agreed. Farewell, old friend," she whispered. "Adepti, lend me a hand."
"I understand." Xiao donned the Yaksha's mask, and radiated darkness. All the adepti started to glow gold, sending their power into Xiao. He jumped, high into the air, and came plunging down. The Jade Chamber's ground cracked, and the lights shut off. Keqing felt a hand on her shoulder, and she teleported to Liyue Harbor.
"You've seen Prince Aether. Is he alright?" John asked her, striding back and forth.
"Yes, he was fighting some white clothed woman. Might've been the god who detained him here and stole his sister," Keqing replied. John muttered a curse under his breath and disappeared in a shimmer of silver. She was distracted, however, when she saw the Jade Chamber falling onto Osial, faster and faster, until it blew up in an explosion brighter than Aether's sacrifice in Mondstadt. She saw Xiao teleport nearby, and Moon Carver, Cloud Retainer, and Mountain Shaper were flying in. Madame Ping was nearby, but Keqing still couldn't understand how she got there. Regardless, everyone was here, including Ningguang.
The next few hours were blurry. She was checked for injuries, which were only minor. A lot of the Milellith soldiers had a lot more serious injuries than she had. The adepti and Ningguang had come to an understanding, and now preparations for the Lantern Rite were underway.
Keqing looked to the sky, and silently prayed that Aether would come back to enjoy it with her. This was the only contact she had with him in a while. But either way, she had to finish this. For Liyue.
Thanks for reading this chapter, I wish you all the luck in the world that I don't have for you guys to get Xiao if you're rolling for him!
i got a mona... D: now i have a c1 mona and no Xiao