Author's Note: Yes a rework, because the last edition of this chapter was an awful mess and I apologize for it.
[Liu's POV]
"Where have you been, Liu?"
Signora's gaze and tone are both incredibly sharp. I'll have to choose my words carefully.
"I just went for a walk." I lie. "To clear my head in preparation."
"Hmmm..." She appears to study me for a second. "I suppose that is a productive use of time, especially as I have received communiqué from the Eremite leader."
"Oh? That was fast."
"Indeed. Their efficiency is surprising." Signora looks back in the direction of the Capital. "The Eremite scouts have apparently not seen the midget past Sumeru City. We were in the right rea, but not quite looking in the right place."
"Didn't we comb that entire place?" I ask.
"We did, except for the Akademiya." Signora turns back to me. "I had deemed it unlikely that he would be granted access to there or the Sanctuary of Surastharna, but it seems we will have to search these places after all."
"Okay..." I mutter in agreement. "Rosalyne, how are we going to get into the Sanctuary?"
"If he can do it, then so can we." She glares at me. "No matter where he is, he is not safe."
The resolve I see in Signora now is more fierce than ever. I feel like she's about to go Crimson Witch any second now.
"Liu, we are setting off immediately." Signora proclaims. "I refuse to waste anymore time."
It would be prudent to put what I discovered earlier on the backburner for now. I need to be as focused as possible for taking on Scaramouche.
[Later, at Sumeru City...]
"Scaramouche, you traitor!" Signora yells after him as he disappears further into the Sanctuary. "Come on, Leo. I'm not letting him get away!"
We both take off running after the former Number 6 only to stop when we hear a painfully familiar voice.
"Stop right there!" The voice of Paimon.
"Tch..." Signora turns to me. "Leo, handle this. I'll take on the brat."
"Wait, hold on!" I exclaim, stopping both Signora and the Traveling duo in their tracks.
"What now, Leo?"
"An idea just came to mind." I say. "And it's an idea that nobody here is going to like."
All eyes are on me.
"...How about we work together on this?" I bluntly ask.
A heavy silence takes over the chamber as everyone stares at me in disbelief, like I just made some outlandish claim.
"Are you..." Signora is the first to break the quiet. "Are you TRYING to insult me?!"
"Why would we work with either of you?" Aether also speaks, disregarding Signora's statement.
I anticipated this kind of reaction. Time to justify myself.
"Think about it, all of you." I proclaim. "We have a common enough interest, I'm sure of it."
The silence returns accompanied by the discontent looks of everyone in the vicinity.
"Come on!" I continue. "We all want to stop Scaramouche. I may not know what he has planned but I'm sure you'd want to prevent it. Wouldn't you Traveler?"
Aether and Paimon both start to look a little receptive to my proposal.
"And Signora..." I turn to her and see that she still has a particularly sour look directed at me. "...We don't entirely know what we're walking into."
I lower my voice before continuing.
"He has the Electro Gnosis and even before that he was still ranked as the Sixth. And this is not a permanent arrangement, we're just using those two to get the Gnosis." I explain, trying my best to placate the Fair Lady. "Surely you see the sensibility in this."
Signora sighs and shifts her glare between me and the Traveler a couple times.
"...Fine..." She relents. "But don't blame me if he ends up a bit singed."
"Thank you, Signora." I turn back to the Traveler who seems to be having his own convention with Paimon, which comes to an end swiftly. "What'll it be, Traveler? We're both willing to lend our aid here."
He seems to hesitate for a bit, but eventually speaks.
"We accept." He says.
"Good choice." I internally sigh in relief. "You will not regret this."
"That remains to be seen!" Paimon jabs.
I choose to ignore the fairy.
"Right..." I look to where Scaramouche ran to. "Onwards!"
We move as an entourage, ready to bring the fight to the Balladeer. I can only hope this is enough power.
[Later...]
It didn't take long to track down Number 6 who wastes no time in summoning his ace. A mechanical goliath-esque structure that is fully mobile. In response, Signora immediately activates her Crimson Witch form.
"So this is how far you've fallen, Signora." Scaramouche's voice jeers. "You and your puppy allying with the Traveler. Tsk..."
"Your arrogance will bring about your demise." Signora says with venom. "We are going to take you down."
[3rd POV]
Liu wordlessly pulled out a silver crown adorned with multiple greem gems, all of which are fairly small, with the exception of the jewel on the front which is noticeably large.
Once Liu had the crown on, he fell forward having to use his rapier as support to avoid collapsing entirely, before straightening his back out again, only now his normally red eyes were an ominous green and a mist of the same colour ws cascading from the crown and surrounding him.
Aether and Paimon were shocked for a split second before Aether too readied himself.
Neither side made a move for a while. Scaramouche and Signora stood at an impasse, until Liu stepped forward and through a javelin of ice at the Balladeer.
It didn't have much effect, but it got the attention of the former Sixth Harbinger.
"What was that pathetic attempt to damage me?" Scaramouche smirked inside the safety of his mech.
"Hmmmm..." Liu studied Scaramouche for a second. "As I suspected..."
"Wha-"
"I suppose I'll end him here and now."
The mech charged up briefly before unleashing a large dose of electro energy at Liu. However, Liu's speed had been underestimated and he quickly dodged behind Signora and told her what he knew.
"There's a shield..." His tone was devoid of any emotion. "Our attacks won't have any effect unless we figure out how to disable it."
"What?" Signora looked shocked. "How did you figure that out?"
Liu couldn't respond before Scaramouche spoke again.
"There he goes, hiding behind his Master." His voice had an air of annoyance, despite his sarcastic remark. "Fine, I'll just kill all of you."
This action snapped everyone to join the fight with Liu separating from Signora and joining Aether's side of the 'arena'. Here, he divulged the same information to the Traveler.
Meanwhile, Signora kept Scaramouche distracted with various attacks, which sure enough, didn't deal any damage but were enough to attract the full attention of the Balladeer.
"What do we do then?" Aether asked.
"Stay alive until we figure out the source and then eliminate it." Was the simple plan devised by Liu.
"You wish to die first?" Scaramouche said to Signora. "So be it."
He went to blast the Crimson Witch with lightning but it was blocked by a wall of ice, creating a violent flurry of Superconduct. The wall eventually shattered but Signora had moved by then.
The backblast of the breaking ice shield launched Liu upwards into a wall of the Sanctuary. Luckily, he's able to catch himself and minimise the damage taken. he pushed himself off the wall and landed safely.
"That's new..." He muttered.
Aether took the opportunity to assault Scaramouche's mech, dodging the various attacks that the Balladeer wordlessly sent at him. Aether swiftly ascended the mech reaching and stabbing the core. Unfortunately, this only resulted in him getting sent backwards and punched by arm of the Balladeer.
Aether managed to land safely but wasn't given time to breathe before the mechs arm descended upon him forcing him to block the strike as best he can.
A rapid line of icicles were sent directly to the head of the mech fro Liu, but had no effect. Eventually, the floor gave in to the pressure and crumbled sending everyone into a lower level of the Sanctuary.
[Liu's POV]
That hurt quite a bit...but, this is an opportunity.
I look towards Scaramouche, and allow the Carnal Crown to analyse his mech.
...No way...divinity?! That's why the shield is impenetrable. I have a sneaking suspicion that this won't work unless Lesser Lord Kusanali herself gets involved.
"Give up!" Scarmouche's voice booms. "You could never hope to defeat me!"
I look around. Signora seems to be okay. I suppose she caught herself with her flames, and the Traveler is...talking with the DENDRO ARCHON?!
Damn, I can feel myself losing control again...
[3rd POV]
Liu quickly stood up, snapped out of his moment of clarity and efficiently rushed back to Signora's vicinity.
Meanwhile, Nahida had been explaining to Aether and Paimon how she'd been covertly aiding them in this fight since the beginning, but was now ready to take a more direct approach to help. She granted the Traveler all her combat experience, as well as enlisting the entirety of her people to provide whatever assistance possible to bring down the demiurge Balladeer.
Almost as if in response to this admonishment of power, the space around Scaramouche seemed to shatter.
"Meaningless tricks won't save you!" Scaramouche's voice projected his agitation.
"This is the final push." Liu said to Signora.
"I-I know." Signora was a little taken aback by the shift in Liu's mannerisms and speech pattern. "We can do this."
Liu, almost mechanically, turned back to face towards the demiurge.
"Your time is at an end." He flatly stated before hurling a ball of ice to confirm that damage could now be dealt directly to the Balladeer.
No further words were spoken before the fighting resumed. Aether, Liu and Signora all worked in silent tandem, using a variety of attacks.
"Agh!" Liu yelped as he was struck by a bolt of electricity which caused to fall to his knees momentarily.
"Leo!" Signora shouted in concern.
Luckily for Liu, Nahida's support had spanned beyond just the Traveler, and so he was back up in short order.
The trio pooled their power for one final onslaught. This culmination finally overwhelmed the Balladeer causing the mech to slump over and crumble slightly.
"We...we did it." Signora muttered, decidedly out of breath.
Meanwhile, Liu ripped off the Crown and threw it to the ground which stopped the flow of mist and reverted his eyes back to their normal red hue.
"That cursed artifact..." He murmured. "Never again, unless necessary..."
Nahida floated up to the core of the mech, and began to retrieve the source of power.
"No..." Scaramouche's voice became panicked. "Wait! Anything but the Gnosis."
The other combatants watched as the Dendro Archon almost ruthlessly extracted the Electro Gnosis causing Scaramouche to reach out and fall to the ground from the cockpit.
[Liu's POV]
So...that's a Gnosis. I'd have to say I'm disappointed, all things considered. I didn't expect it to be so...physical, I guess.
"This could be a little troublesome..." Signora whispers to me before returning to her normal state.
"How so?" I respond.
"I planned on requisitioning the Gnosis myself, but now the Lesser Lord has it, so things got significantly more difficult." She ponders to herself for a second. "I'll give it a try."
"...With the power of another Gnosis, we may now finally understand the last memory of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata." The Archon says to the Traveler.
Suddenly, a bright light flashes in the cavern, and when it's possible to see again, a gold, trophy-like apparatus has appeared, floating between Lesser Lord Kusanali and the Traveler.
Their conversation continues, but I tune out as I really couldn't care less.
"Excuse me, Lesser Lord Kusanali..." Signora's voice drags me back into the conversation. "If I may, I stake a claim on that Gnosis. Of course, after you've done all you need with it."
Aether and Paimon's glares are penetrating, but the Archon speaks before them.
"I do not know who you are." She says. "How do I know you don't have any nefarious intentions?"
"Please..." Signora's tone is defiant. "Give me more credit than that, I know better than to generate animosity with an Archon, such as yourself. I, and Leo, can assure you, we have no ill intent. Rather, think of the Gnosis as payment for our co-operation in this endeavor."
"Don't listen to her, Kusanali!" Paimon shouts. "Paimon and the Traveler hae both seen her seize two Gnoses already. She's with the Fatui!"
"Rumours and hearsay..." Signora is evidently trying to hide how irritated she is. "Such nonsense should not influence your judgement. We assisted in the defeat of that false god. Surely that implicates our allegiance."
"Hm?" What is that?
There's something, or someone, over there. Whatever, this negotiation doesn't involve me. Time to investigate that movement.
I carefully slink away to check out the light and motion I'd seen. The events from this morning creep back into my mind as I leave the chamber. Surely this can't be connected, right?
