The sun was finally setting down, Liyue harbor was once again greeted by a beautiful view of the sunset as always, and the peaceful flow of sea breeze was slowly to be felt because, at that moment, Liyue's busyness was now at ease.
"Director Hu! I'm gonna go now," Zhongli said.
"Alright, take care!" Hu Tao shouted in reply as she was still upstairs.
Zhongli stepped out of the doorstep with his hand lightly tossing a small meteor construct, he was focused on it, even letting it float around him as he walked by.
"It's finally the end of the working days which means, it's time. Now, where are you?" Zhongli whispered.
He continued to step out of the two standing pillars of the parlor with eyes all over the surroundings, it was a typically quiet night; however, Zhongli had different worries, he gazed towards the cliffs, hands ready for someone's possible ambush…
And quickly, the sound of a string came to his hearing…
That's him!
A resonating riptide from such a thin string was to be heard and Zhongli's ears picked all the sound from such an unknown distance, an arrow filled with water was then shot like a strong current. Rapidly, it traveled to its target, Zhongli caught up as he turned his head and was greeted with a sight of a pointing arrow fused with the body of sea coming for his head.
"You're mine!" Childe whispered as he gazed below the unaware Zhongli.
Small rubble splashed through Zhongli's face, forcing his eyes to shut but quickly, he opened. Looking down, Zhongli saw his small meteor construct laying on the floor, broken into pieces.
"You destroyed my construct again, Childe," Zhongli said.
"Damn it, I got blocked again!" Childe said.
Zhongli stared at Childe, their eyes immediately matched like a line not to be broken; however; each had different impressions.
"I found you now!" Zhongli whispered.
He quickly pointed his hand with an immediate snap of his fingers,
"Uh oh…" Childe mumbled.
A small echo from Zhongli's snap and Childe already knew what was about to happen next, the ground that he was standing on was now glowing in gold, Childe hurried and quickly boosted himself high as a Stone Stele rapidly emerged.
"Damn!" Childe said as he glimpsed below.
He landed himself on the next rooftop layer but with just a second to breathe as the ground was also glowing in gold, quickly, Childe bounced away again as another stone stele was about to emerge.
Similar rapid scenarios happened on each rooftop layer as he went down, layer by layer, eventually, Childe managed to gain his upper hand on his situation, he landed in a perfect balance on the current rooftop layer he was in, gaining him enough seconds to prepare his bow and arrows before jumping again.
"My turn!" Childe whispered.
Zhongli looked at him, unaware, while Childe continued doing an aiming position with his bow and arrows ready within his grasp, all while in mid-air, and after a quick second, he proceeded to let go of the string where a riptide of arrows shot directly towards Zhongli.
"Now, that's new," Zhongli commented.
His hand then reached for something in thin air and pulled out a polearm, appearing out of nowhere in Zhongli's grasp. With eyes directly towards the projectiles especially on the lead arrow, in just a glimpse, that lead arrow was already in half as Zhongli swiped his held polearm, he followed up with another swipe towards the opposite side, hitting a few more incoming arrows.
Zhongli wasn't finished yet as he swiped his polearm upwards and intentionally, he released it from his hands but the polearm didn't fall on the ground, instead, it spun automatically in the air, positioning itself in front of Zhongli, acting as a shield while at the same time, destroying the projectiles that came close.
"Come on now, Mr. Childe, is this really necessary?" Zhongli asked, arms folded as he gazed upfront to his polearm spinning and destroying every incoming arrow.
A quick shadow swift through the air and crashed in front of Zhongli, releasing smoke clouds of dust everywhere. Zhongli gazed through the smoke where he then saw a figure of Childe standing.
"Yes," Childe replied.
He followed up his word with a charged shot from his bow, the projectile traveled so fast but was stopped from even reaching Zhongli as a stone stele was already formed in front of him, blocking it easily.
Childe didn't fall back, quickly, he boosted himself towards the towering height of the stone stele, just to reach Zhongli.
"Can you calm down your rock sticks?!" Childe shouted.
"Give up," Zhongli replied.
Immediately, Childe dropped himself with his foot ready to kick down from above, Zhongli grabbed his polearm and stepped back, evading Childe.
Using his bow as a melee weapon, Childe didn't stop with his attacks, he swiped his bow but with Zhongli's graceful spin and precise polearm lash, both weapons deflected with an equal impact, Childe didn't let the single second of opportunity go as he followed up with a swift high kick which Zhongli stepped back from, evading it again.
"You kept dodging huh!" Childe commented.
"Hmph."
Zhongli raised both arms with hands spread open, emerging five stone steles in front of him, greatly separating Childe's presence that not even a sight of Zhongli's figure was to be seen from Childe's eyes.
"I've had enough of your rock sticks… I'll take you seriously now!"
Standing in between the parlor's two pillars, Zhongli stood calm, expectant of what Childe will do next, while at the same time, his one hand behind has a new small meteor construct to play with.
"Mr. Childe surely has a lot of energy tonight, even if it's a working day…" Zhongli murmured.
"HAAA!" Childe yelled.
Followed up by his sudden yell, the five stone steles that stood firm on their separation came to an end as a massive slice of hydro tore all the stone stele's upper portion apart in a single swipe, quickly, it followed with a much more intense slice, down to the middle portion of the stone steles, all of it happened in a second and the reaction followed with the stone stele sliced parts, blasting everywhere.
Everything came to a slow-motion in Zhongli's eyes as Childe stayed in mid-air with now a hydro polearm in hand, holding intently to the weapon's shaft with a perfect stance of his left leg extended out and his right leg folded in but Childe really displayed it all with the lengthy veins in his arms down to his fingers connecting in as he was forcing every strength he has to slice down the solid rock steles in his path.
"Impressive…" Zhongli whispered.
Childe fell with a swift catch on his balance, standing with vigor as all the rock stele parts he sliced dropped around him, Childe smirked at the silence of Zhongli's breath, spinning his hydro polearm by his fingers and intensely grasping it as he waits for Zhongli's next move.
"Surprised?" Childe asked.
"Not yet," Zhongli answered.
He followed his words with a quick spread of his arms with hands wide open again, and all the stone stele parts in the surroundings glowed in gold, Zhongli's hands slowly encapsulated the same color, ruling in the geo everywhere.
"You're not done yet huh, I'll make sure this will be your last move," Childe said.
Suddenly, every stone stele structure floated and moved towards Zhongl's side, each came to him like the small meteor toy he was playing with before, but this time, so much of every construct he made from fending off Childe are now floating by his circle.
"Don't worry Mr. Childe, this will be my last move…" Zhongli replied as he folded his arms.
As his words end and his gaze match Childe's, one of the stone stele boulders floating sends forth itself towards Childe's position.
"Woah!" Childe yelled as he stepped back at the last second, evading the projectile.
Another boulder quickly followed which Childe sensed as he gave a glimpse to Zhongli's serious gaze, the boulder crashed to its target's position with no figure to be seen until Childe landed on top of it, breathing heavily as he looked down on where he stood.
"All right… There's a way," Childe said in relief, letting out a few more breaths.
Zhongli stared at him disappointed before he let his one hand out of its folded position, his fingers glowing in full gold, spreading it each and gently moving them before doing a snap.
One by one every boulder floating around was released on its constant movement, traveling in unison towards Childe.
The upcoming fast-paced scenario was all that Childe can think about, it was like a slow-motion in his eyes as all projectiles are towards him but reality came more than his thoughts, and Childe was prepared for it.
"HAAA!" Childe shouted, gripping his hydro polearm.
Quickly, he bent his legs and boosted himself high in the air as a boulder came close to his position, Childe landed on top and ran a few steps before jumping again to the nearest boulder, landing not on top this time but on the side of it, only managing to hold on for a second, Childe have no choice but to hop onto the next nearest boulder or else he'll fall; however, his boost wasn't enough to land onto the nearest boulder, only making it into the side again, gripping to a tiny spot of it.
"Damn!"
Childe grabbed tightly to the tiny platform he was holding into, while looking ahead, he saw another boulder already incoming, Childe then looked into his other hand which the hydro polearm was being held and without a second to waste, he jumped from the boulder with much force, his one hand rapidly transitioned into holding the hydro polearm as well, making him grasped the weapon with both hands which he then used to impale the next boulder where he landed.
"AAARGH!"
Immediately, with the boulder now in his control, Childe collected much of his strength and moved his hydro polearm along with the boulder impaled on it towards the upcoming projectile, slamming the boulder to the boulder causing both to shatter with a blast, debris float everywhere, Childe landed a foot lightly into one of its rock and jumped through as this time, he's near to Zhongli.
Both eyes matched each other, one stood menacingly while the other was in the air, Zhongli interrupted the tension with a snap from his other hand causing a boulder construct to appear out of nowhere and immediately thrown at Childe.
However, as the boulder construct blocked Childe's figure in the air, hydro slashes appeared to slice down every portion of the boulder construct until it broke down into pieces, revealing Childe's menacing figure with both hydro daggers now in his grasp, he smiled confidently as he fell to Zhongli, with his hands ready for the deserving strike.
"It's all over now!" Childe yelled as he came down to Zhongli's position.
"Hmph," Zhongli whispered, folding his arms.
Behind Zhongli, the tiny meteor construct from before floated above him, rapidly rolling at its place.
"Huh! What!?" Childe mumbled.
Zhongli saw Childe's worried look and he smirked, the tiny meteor constructs quickly shot towards Childe, the surroundings were fast-paced in Childe's eyes as he fell, without even seeing or sensing the tiny projectile. It came out of nowhere in his perspective as it suddenly hit his forehead like a bullet, his whole stance of eviscerating the enemy from above came to an end as he flipped over from the impact, landing on the ground without even any balance to catch.
In the end, Childe was lying on the ground with his forehead swollen in red, Zhongli walked towards his side, looking at Childe who slowly opened his eyes.
"I hope I didn't kill you, I'm not ready to face a trial of murder in this mortal life of mine," Zhongli said.
"W-what… Y-you cheated…" Childe replied.
"It's called payback for destroying my little construct."
Childe raised his head, recovering as his gaze slowly cleared from such a blurry perspective and the first figure he saw was Zhongli standing in front of him.
"My head… It feels like I was shot."
"Come close, I'll heal it."
Without a choice, Childe moved his head closer to Zhongli's approaching palm. A delicate touch glowing in gold, it was a refreshing feeling, something a hardworking warrior needs after a tireful war.
"All done, now do your part," Zhongli said as he separated his palm on Childe's forehead.
"What? Already? Mr. Zhongli, I need more of your Archon healing powers, it's so relaxing," Childe begged.
"No. My archon powers are limited in capacity now, if you want to recover then I know a really good place that can guarantee better recovery, especially in our stomach."
"Ugh, let me guess, Third Round Knockout? Liuli Pavillion? Xinyue…?"
"It seems you have given me a lot of options again, Mr. Childe, I appreciate it but it's deserving on my behalf for beating you in the first place. And of course, I would definitely go with my favorite, Third Round…"
"Knockout," Childe continued.
"So shall we now?" Zhongli asked.
"Of course, my stomach's rumbling."
Childe stood up and brushed his clothing from the ground dust before him with Zhongli beginning to take their walk.
"WHAT THE!?" Hu Tao shouted.
She stepped out of the Parlor's door, only to see crumbs of stone stele everywhere, few parts of the ground were cracked and the rooftop layers were filled with stone stele at different parts.
"Oh my!?" the Ferry Lady said, surprised.
"What in the world did that Old man do!?"
"I'm sorry! Director Hu, it's my fault, Mr. Zhongli ordered me not to go with him because he would be with the 11th Fatui Harbinger's company. I didn't know that this was what they were up to, I'm really sorry…" the Ferry Lady explained.
"No, it's fine. Do you know why? Because I now have a reason to drag him super early for an environmental cleanup next week HEHEHE," Hu Tao replied with a grin.
