The Lost Key in Teyvat Chapter 14: Battle Royale, a Kingdom Hearts + Genshin Impact Crossover fanfic

*Disclaimer* - I do not own the copyright to Genshin Impact or Kingdom Hearts

*A/N* - Long time no see! I hope everyone checking this chapter out is doing well. It's been a minute. Fontaine has long been released and it has now become one of my favorite regions in the entire game. That prison arc was truly a bit slow but the rest of it all was amazing. Along the way, learning more about the world of Teyvat and what wonders could be established in this story has gotten me super excited. I apologize for the long wait since the last chapter was posted back in September. A lot of things have transpired in my life, but it's all over. Now that Winter is in full swing, I'll be working my tail off to update more stories and start placing the foundation for what's to come.

With Fontaine's Archon quest now concluded, Natlan lies in the distance. However, that just makes my drive for this story and direction even more grand. Things are certainly going to get interesting, and I can't wait for Sora to get there. Ala Furina, Navia, Clorinde, and many other individuals and things in Fontaine. Alas, that brings us back to the present moment in the story with the Keyblade wielder and his two new friends getting caught up in a Heartless situation. How will things play out? Well, I'll stop rambling and let the story do all the talking. Thanks again for checking this story out whether you're a long-time viewer or just stumbled upon this. I truly appreciate it and hope you'll enjoy this ridiculous story.

*Whoosh*

*Whissssh*

The frown visible on the Keyblade wielder's face was highly evident. With the wind starting to pick up and the dark clouds looming above him, Beidou, and Keqing it was obvious that something was starting to stir. A sudden memory of how his interaction with Eula in Wolvendom had played out meant that he needed to be careful and solve this problem soon.

"I don't like this. Not one bit" Sora murmured while gripping onto his Keyblade tightly.

The trio had been moving nonstop trying to keep up with the Heartless Demon Tide that had shot off into the sky. It had been quite worrisome with the weather starting to become a worry and the distressing feeling of seeing the mass of darkness soaring overhead.

"We're gaining on it. That's all that matters" Keqing affirmed while eyeing the bundle of creatures.

"If you ask me…" Beidou glanced up and with her one good eye narrowed her gaze toward the Heartless and let out a click of her tongue. "It looks like it's just playing with us now. Dragging us along like a chain."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that, but if that is the case, then we need to find a way to pull back on the chain. Any suggestions?" the purple-haired girl inquired.

The two Liyue-born girls started rattling their brains around to try and come up with a good idea to stop the beast from dragging them along any further. Moreover, they also realized where they stood on a map and were starting to feel a bit concerned about what they were getting closer to.

Across the region bordering the line between Liyue was Sumeru, the nation of Dendro, which would cause the Heartless problem to go from bad to worse. However, that wasn't the only thing that worried the two girls. Along the border of the two nations lay a large open mass of land that was essential to the land's mining excavation industry which connected to trade and resources being plentiful.

The Chasm.

A large mass of land that had become visualized as a funnel digging deep into the ground and under it. Beidou had learned from her open friendly social attitude that The Chasm was a place that many hated and were fearful of. Aside from growing up in the region, she also knew better than to get involved in a place that had the Liyue Qixing and Ningguang herself wary around. It was a better idea to just stay away from there and turn her attention elsewhere. While it may be true that vital resources and even treasures lie hidden and waiting. The Captain of the Crux knew better than to lose more than her life in that place.

Keqing on the other hand, having been a part of the Liyue Qixing, knew just how dangerous The Chasm truly was. She could easily recall the many times she would have to review a report documented about that place and cover her mouth in distress at the report of so many workers losing their lives there. What was worse was that many times the workers who had been reported on did not die but merely got lost with no signs of life after many days of search and rescue. That place was somewhere she would not like to venture any time soon.

Alas, there was one other person with these two Liyue girls who was not as familiar with the land.

"Where are we at now on the map, Beidou?" Sora asked while pulling out his Gummiphone with the map on it.

"W-What? What is that device in your hand?" Keqing curiously questioned.

Realizing that Keqing might be utterly curious about his Gummiphone, Sora decided to give a very brief and fast explanation of it.

"It's called a Gummiphone and acts as a… device that lets me contact others and act as a camera."

Part of the spiky-haired brunette worried that she wouldn't-

"Oh? A Kamera. Devices such as those have begun popping up throughout the city. Commercial trade has warranted the use and marketing of devices from other regions to appear more so than before.

Keqing then took on a thinking pose to sort her thoughts out. "Sumeru and Fontaine are usually the countries that bring forward new technology which is then picked up in the harbor" she explained to him.

"Sumeru's got all that fancy stuff going on with their academia and whatnot. And from what I hear, Fontaine has most of their stuff being run by machines. I'm all for making a tough job easier, but… from what I've heard maybe it's a bit much. Granted, I heard all this from a drunken sailor so, take with that what you will" Beidou added while shaking her head.

Sora couldn't help but chuckle at that last part from the brunette girl. But hearing more about the other regions was causing him to become even more interested in visiting them soon.

However, that would have to wait. They had things to do first.

"Sounds like I'll have to check those places out. Anyways, this device is also able to hold pictures which allows me to see a map of the region that I took a pic of."

On the Gummiphone's screen was now a clear image of the area surrounding Liyue. This amazed Keqing and had her eyes scanning the object closely. Perhaps when things eased up, she would ask the boy many questions about this device. Or maybe the next time she encountered the Traveler, she'd have to question him if he had something like this given that he and his fairy companion traveled to various places in the world.

"Interesting…" the Liyue Qixing member muttered.

"Let's see, we are right here." Beidou tapped on the Gummiphone's screen indicating that they were coming up on the outskirts of Lumberpick Valley. "While we technically made it to Tianqiu Valley, we didn't get very far into it. We only saw it from a distance, and now we're turning around and chasing the Heartless back into this rocky terrain. However, we definitely need to stay away from here."

She then pointed at the red and orange area of the map before her. The entire area appeared to have layered outlines which seemed to be nothing but rocky terrain.

"That place is known as The Chasm. Let's just say that's a place we should very well stay away from."

Heeding Beidou's words, Sora simply nodded getting the sense that place spelled bad news.

"Got it. I think I have an idea of how to get the Heartless away from the area and push them back to open ground. At the very least away from the Chasm" Sora mentioned while glancing at the map.

This got the two girls' attention and curiosity.

"Well, don't leave us guessing any longer. By all means, what do you have?"

Sora then traced his finger along a curved path from where they were estimated to be on the map.

"The Heartless are dragging us along. I think I can get them to move this way- "He said while tracing his finger along the right side of Lumberpick Valley and passing through Lingju Pass in the direction toward Qingxu Pool on the map. "The Heartless are a special creature that fears my weapon, the Keyblade."

Taken back by what he just said, the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing had to voice her inner thoughts out loud.

"Hang on. Did I hear that correctly? You said they- "Keqing started to say but was countered rather immediately.

"Yep. The Keyblade acts as a sort of countermeasure against the Heartless. To put it simply, they fear it. The Heartless are all about bad emotions and well, darkness. Making the Keyblade its ultimate foe. So, I'll rush forward and try to divert its path and bring it to this area."

Sora said while tracing his hand around the area of the map that held Lingju Pass. This area was the closest to having flat land where it'd be easier to fight the Heartless. Rock-filled land would only make it harder for them to fight the Demon Tide. The torrent of Heartless could fling rocks and debris at them by picking up speed.

Alas, many questions popped into Keqing's head as she was hearing all this information for the first time, however, the time for asking questions could wait. They had a plan now. Might as well get accustomed to it.

At least, that's what she wanted to think, but her complex thinking came to a head as she just had to take an extra precautionary step in their plan-making.

"Sora. Are you sure the Heartless will follow you?"

"…I…"

Sora bit his lip as he couldn't guarantee that his plan would work correctly. The Heartless were a creature of great mystery and while he had dealt with them for years now, he was still learning new things about them even now.

"I won't lie. This plan may have the slightest chance of not working out completely. But it's the only thing I can think of. Using myself and the Keyblade as a sort of magnet to draw attention."

The purple-haired girl could tell from his tone of voice that this plan had a bit of a flaw to it. However, at this point, anything would work so long as it kept them away from the Chasm. Whatever happened, they would adapt.

'Besides, if the Demon Tide continues to wander and build up strength, then it'll only be a matter of time until it unleashes its true form. While one Heartless tornado isn't really a problem for me… it's the rest of the region that I'm worried about. Along with everyone who could get hurt from it' Sora thought to himself while glancing around the area.

He'd have to be quick and confident in his abilities to get the Demon Tide's attention.

"Understood. Then there's no time to waste."

"And at the rate that thing is going…" Beidou said while staring up at the Demon Tide swirling around in the sky. "I'd say we need to get a move on now."

"Right! Get ready to surround the Demon Tide. I'll draw its attention now!" Sora yelled before breaking out into a dash and trying to catch up to the Heartless group.

The two girls then followed behind while making sure to not lose sight of the creatures. Keqing also silently hoped with all that she could that Sora's plan worked.

It was a race against time for the trio as they weren't sure what the Heartless' next move might be.

Anything unexpected could happen.

Now, having gotten a great deal closer to the Demon Tide, Sora raised his Keyblade and shot a beam of light up into the air. This acted as a sort of signal to get the monsters' attention.

"Hey! Over here! I'm right here!" Sora shouted.

The reaction he got was everything he was hoping against as the Demon Tide did not react and just kept spinning around in a circle while seemingly moving toward the area that it wasn't supposed to… further into Lumberpick Valley and closer to the Chasm.

"No!"

Gripping onto his Keyblade handle tightly, Sora aimed it at the Demon Tide and let loose a blast of light against the Heartless causing a large explosion.

"Light!"

The spell's white light explosion soon caused a dark cloud to hover around the Demon Tide, but that didn't last long as the group of Heartless shot up into the sky before trailing around like a snake toward the Keyblade wielder and dismissed the cloud to become visible to all who could see it again.

"There we go! Come on! Follow me!"

With the Heartless now setting its sights on him, Sora pointed his Kingdom Key in front of him and cast a Blizzard spell to soar across the ground. This caused a trail of ice to appear which prompted the spiky-haired boy to glide down the trail at an incredible speed. His Flowmotion ability also activated allowing blue light to surround his body and push him forward as well.

The massive swarm of Heartless was now chasing after the boy who appeared to be sliding away. With no disdain or apprehension, the Demon Tide shot through the air and right into the ground causing a dark portal to appear, but not before the group of Heartless shot out of another spot not that far and repeated such an action while chasing after the Keyblade wielder. Every time the swarm dived into the ground, individual Shadows would fall to the ground and scramble. Causing an even bigger mess.

Alas, behind the Heartless swarm came two figures doing their all to keep up with the boy and monsters. Beidou and Keqing immediately set to cleaning up any separated Heartless making sure to leave none behind.

*Wham!*

"Hah! Take this!"

Beidou yelled while slamming her claymore down atop a single Shadow before thrusting her weapon in a horizontal slash to kill any nearby Heartless. The brunette then pressed her body into the claymore and picked her leg up to perform a solid kick to the face of a Shadow. Adding onto her attack, Beidou then charged toward the closest Heartless and connected a solid punch to its face.

"Not a chance!"

Keqing meanwhile zoomed forward with her Electro ability and cleanly pierced a Shadow's head managing to kill it which caused a poof of dark mist. She then stepped forward and performed a barrage of strikes at several other Shadows that were trying to attack her. Her quick reflexes allowed her to dodge each attack before countering with purple electricity scattering across her blade.

The two quickly finished off the leftover Heartless and set out to catch up with Sora and the glob of Heartless soaring through the sky.

"That thing isn't showing any signs of slowing down!" Beidou commented while observing the Demon Tide.

"At least it's following Sora now."

"Yeah. But for how long? We don't exactly know what the monsters' next move is."

Looking ahead, the two girls could see the Heartless tailing Sora and his ice trail while having its sight targeted on him. A sense of worry was present in their chests but given that the spiky-haired boy was showing nothing but confidence in his actions this allowed them to breathe a bit easier.

"The Chasm is practically a rock throw away" the brunette captain muttered while still running. "I don't like to test luck all the time but- "

"You don't need to tell me. The only thing we can do is hope that Sora leads the Heartless away from there" Keqing replied.

Nothing else needed to be said as the two dashed forward to try and catch up with Sora.

Speaking of the Keyblade wielder, he was doing his best to keep a calm and collected look on his face while doing everything he could to keep the Demon Tide focused on him.

"Hey! You're too slow! C'mon! I've fought other Demon Tides that moved faster than… err… all of you!" Sora yelled back to the mass of Heartless spiraling toward him.

Shifting his eyes forward, he spotted what appeared to be a small little cliff to jump down from. The area was becoming more mountainous which meant that he'd have to be wary of his surroundings. Memories of his time in Thebes in Herc's world came to mind. Especially the time when he had to scale the mountain and encountered the rock titan who threw boulders down at him, Donald, and Goofy. While he would be fine against an attack like that, he wasn't sure how Beidou or Keqing would fair.

Hence, he had to be careful with his surroundings.

Deciding what to do next, Sora jumped right off the cliff and soared through the air before gracefully rolling across the ground and pointing his Keyblade right up at the swirling Demon Tide. His sights were aimed right at the center of it which was comprised of a cluster of Shadows into an orb-like state.

"Get a load of this! Water!"

The tip of his Keyblade glowed a blue color before a sphere of water came zooming out and heading straight for the mass of Heartless.

Upon impact, Sora cast another spell to cause a chain reaction that would deal great amounts of damage.

"Thunder!"

A bolt of yellow lightning hit the Demon Tide causing the water and electricity to course through all the Shadows balled up. The effect was great and even caused multiple Shadows to fade away or fall to the ground.

Alas, this also seemed to make the Heartless angry and resulted in them picking up speed and shooting right for Sora. Seeing this, the Keyblade wielder dashed to the side making sure to not lose his footing otherwise he'd be slammed into the air or ground by the Demon Tide. He also had to make sure to avoid the area that Beidou and Keqing warned him… The Chasm.

It was quite noticeable now from his point of view of just how massive the place was. Seeing the terrain switch to massive, large rocks that looked to be natural or tampered with by people caused him to want to admire the view. However, that would have to come later once he and the others got rid of the Heartless in the area.

Suddenly, a loud sound rocked the area and caused debris of rocks to go flying all over the place.

*Ka-boom!*

*…Crumble…*

"What?!" Sora yelled out while confused at what just happened.

Turning his head to the side while still running forward, he spotted what appeared to be large boulders that were either lodged into the group or broken off part of the terrain and hurled right at him. The large rock was thrown in his general direction but never came close due to the Keyblade wielder's versatile movement. Sora's agility and experience dealing with attacks while on the move proved great at this moment.

"You're becoming a real pain!"

Focusing on the surrounding area, Sora could see an open piece of land with a more green environment in front of him which could be just the place to stop the Demon Tide once and for all. With one fluid move, the spiky-haired boy activated his Flowmotion causing a blue light to surround his body before he dashed right up to the closest rocky wall and started scaling it. The mass of Heartless followed right behind him and was only a foot away from reaching him before-

*Wham!*

The Keyblade slammed right into the blob of Heartless causing the whole group of Shadows to crash into the ground. Additionally, the force of the impact was increased due to Sora's Flowmotion allowing him to flip himself in the air and put his weight into the slam. With the Demon Tide blob now in an aggravated state, it set its sights on the Keyblade wielder. This was made further evident by how the yellow eyes of all the Shadows flashed a darker tone of yellow almost looking orange.

"It ends here!" Sora yelled while holding his Keyblade with both hands up next to his head and pointing it right at the Heartless opponent.

*Woooooooshhhhhhh*

The wind started to pick up heavily with dirt and rocks being tossed around causing Sora to squint his eyes. If this were to keep up… things might get worse.

Not about to let that happen, the Guardian of Light charged right at the Heartless blob while the tip of his Keyblade glowed a red color. Soon enough, several fireballs were cast forward and impacted the Demon Tide before Sora started swiping at it.

"Hyah!"

A flurry of strikes hit the Heartless followed by multiple Shadows falling to the ground or outright being killed and disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sora made sure that this opening would not go to waste.

The Demon Tide then retaliated by thrashing around and firing a stream of Shadows at him which caused the brunette to dodge roll to the side and immediately hold up his weapon to block every incoming monster thrown at him. A torrent of Heartless came slamming into him causing the boy to wince but hold his ground. However, behind him appeared a dark portal on the ground where many Heartless started pouring out leaving Sora too late to act.

"Gah!"

Slashes across his back and legs caused him to dip one of his knees but ultimately forced him to throw his body to the side allowing the Demon Tide's retaliation to keep firing Shadows in his direction. He then rolled across the ground wincing slightly but making sure to keep his wits about him and not be bested by this simple action.

"Get back!"

Sora then swiped his Keyblade in a wide slash covering quite the area and either killing some Shadows or sending them flying back. He then darted forward and immediately cast a Thunder spell around himself to take out any weakened Heartless.

The Demon Tide then stopped flinging Shadows at him and transformed back into its floating form with Shadows swirling all around it. With the wind still blowing dust and dirt everywhere, Sora had to use one hand to cover his face while swinging away at any Heartless that tried to leap at him. About ready to start casting spells to counter the problematic monster at the center of this, a surge of purple lightning appeared and slammed into the Demon Tide once more causing it to go flying to the closest rock structure. The impact caused a massive boom along with debris to be scattered.

Turning his head to see what happened, the spiky-haired brunette was met with the confident yet beautiful grin that appeared on Beidou's face. There also happened to be a glint in her one good eye that showed a sense of excitement in her expression.

"Miss me?" replied the brunette captain in a teasing tone.

A bright grin appeared on the Keyblade wielder's face.

"Ha! You bet! I was wondering when you guys would show up" Sora happily fired back.

Before Beidou could respond, a blur of purple lightning surged right past the two and straight at the damaged Demon Tide core. With lightning crackling down her blade, it appeared that Keqing had teleported herself between the two and landed a strike against the foe.

"I won't lie. It was quite nerve-racking seeing how close you and the Heartless were to the Chasm, but we've got it right where we want it. Thank you, Sora" Keqing said, sending the boy a firm and appreciative nod.

"No problem!" the Keyblade wielder shot back while quickly swiping his thumb under his nose.

As this was said, the Demon Tide could be seen surging with darkness surrounded by a faint dark cloud. However, one notable thing about this problem was the eyes of the Shadows inside the blob pulsating from yellow to the darker shade of being almost orange. Anyone could see that things were about to get difficult.

"Alright! We need to stop this for good!" Sora declared while raising his Keyblade and pointing it at the Demon Tide. "You guys ready?"

"I'm all in!" Beidou replied while cracking her knuckles and lifting her claymore.

"Let's finish this" Keqing answered while brandishing her weapon.

Nodding at his new friends' words, Sora was ready to get this fight going.

"Right! Let's go!"

The battle between the three fighters and Heartless Demon Tide was about ready to commence…

Meanwhile, back in Liyue Harbor

Having just finished their scavenger hunt for clues or information regarding the Heartless, Yanfei, and Eula were now exiting a library with mixed expressions on their faces. Things were not looking good nor were they looking bad.

"That's the third library we've covered. I don't think that was a total loss, but I don't think it helped us in the long run." Yanfei said this while taking off her hat and patting it down before placing it back on her head. "We've still got a few other places to look over."

Brushing some of her hair off her shoulder, Eula let out a somewhat frustrated sigh while glancing back at the library they just left, "I didn't expect this to be a fulfilling and successful task to just easily find information about the Heartless in these libraries but… it's still quite a pain to come out empty-handed."

"No kidding. I thought that book on ancient myths and mysteries would have given us a clue or even the smallest hint of something regarding the Heartless. All I found out was stuff that Madam Ping has already told me in her many stories that she loves sharing. Though, if she had a look at that book, I'm sure she'd be shaking her head at all the false depictions of creatures from the past" Yanfei said while lightly chuckling.

Simply agreeing with her, Eula was about ready to suggest they try another nearby library when suddenly, the sound of someone yelling at them caused her to stop.

"Miss Eula! Miss Yanfei!"

Looking over at each other and then around the area, the Cryo vision wielder didn't see who was calling out to them, but the pink-haired girl soon spotted the suspect as she was rushing to them in a speed-walking manner. The suspect also appeared to be a woman whom Yanfei recognized due to her choice of attire which meant she had some involvement in Liyue's legal matters. This was also apparent in how her face had softened up.

"Oh? Baishi? What seems to be the problem?" Yanfei uttered while not sure what exactly was going on. "Did you need us for something? You already know of me but to know about Eula- "

The woman now identified as Baishi wore a red dress that stopped just shy of her knees along with her dark hair tied into a high ponytail with her dark-colored glasses. She also appeared to be running out of breath due to how red her face was.

"I-It's…*pant* Sorry. Things are escalating by the minute…"

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Eula spoke up, hearing the concern in her voice.

"Ahem. Apologies for that scene, but I've been instructed to report to you two about the situation that's now developing."

"Developing? What do you mean by that?" Yanfei questioned.

Pushing her glasses up, Baishi jumped straight to the point.

"Not that long ago we received a report from one of the Millelith soldiers sent from Dunyun Ruins that strange monsters appeared out of nowhere. The report then reached Lady Keqing's ears first which had her arrive at the area followed by the young man accompanied by Lady Ningguang and Captain Beidou."

Hearing this, Eula and Yanfei's eyes widened, and were immediately ready to move.

"Is Ningguang planning on sending reinforcements to help them?" the legal expert asked with haste.

"Yes. She has already set to that and asked that I inform Captain Eu- "

Suddenly, a commotion was heard coming a bit away from the trio as they all turned their heads to see a group of injured Millelith soldiers rushing their allies to the nearest medical station. Without saying a word, Eula hastily stepped over to the group and caught the attention of one of the officers.

"Please stand back we are currently- "

"Captain Eula Lawrence of the Knights of Favonius. I've already been prepped for the circumstances at hand. Now then, how is the situation developing? Casualty report?"

A bit startled by how upfront and direct to the point Eula had been, the Millelith officer could tell from her posture and formal address that she was in some way involved with the military. Adding to the point that she mentioned the Knights of Favonius which are from Mondstadt. Moreover, if she was aware of the problem then…

"No deaths have been reported, but I can't say the same about injuries."

Listening to this report, Eula now wanted to know how things went down, "I see, and how is the situation at Dunyu Ruins now?"

The soldier's facial expression to hearing the blue-haired woman's words gave Eula a distraught feeling in her chest. Something was not right.

"Dunyu Ruins? Ma'am. We were not stationed there."

Yanfei and Baishi who had made their way over to Eula after observing the injured Millelith soldiers and calling for aid were now curious to learn about the situation's development.

The answer they got was when Eula looked at them with a nervous expression washed over her face and her eyes seemingly hardening up.

"Baishi, was it?"

"Yes, that's my name."

Eula then took one last look over at the injured Millelith soldiers and decided to lend her aid to not only her new and old friends but Liyue itself. She had encountered the Heartless before and knew just how dangerous this new mysterious enemy truly was. The icy maiden then looked back to Baishi.

"I need you to report to Ningguang that the area near Luhua Pool has also been identified to contain Heartless. Tell her that I will head over there to do what I can while I wait for further support. Given that I have experience in dealing with the Heartless, I'll make sure that the monsters' attention stays focused on me."

Taking all of this information into account, Baishi nodded her head before taking off to report to Lady Ningguang. This left Yanfei to glance over at Eula while also seemingly having a brief conflicted look on her face. But that didn't last long as she shook her head and donned a sly smirk.

"Alright, you ready to head out?"

"Yanfei? What do you mean by- "Suddenly, Eula understood just what she was getting at. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Eula."

"Yanfei."

"You need help."

"I can handle myself."

"I do not doubt that you can, but that's not the point. You saw how badly those Millelith soldiers were hurt" argued Yanfei.

"All the more reason for me to step in and help. I've dealt with the Heartless before. Not to mention, I have both knowledge and experience in dealing with them thanks to Sora."

"I'm not saying you can't handle yourself. What I'm saying is that it's stupid to go out into an unpredictable situation. You never know what might happen."

Eula was now growing more resilient and realized that she was wasting time arguing with Yanfei.

"That's precisely why I need to go! Sora is busy dealing with another situation and while he works on dealing with that problem, I'll do what I can to solve this problem. Besides, the longer we let the Heartless roam the area, the chances of other civilians or animals being attacked or worse by them will increase their numbers" Eula hastily explained.

Sporting what could be described as a stern look, or more precisely how she would look in a serious court case, Yanfei would not let her friend get into trouble all alone.

"Then we agree! I'm coming with you and that's final."

"No, Yanfei. You can't. You're not suited for- "

"For fighting? You doubt me too much, Eula! While I'm not as skilled a fighter as you, Aether, or even Sora, I can still handle myself pretty well. At the very least, I can support you from afar. I've done a bit of training with Madam Ping and others to learn to defend myself. Which means that I'm going with you" Yanfei declared right to the icy maiden.

Realizing that she was stuck in a losing battle with her adviser of a friend, Eula simply huffed a breath of air before shaking her head.

"Fine then. But we need to move now, and you need to always stay behind me. The Heartless are adept and smarter than they look. If you get separated even for the slightest moment- "

"I'll be right behind you providing cover fire" Yanfei added positively.

Nodding at that admission, the two girls immediately set foot at Luhua Pool to see what the situation was turning out to be. It made Eula realize that she'd be retracing her steps given that she just got to Liyue Harbor not that long ago. Area surveillance over a place she traveled through before would give her an advantage.

However, the real question in the back of her mind was the real concern. Just what was happening in Luhua Pool?

Meanwhile…

Folding his arm across his chest, the Lost Master kept a close eye on the stag with the glowing orange body. This creature was known as Moon Carver and was symbolic of the history of Liyue. The two had been locked in a conversation regarding the events of the past century. Events now imprinted upon the pages of books discussing what life was like back then. This conversation was one the Master of Masters showed no real sort of reaction to and simply listened to everything said.

"…Wow. Such a rich history to Liyue… said no one ever."

"Hmph. Disrespectful is another word I would use to describe you." Moon Carver pronounced while glaring at the hooded figure. "Now then, you have wasted my time discussing Liyue's stories only for you to disregard them like a child does with their toys."

"Well, we all still have a bit of childlike wonder in all of us" the Lost Master countered with a wave of his gloved hand. "Besides, it's not like I wasn't listening at all. For instance, the bit about the Lisha civilization was intriguing. Ancient technology and stories were lost to time. Oh! And the Archon War. Yeesh. That's surely going to be something I need a refresher on. Reminds me of another war that I know of."

Moon Carver's face subtly shifted to one of momentary surprise at the mention of another war. This mysterious character was becoming an even larger anomaly. The words he was speaking… Just who was he?

"The bit about the rocky rock god, Morax, fighting sea monsters was also interesting. Buuuuuuut…"

The Master of Masters let his voice reach a dramatic stop while dragging along whatever topic was ready to escape his-

"The one thing I'm very interested about is the Cataclysm."

Countless thoughts were ringing around Moon Carver's head at this point that the stag merely let out a gruff spat of air from his nose. It even appeared that the area surrounding his antlers was glowing brighter than the rest of his body.

"Tread carefully stran- "

"I mean, to be honest, it all sounds very dramatic. And coming from me that's saying something." The Lost Master then put his hands behind his back and took a few steps closer to the water surrounding him on the small isle. "Monsters from the Abyss invade Teyvat and cause panic and chaos. The seven elemental big shots of the different nations got involved and this kingdom was destroyed. So what? And don't even get me started on the Heavenly Principles part of the story. That alone screams a coup."

"Watch your tongue!" Moon Carver roared with his deep voice. "You speak lightly of things that you have no semblance of understanding in the slight- "

"Oh, that's where you're wrong."

The Master of Masters calmly retorted. A sort of malevolent yet suspicious tone was used making his response something to not scoff at.

This left Moon Carver to widen his eyes before expressively pushing this subject forward.

"…Go on. Explain yourself."

Bringing his hands forward and cracking his knuckles, the Lost Master raised his right index finger and pointed it at the stag with great dramaticism.

"I will gladly. But you have to promise me something."

"I will do no such thing."

"Ok."

To say that Moon Carver was expecting an answer such as this would be a false truth.

"Ok? That's it?"

"Yep. Ok."

"What? I suggest you stop with your games."

"Then agree to my terms. Keep your promise."

"…What even is this promise you propose?"

The Master of Master clapped both of his hands together in an expressive manner, "It's a really simple one. All you have to do is promise that you will never, ever tell a single soul what you're about to learn now. No, going off and telling your buddies all that you've learned here… well, the buddies you have left I mean."

A moment of silence passed before Moon Carver would say anything.

"Such a mundane thing to prospect."

"That's what you think. But! It's what I'm offering. So, what do you say? Learn about some deep dark stuff that's sure to match up with your Archon War and Cataclysm or go about your day and just watch the show that's starting up" the Lost Master said while pointing over at the area with even more dark clouds appearing. "I'm sure *he's* about ready to get the show started or has already started. Which means we don't have much more time to chat. Might want to make your decision now…"

Realizing that this hooded figure was someone he couldn't just dismiss or ignore, Moon Carver mentally relented but ultimately decided to abide by his offer.

"Fine. I'll accept your proposition."

"Great! Just know, if you do tell a soul… well, things might get bad, and the funny thing is I won't even have to do anything. Neither a finger nor foot will be lifted on my account."

This strange threat would be one that Moon Carver would ponder for a split second before nodding his head.

"Start talking."

"Mm. Well then, starting from the top, this whole Heavenly Principles sounds like a boogeyman act of sorts. I've never encountered them before, but I know from past experiences that whoever is taking the role of this divine being is acting all high and mighty. Pretty soon someone is going to knock them off their throne and it'll be a sight to see."

"…"

Seeing that Moon Carver didn't say anything, the Lost Master continued.

"Adding onto my thoughts about these Heavenly Principles, I would make a hefty bet that they were the ones to instigate the Archon War. It doesn't make sense for this mysterious power to just show up 500 years ago and start smiting things left and right. Time had to be a factor in all this. They had to have been a player in the background for some time now. Moreover, I can think of over a hundred different scenarios that were worse than the Cataclysm. Sure, while countless lives were lost to this dark force… that's nothing compared to what I've seen before. I've lost so many people... so many friends..."

The Master of Masters then straightened himself and turned his body so that he was now directly facing Moon Carver. A sudden shift of his body showed the adepti that the hooded figure looked serious. A complete change in character from his more dramatic characterization.

"*cough*…Coming right out the gate… I am not from this world. In all honesty, I've seen many worlds. Worlds of Light… Worlds of Darkness… and more. To get a better idea of what I mean, in one world I visited the concept of death was one that placated everyone's thoughts and feelings. When one person died… all the memories of said person vanished. Only their names in print or photos taken of them lasted. Forgotten remembrance. What's worse than death itself? Forgetting that the death even mattered. What's even more heart-wrenching is that the heroes of that world died… one by one… all together. Only to be found moments after their world had been changed so that death cannot be forgotten."

As the Master of Masters said this, it was clear that his playful and obnoxious attitude from earlier was nowhere to be seen or heard. Instead, he was speaking in a tone of seriousness and cold truth. This caught Moon Carver's attention as the stag continued to watch the hooded figure closely.

Soon enough, the Lost Master continued speaking, "Another world that I visited was one of utter sadness. Humankind was pushed to the brink and all but destroyed. However, the home planet was then occupied by alien forces that destroyed the whole place. The humans then created beings called Androids to fight back against the aliens. The heroes of that world could feel and experience death on a daily. Granted, they weren't exactly human but android. However, that still led to a world full of strife and… despair. The heroes of that world also faced great challenges. Dealing with betrayal among those they call friends and even themselves. Losing all hope there was… yet grasping at straws for a second chance at life…"

"Forgive me for interrupting your past accounts, but while these other worlds have experienced much, and my sympathy goes out to them… there still lies the realization that we are not those worlds" Moon Carver spoke up. "While Teyvat has its own problems with countless wars, there is nothing to suggest that this world will fall anytime soon. There are those who have triumphed over impossible odds. And they will continue to do so. Working to strive for a good outcome."

The Lost Master then crossed his arms and arched his back in what could best be described as body language for someone not entirely agreeing with what was being said.

"Hah… to have such optimism." The Master of Masters then looked up to the sky and gathered his thoughts before responding to the adeptus. "In one world that I know of… death had such significance that if you had witnessed something akin to a streak of light while on the border of death, you were given power from the dead. That world… *sigh* … well to make a long-convoluted story short, that world seemed fine. Until it wasn't. Everything was lost. Dismantled. Diminished. Distorted. Destroyed. It's one experience that remains close to my heart yet… a good amount of my memories of that world are all but clouded or gone. Maybe… my own memory is betraying me for how that world ended up…Perhaps I'm just spouting nonsense…"

The tone of the mysterious figure's voice could be interpreted as him feeling sad. Lost even. Whatever this world may have been… it mattered a great deal. And now that the Lost Master's memory of said world might be fading away or remembered incorrectly. It spoke volumes.

"But what I'm really, truly getting at is this… Teyvat has many secrets. Secrets within secrets. Factors that are pointing to its ruin. The Archons themselves have a lot to answer for but even then, that won't be enough to find the truth of this world. And these Heavenly Principles seem to be a force that holds power over everything. But not control. There's a difference" the Master of Masters said with finality.

Everything that the hooded figure was saying forced Moon Carver to keep an ear open for and process it all in an observational state. While it was easy to write everything being said off as a madman's imagination, there seemed to be more in his words the longer it was examined and thought about. Would this world face such trivialities as the other worlds mentioned did? Why was this mysterious man saying all this? What was really going on in the world? Questions such as these didn't have an exact answer… not now at least. Hence, Moon Carver steadied himself and stayed quiet on the matter.

Suddenly, before the Lost Master could say anything else, a heavy gust of wind whooshed right through the mountain causing leaves and dirt to be disheveled. The two figures then looked out in the distance at the area where the dark clouds had grown since their last observation.

"Well now, looks like things have finally heated up. Storytime is now over. I think that's as good as any point to stop my blabbering about past experiences." The Lost Master said while lazily flicking his hand to the side and summoning a dark portal to appear.

Moon Carver eyed the strange portal with a watchful eye while watching the mysterious figure's arms.

"I don't know about you, but I'd like to get a closer look at the fight that's about to go down. While I know it'll be a cakewalk for one person, I'd like to see how the others with him handle this threat. Might even be surprised at how it all plays out."

The hooded figure then snapped his left gloved hand before arching his back forward, "Little heads up about the events that you're going to see happening. These mysterious creatures are probably new to you and probably going to rattle your… well, stag head. But a little bit of information to work with. These creatures are beings made up from the darkness with a heart. That's all I will say about them."

Just as the figure was about to enter the portal, he quickly turned around with one last thing to say.

"Ah! Right. Before I forget, I hope you'll remember the terms of our condition. Storytime for exchange of privacy between us. No telling anyone. Not even a bird or mouse. If you do… well, you might be dealing with more than you imagined." With one final wave, the Lost Master made his way to the portal. "May your heart- "

The portal closed before the dark-hooded man could finish what he was saying.

Staring at where the portal was, Moon Carver let out a tired sigh before turning his attention over to the area where things looked to be getting worse. Whatever was happening there, he needed to see. If he learned anything from this strange encounter with the hooded man, it was this… things in Teyvat were changing.

Times were changing.

Near Gunyun Stone Forest

Standing near the edge of the water on one of the small isles located within the Gunyun Stone Forest area, Tartaglia was watching with a close eye a group of strange dark creatures lurking about. Next to the orange-haired man was a Fatui Pyro Agent.

"How long have they been here?" Childe asked the agent.

"Not long, sir. Performing regular reconnaissance led me to spot them on one of the other islands. I thought they'd just sink in the water but…" The Pyro Agent took a breath before continuing to give his strange report. "Once they touch the water, a strange dark pool appeared below them. It wasn't like a sinkhole or anything like that. They just vanished. And then reappeared on this island without looking wet at all."

Processing what the Fatui agent said, the Fatui Harbinger had to consider his options along with doing a little thinking back on how he even got here. It had happened after leaving his little chat with the other Fatui members. Getting a report about these creatures and wanting to seek them out himself. He was just about to do so when he was stopped by another Fatui grunt who had been dispatched from a higher-class member. Word of these strange dark creatures appearing near Gunyun Stone Forest raised Tartaglia's interest and made him want to see what was up with his own eyes.

Hence, here he was now. Waiting to see just what these mysterious creatures were all about in person.

Moments after the Pyro Agent had finished speaking, the strange black creatures seemed to stand upright and turn their heads in a manner that seemed almost… alien-like. With its body standing upright but hunched over on two legs with no noticeable toes and long hands with claws. The creatures also had circular heads that matched what a person could look like except for the two long antenna-like features atop their heads. Another feature of these creatures was that they had blue glowing veins around their body specifically on their legs, arms, and head. Last of all, the creatures' big yellow eyes were something that screamed unusual.

All in all, this creature was unlike anything Childe had ever seen before.

Alas, this was a creature that a certain Keyblade would know quite well as he had encountered them countless times in his adventures against the darkness. A Neo Shadow.

"S-Sir! That's not what… what I saw…"

Confused by this remark, the Harbinger raised his eyebrow, "Comrade? What do you mean by that?"

Pointing his gloved finger over at the strange standing monster, the Fatui Agent mumbled in a somewhat anxious tone, "The creatures that I reported on were smaller. Smaller than what… *that* thing is."

Giving the strange black creature another glance over, Childe had a gnawing feeling growing in his stomach. The reports given on strange new monsters being sighted all around the area was one thing. But seeing said creature right before his eyes led him to believe that caution should be advertised.

"Alright, let's see how strong these things really are."

Childe said this while pulling down on his gloves and rolling his shoulder around in a manner that suggested he was stretching. He then reached his hand out and summoned his trusty bow to his hand before pulling back on the string and getting ready to fire at the creatures.

"Make sure to stand back and observe the enemies' movements. It'll help with the report we will have to make on these creatures" he said to the Fatui Agent behind him.

"Understood sir."

Nodding his head, Childe then let a sly smirk appear on his face before having one thought play out in his head. One thought that resonated with how he had been feeling for quite some time now. The thrilling feeling of battling and becoming stronger. Stronger to beat those who stood in his friends' way… his family's way… and his way.

'Now then… show me how strong you are!' he shouted within his mind.

*Kingdom Hearts 3 – Night of Fate OST*

Letting the string on his bow go, the first arrow shot right into the chest of one of the strange creatures landing in a direct hit. The impact on the monster left Childe feeling a sense of somewhat relief in the fact that his attack told him many things. The monster's reaction to being hit was that of delayed reaction as it stared at the arrow in its chest. And the fact that it didn't even seem to care that it had just been attacked. This might just be a strong opponent.

"Okay then… see how you handle this!"

A flurry of arrows was now sent at the group of creatures as Childe had taken on a sprinting maneuver while firing away. His eyes were watching in the direction he was going while also eyeing how the creatures reacted to the attacks. Running across the small piece of land along the water which was flat allowed him to balance his weight and let the arrows strung from his bow fly freely.

The monsters now reacted by having multiple arrows lodged into their bodies and seemed to have a unique way of dealing with the attacks. Their heads crooked to the side before their bodies sprung forward and charged at the orange-haired man.

Sitting on his waist was what appeared to be his Hydro vision which seemed to glow following its' users' actions. The time for action was now.

Pulling back on his bowstring, Childe how had the tip of his arrow charged with Hydro elemental power and sent it spiraling at the closest monster causing it to be encased in water. Same with the other creatures that got caught up in the splash.

"Close and personal!"

Childe's weapon then switched with the flick of his hands as he let go of his bow and waved his hands forward now holding two daggers made completely out of water in his hand. With these weapons equipped, he set forth to do some real damage to these monsters.

Dashing forward, he began swiping at one of the monsters which had instinctively raised its hands to block the attack which caused Childe to grin. But before anything else could happen, another monster lunged at the man causing him to thrust his right hand up to block the attack. This resulted in the creature passing to the side of him as he had managed to stab the monster in the shoulder causing it to roll on the ground and immediately crawl back to its feet.

Pushing against the monster he was blocking against; Childe swiftly moved his body forward and stabbed the monster in front of him in the head before dashing forward and swiping his daggers across the next monster in his view. The constant slashes made complete contact with the monsters and managed to leave trails of water floating in the air from how fast he was striking against the creatures. Strikes made to the creatures' heads and chests were done with such finesse and strength that the Fatui Harbinger couldn't help but smirk at his speed and performance. With this barrage of slashes sent at the monsters, the young Harbinger was thinking that he overestimated these-

*Whooosh*

"Huh? What was- "

Raising his attention to the left, Childe had to throw himself to the ground and perform a quick dodge roll to dodge a ball of fire thrown his way. The fire then crashed into the ground causing quite the impact with flames starting to spread across the ground. Another point of interest about the flame that was starting to spread was that it had a purple color to it. This was unusual.

"Sir!" the Pyro Agent called out.

Swerving his head to the side, Childe could see that the few remaining monsters had their eyes trained on him but had also moved to look to the side. This caused him and the Fatui Agent to do as well and were left even more mystified.

"Well now, it looks like we've got some more company."

Standing several feet away from him, Childe could see that several Whooperflowers had sprouted up from the ground and were looking right at him. However, there was something different about this group of Whooperflowers. Their body color had changed to match that of the other creatures with black surrounding their bodies followed by yellow bright eyes where the eyes usually would be on a Whooperflower. Following this, white veins could also be seen scattered around the creature's body which gave it an aura of suspense.

"What happened to you?" Childe muttered while watching the strange-looking Whooperflowers. "That's not how you normally look. I don't reckon you're the ones that threw that boulder at me?"

The answer to his question would come in the form of another ball of fire being hurled at him from the side which resulted in the man sidestepping the attack. He then looked to where the fireball was sent from and saw something that caused him to widen his eyes in surprise.

It appeared that another foe had made itself present in this debacle of various monsters coming together.

"You're new," Childe said in a fascinated tone. "Don't think I've ever seen something like you before. And I've had my fair share of encounters with monsters from afar."

Floating there in the air was a creature with a large, jagged, crimson-colored mouth that looked to be part of its lower head and upper body. The monster also had some short wings and pointed legs along with two yellow eyes. A pair of fiery horns extruded from the sides of its head. It was a creature that Childe had never seen before.

"So, you're the one who threw that fireball at me. Heh… Listen, that's not a very courteous thing to do. Someone could get hurt if they're not paying- "

He was cut off by another fireball being sent his way.

The only reasonable response was to return the gesture by firing a Hydro charged arrow at the creature spewing fire. As soon as the arrow collided with the fiery monster-

*BOOM*

The mix of fire and water caused a combustion focused on vaporization to play out which provided Childe the opportunity to act. Dashing to the side, he then called out to the Fatui Agent who had been watching this whole encounter.

"Comrade! Make sure you're taking fine-tuned notes! That Whooperflower and these strange fiery floating creatures are unlike anything I've dealt with before."

Nodding his head, the Fatui Pyro Agent replied, "Understood sir. I'll settle back a bit."

The Fatui Agent now had summoned his rifle to his hand if he'd have to join in on the fighting. However, he still made sure to keep a watchful eye on these new monsters' actions.

Now with things looking livelier than ever, Childe dashed toward the closest monster that was near him and brought his daggers down in fluid movement with strikes so fast that he was already finished with that monster killing it immediately. Alas, to his surprise rather than fading away like other monsters that were killed, the fiery fiend died in a black puff like how the strange-looking monsters he started his fight off died.

'These aren't your typical monsters. That much was obvious. However, there's something different about these monsters. I can't put- '

This train of thought would be interrupted as Childe rolled to the side and fired several Hydro arrows at two of the sphere creatures that had rushed at him and looked to slam into him. The arrows instantly blasted the rocky monsters back, but it was hard to tell if he had done a great deal of damage against them as their jaws were open and pointing right at him.

Unsure what this meant, the young man continued to deliver an onslaught of slashes against the foes doing his best to not stop his momentum. This tactic of rushing around the monsters and dodging each of their attacks was working in his favor now. However, who knew if it would last much longer?

Jumping back and summoning his bow, Childe pulled the string all the way back before letting the Hydro-imbued magic arrow go flying in the air and causing a great deal of water to hit all the monsters around him.

"Can't stop me now!"

In a split second, the Fatui Harbinger let go of his bow and immediately switched back to his water daggers and lunged right at the closest monster which was the unusual Whooperflower.

"You're up first!"

One strike led to another strike followed by a block and ultimately a kick to the face as the Whooperflower was swinging its body at Childe with purple fire being thrown at him. This resulted in him having to combine his water daggers to create an even longer weapon to bat away the fire. Amid this attack, several of the humanoid creatures lunged at him and forced him to land a successful punch to one of the monsters but allowed himself to open for an attack.

"Gah! Not cool."

A clean cut had been made to his arm which resulted in him breaking apart the water weapon back into daggers and stabbing the monster in the head while pushing himself back. This offered him some breathing room for the moment while eyeing all the foes before him.

The dark humanoid creatures were now hunched over and moving in a zig-zag sort of way that had the two Fatui operators wary. Moreover, the dark Whooperflowers had also burrowed themselves underground and were waiting for the right chance to attack. Lastly, the strange flaming monsters looked to have their mouths wide open and ready to send more fireballs his way.

Off to the side, the Pryo Agent had his rifle prepped and ready to lend a hand or defend himself at a moment's notice. The situation was escalating and could turn bad fast.

With no one making any sudden moves, Childe gripped onto his weapons which were made entirely of water, and narrowed his gaze at the first foe he fought against. The strange dark creature with yellow eyes and a somewhat humanoid body. Just what was it?

At this point, all the monsters started rushing at him which resulted in the orange-haired man smirking widely. He had been wanting to have a challenge for quite some time. And it looked like these unusual creatures would give a fight worth his time.

Back with Sora, Beidou, and Keqing

The trio were now set and ready to stop the Heartless from dragging around any further. Things were about to get loud.

*Kingdom Hearts 3 – Wave of Darkness Phase 1*

"Go!"

Immediately setting off, Sora charged at the Demon Tide while swinging the Keyblade side-to-side managing to kill any Shadows that were flung at his way. He also used his weapon to block every Heartless that was aimed at him. This caused the brunette to grit his teeth while also pushing back against the constant wave of Heartless.

Beidou on the other hand had dashed to the left side and heaved her claymore right through several Heartless managing to kill them with ease. However, just as soon as she killed them, more appeared out of nowhere crawling up from the ground. This caused her to grunt in frustration.

"Bah! How the hell can these things just appear out of nowhere?"

Slicing one of the Shadows in the head and causing it to disappear, Keqing then flashed away with only a purple light indicating where she went before reappearing again and managing to kill another Heartless.

"You do realize we are dealing with a blob of them all grouped up? Not to mention, I've lost count of how many there truly are" the purple-haired girl commented to Beidou before flashing away again.

The Captain of the Crux then heaved her weapon horizontally to sweep away several monsters before extending her right leg to kick one of the creatures back a bit. She then immediately activated her shielding ability causing a purple sphere to surround her while several Heartless began lunging at her repeatedly. With enough build-up in her ability, Beidou flung her claymore forward in a burst of purple electricity causing all the foes to be killed instantly.

"I don't need- Ha!" The sound of her claymore slamming into the ground was heard before she began speaking up again. "I don't need the obvious stated."

Sora on his part was moving with such agility that he had jumped right over a group of Shadows while quickly casting a Thunder spell causing yellow bolts of lightning to hit the Heartless. He then sprinted ahead slashing at every single Shadow trying to come his way while ultimately getting up and close to the growing blob of Heartless maintaining the Demon Tide's form.

"You're done!"

However, before he could even get close, a burst of darkness shot right out of the ground in front of causing another stream of Shadows to go flying at him. This caused the Keyblade wielder to raise his weapon in front of him with both hands while simultaneously being thrown in the air.

"Aah!"

While airborne, Sora instantly flipped himself around before setting his sights on a few Heartless bunched up. He now donned a look of excitement as he was about to perform a move he learned recently in his latest adventure.

*Whooooosh*

*KA-BOOM!*

The Keyblade wielder had landed with quite the shock and awe as the Heartless that were under him were no more. His slam had managed to also give him some room. Sora then turned to look at the Demon Tide and could see that due to its growing power a Demon Tower had appeared beginning to swirl violently in front of him. Off to the side, he could still see Beidou and Keqing working together to take down as many Shadows that came their way. Figuring that he could lend them a bit of help, the Keyblade wielder smirked confidently.

With the dream that he had back in Wangshu Inn, the memories and experiences he had with a great deal of magic spells and abilities from his past adventures had found its way back to him. Granted, he had no idea how any of that worked but… if there was one understandable thing it was that his heart was calling out to him. Lending him a hand in this new world and new fight against darkness.

He would not let anyone else get hurt. Not while he was here.

"Beidou! Keqing! Stand back!"

Hearing the boy shout that at them, the two nodded before jumping back and waiting to see what would happen next.

Now with time against him as the Demon Tower was primed to attack him, Sora raised his Keyblade in the air and let a bright light begin to glow from the tip of the weapon.

"Spark!"

Pretty soon several strange glowing crystals appeared right in front of the girls in a small flash of light before the crystals started moving around them at an incredible speed. Trying to keep an eye on the crystals, Beidou couldn't help but crack a smile.

"What is this? I can't keep track of- "

She stopped talking as she witnessed the crystals begin leaving a trail of different colors ranging from red, blue, yellow, and green. The crystals also started striking the Heartless in what could be assumed to be a circle but due to how fast things were going it was hard to tell. What was even crazier to consider was that the Heartless were getting absolutely demolished by the strange attack which had taken a dent in their numbers.

"Amazing…" Keqing muttered while glancing over at Sora who still had his weapon held into the air.

She then went back to stabbing a Shadow several times along the chest before having it puff away in a dark mist.

The attack soon died down when the crystals disappeared in a flash of light. At the same time, Sora had lowered his Keyblade due to the spell having reached its ending along with having to block a swipe from the Demon Tower as its entire body had begun to move in a snake-like manner and slammed right into him. An attack like this threw the boy back quite a bit, having him land right on his back and let out a huff of air.

*wincing*

"Guah!"

Having the air knocked out of him, Sora forcefully pushed himself back up while biting down on his teeth in annoyance. The Heartless had now set its sights on him with the Demon Tide firing Shadows at him like it was nothing. The Demon Tower had also gone back to spiraling out of control and moved in a wave-like manner.

Not about to get hit again, Sora charged forward with his Keyblade in his hand and was ready to deal with the Demon Tower first from being a nuisance.

"I've got you!"

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh pling*

The Keyblade was slicing through Heartless in the boy's way until he was only a few feet away from practically touching the residing tower of Heartless. In one fluid movement, Sora spun the weapon while also casting a spell that he was sure would lead to quite the explosion.

"You're gonna love this! Balloon!"

Immediately in a flash of light, a ring of glowing balloons appeared around the Demon Tower which seemed like an odd thing to see. But in the next instant, Sora primed his Keyblade to cast another spell that he had lost the ability to use on the fly. Now, however, with that dream of remembrance playing a part in his magic spell arsenal, he was ready to get this party started.

"Gather!"

A sphere of dark light soon appeared right in front of the Demon Tower and looked to be pulling any Shadows roaming around the area to it. This spell called *Magnet* was a cheeky spell that allowed for items or enemies to be dragged into the sphere. And with that understanding… it was quite clear what his plan was now.

One by one, the glowing balloons were all pulled into the Magnet spell, and once they came into close contact with one another and the Demon Tower-

*KA-BOOM!*

Bursts of light exploded all around the Demon Tower there was nothing left. Nodding at this tactic he thought of on the fly, Sora then continued to battle against any lingering Shadows before making his way right up to the Demon Tide which remained suspended in the air.

Beidou and Keqing had both been fighting against the Heartless but also bore witness to Sora's strange magical ability. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Just who uses balloons in a fight? Also, that strange light that managed to pull the balloons and Heartless into it was something odd. Alas, everything about Sora's fighting style was odd to begin with, but they couldn't lie… it was a sight to see. An experienced pro who managed to stand against these monsters.

Regarding the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing, she was beginning to admire the boy for his perseverance and wit to fight back while maintaining a calm head. Plus, his ability to wield Electro but in a strange new way was something to ponder for a later time. While she might have been able to deal with the Heartless for some time on her own, Keqing was quite thankful for Sora's help. Moreover, she was quite intrigued by his way of fighting which appeared to have no real style to it. It was almost as if he fought irrationally but with a sense of flow and fluidity to his moves.

The Captain of the Crux on the other hand was having the time of her life with how things were progressing. From meeting Sora to now fighting alongside him against these mysterious monsters… what's not to love?! In addition, even though it hasn't been that long, Beidou thoroughly enjoyed Sora's company. The guy was fun, and kind, not to mention seemed like a chill person but in a fight, he was absolutely demolishing his foes. While she had been doing her own fighting, the bits that she saw from him were impressive. Plus, he seemed to have even more tricks up his sleeve. What with the balloon and dark sphere trick… suffice it to say, Beidou was eager to become friends with the boy.

"You guys alright?!" Sora called out to the girls.

Finishing off the Heartless she was dealing with, Keqing was the first to respond, "We're all good over here. Though, I won't lie. I'm not a fan of dealing with so many of these monsters."

"Or maybe you've just been cooped up in the office for too long? Getting a bit rusty with your fighting capabilities" Beidou commented while holding her claymore at the ready.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Either way, we need to finish this soon. Who knows what this thing has in store for us."

Of the same mind, Sora nodded his head adamantly, "On that, we can agree! We need to kill it before- "

Suddenly, the area around them began to be covered with dirt and dust being picked up and waved through the air. Keqing raised her arm to cover her eyes while Beidou squinted with her one good eye at what was happening.

"Sora! Mind telling us what's happening?!"

A look of slight worry was now apparent on the Keyblade wielder's face. He knew exactly what was going on. The distinct memory of his time in the Keyblade Graveyard caused the young man's face to become hardened. He would not let what happened there happen here.

He would stop it.

"We need to hurry and stop it!"

*Whoosh*

*Whoosh!*

The area around the Demon Tide had grown exponentially to the point where puffs of dark clouds were beginning to pile up and surround the group of Heartless. With the wind picking up, it was becoming obvious what was going to happen. If things kept growing, then they'd be dealing with something that would lead to an unending amount of despair and darkness flooding the region and harbor. They needed to put an end to this now.

"Grr… We've got one shot to stop it!" Sora yelled out.

The grip on his weapon's handle was stiffly held as he narrowed his blue eyes on the center mass of Heartless growing in strength.

"What we need is a clean strike! Something to take this thing out easily!" Beidou shouted while holding her ground in the ever-increasing wind.

Scanning the area around the growing monsters, Keqing was trying to come up with any sort of strategy but wasn't exactly sure what was happening. The only way to get an idea was to ask the person who was more experienced with these beings.

"Sora! What's going on!? You didn't exactly tell us what's going on!"

"The Demon Tide is growing its power! If we let it grow bigger, then it'll turn into a large tornado of Heartless!" The Keyblade wielder yelled while racking his brain around what could be done. "We need a plan!"

Suddenly, the Yuheng had a thought come to her while glancing between Sora, Beidou, and the orb of Heartless floating in the air. A solid strike that would make quite the impact given a certain someone's shielding ability.

"Captain Beidou! Is your charged shield ability ready to go?"

Taken aback by what she was hearing, the brunette woman tilted her head in surprise, "Huh? Why would you- Oh! Haha! Hell yeah! I like what you're planning!"

"What's the plan?" Sora said, seeing that Keqing had an idea.

"I have a shield ability that allows me to gather up attacks dealt against me and send them back in a wide slash. Pretty badass if you ask me!" Beidou replied with a bright, cheeky smile.

Sporting a smug grin on his face from Beidou's enthusiasm, Sora could now see where Keqing's plan was heading, and he wanted to help make it a reality. Plus, this ability sounded just like his Counter-Shield Formchange when he built up enough damage to let out a barrage of magical fists to slam into someone or something.

"I know what you're thinking, and I think it's what we need." He said to Keqing before nodding his head with full commitment. "We need to move now!"

"Got it! Beidou- "

"No need to tell me!"

Beidou said this while immediately charging forward at the Demon Tide with her claymore held right in her hands as she swung her weapon at any Heartless getting in her way. Right behind her now was Sora firing Blizzard spells at any Shadow that tried to get close to her. Keqing had also joined in the support by teleporting to any nearby Heartless and striking them across the chest or plunging her sword right through them. The combined effort of the three was something to watch in awe as their teamwork was something to admire.

When Beidou had an opening on her left, Keqing was there to help. The same could be said with her right where Sora had blasted them with his magic before lending Keqing a hand and vice versa with Beidou. A functioning and moving triangle formation to deal with any foe that came close. It was a sight to behold.

Now, the three were several feet from encountering the Demon Tide and the wind had picked up tremendously and was making visible difficult.

"Beidou! Now! We'll charge up your counter!" Sora shouted while finishing off another Shadow by sweeping in the air only to slice it in half and kill it.

"Got it! Hope you're ready for a wipeout!"

Saying this for all to hear, Beidou lifted her claymore in front of her and charged forward right at the Demon Tide before locking herself in place. She then activated her Electro shield barrier which appeared to be a purple sphere shield around her. The Heartless around her all noticed this and turned their attention toward her.

Sora and Keqing were not about to let her be overwhelmed and set forth to defeat all the Shadows that tried to overwhelm her as the area had turned into a sea of darkness with only yellow eyes being visible. A sense of worry loomed in Sora's head but as quick as that negative feeling appeared, another feeling took over and pushed him to be stronger… to be better.

What the spiky-haired boy did not realize was that inside his pocket, the two Keychains that represented his friends had appeared to be glowing in what could be described as a strange blue light taking hold of them. The blue light was also seemingly making it, so they appeared fully but with a blue coat of light surrounding them. This went unnoticed by the boy at the moment…

Alas, with Sora's renewed vigor to save his new cheerful friend, he swung his Keyblade up in the air and allowed for a bright green light to take over the tip of the weapon. In the next second, a bout of wind appeared around him and ultimately created what could best be described as a small tornado to appear right next to the boy. However, the key factor to take away was that it looked like Sora was in control of the vortex.

The spell Tornado was in full effect and controlled by the Keyblade wielder. This magical command was something he picked up during his Mark of Mastery but had lost the ability to control a spell like this after that whole event. But with the dream sequence allowing him to retain and use his old powers and spells, he was back in business better than ever.

"Grr! This is- not as steady as I remember! Gah! Beidou! Get ready!"

Seeing this magical ability in play, Keqing gripped her weapon's handle and prepared herself for a tricky maneuver of her own.

"Mix our abilities together, Sora!"

Simply nodding at her suggestion, Sora controlled the tornado and had it hover right next to Beidou which brought debris from the ground and the vortex itself to hit her shield and cause it to glow even brighter. Following this, Keqing lunged forward right at Beidou and activated her Elemental Burst, Starward Sword, causing a series of thunder-clapping strikes against the tornado and shield adding up to the countered ability.

During this act, the Demon Tide had also increased its expanded growth and covered a good portion of the surrounding area in high-speed winds with Heartless beginning to be sucked into its main body. This in turn was the start-up base of a very large tornado. An outsider's point of view would undoubtedly be filled with despair and anxiety coursing through their hearts leading to darkness gaining the upper hand.

All in all, a dire situation was at play, and the three warriors were the ones to stand up to it.

But at that moment, several things happened all at once. Beidou still had her Electro counter shield held up and was gritting her teeth while narrowing her gaze on the blob of Heartless steadily growing. The shield had been glowing even brighter as well. This was thanks to Sora's tornado which had now covered a part of the shield and was being barraged with wind and debris hitting it. Following this, Keqing flashed right into the air and above the purple shield with the intent of landing a devastating blow of Electro power. And lastly, the Shadows appeared right in front of Beidou and leaped right at her before being pulled away from either Sora or the Demon Tide's vortexes. A chaotic scene was at play.

However, that would all change once the Keyblade wielder let out a hearty yell to the brunette captain.

"Beidou! Now!"

At that moment, the boy's tornado came to a stop, the Yuheng's blade had slashed across the shield and been pierced into the ground, the Heartless spiraled in the air and shot forward to destroy the shield, and Beidou… let go of her charge and heaved her claymore right at the Demon Tide with a mighty roar.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

*Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!*

The heavy weapon coursed with purple electricity around the entirety of it and managed to slash right at the blob of darkness. A resulting boom shot through the air and caused a massive flash of purple light to be seen from many miles away. The light was something to be admired as well.

Hair was now in the brunette's face as she let out a tired sigh and could feel that her arms were becoming tired. She was used to gather up such power behind her counter shield, but this was a new experience for her. Additionally, she felt a swell of adrenaline through her body and couldn't help the bright, cheeky, and beautiful smile that graced her lips. The excitement built up in her chest and her heart was through the roof right now.

"Hah…hah…. That was…. That was amazing! Hahaha!" Beidou cheered happily while leaning on her claymore which was stabbed into the ground.

Sora and Keqing who had jumped back to avoid getting in the crossfire of Beidou's devastating blow were grinning like crazy. The spiky-haired boy had a giant grin on his face while the purple-haired girl held a content smile. Witnessing a counterattack like this was going to be something that sat in their minds for a while. Plus, with how strong the stored-up attack was, it was definitely something that Beidou could bolster.

The Demon Tide had been heavily affected, and most of the Heartless around the area were caught up in the electric blast and either were killed or crawled back into the blob of the left-over Heartless mass. Sora could feel a bit of relief and nodded his head.

"That was awesome, Beidou!"

"Hehe! Thanks, Sora! I couldn't have done it without you or Keqing."

Hearing this, Keqing widened her eyes a bit, "This victory lies on your shoulders. You were the main driving force, Captain. We only helped give you a push forward."

"Nonsense! This is on all of us. We managed to kick that monster's ass! Speaking of, let's finish this thing off once and for all. Drinks are on me when we get back!" Beidou couldn't help the happiness that was coming from her heart. "I've also got a boatload of questions for you, Sora. You're seriously one mystery after another. When I think I have you figured out… Boom! You do something else that's even crazier! I'll be damned if I can ever figure you out fully."

"Haha! I'd be happy to tell you more about me. I'm sure you've also got a lot more crazy stories about yourself" Sora replied to the brunette captain happily.

"That I do! Enough to talk your ear off the whole night!"

Keqing could honestly see that happening as with being involved with the Liyue Qixing, she knew and heard a great deal about the Captain of the Crux and her many tales. The good, the bad, and the outright crazy stories she and her crew experienced and were then told through fishermen in the harbor. The stories then made their way through the harbor until she was informed of tales regarding the captain and her crew.

"Hmm. I think I beat you in that, Beidou" Sora then turned his head over to the Demon Tide which was moving very slowly indicating that it was injured greatly.

Alas, something wasn't right.

In this brief moment of peace with the three of them talking casually, the Heartless were not acting at all. Just looming around in a weakened state. Not even the heavily damaged Demon Tide was doing anything. It was just lying on the ground while the Shadows were trying to clamber onto the top of the blob mass.

Hence, Sora decided to make sure nothing else happened.

"Oh? I can't wait to hear your- "

Suddenly, Beidou was cut off as Sora twirled his Keyblade forward at the Demon Tide and was about to strike it down when all of a sudden, he was shot back with a burst of darkness right in the face. It appeared that an unexpecting stream of Shadows had shot up from the ground and hit the Keyblade wielder right in the face.

Keqing and Beidou were startled and immediately summoned their weapons back into their hands and prepared for another fight. However, that wouldn't happen as the Demon Tide had formed a significantly weaker yet new form that resembled a more compacted orb of darkness and hovered in the air. The orb then levitated higher into the sky until it was now above them.

Sora who had the wind knocked out of him, shook his head, and got his breath back before seeing the Demon Tide soar rise into the sky. This was not what he was expecting at all.

"What? What is it doing?!" Sora got back to his feet and gritted his teeth. "It looked like it was done for?"

"Looks like it has some more fight in it!" Keqing clamored while eyeing the mass of darkness.

"Then we'll just have to take it out for good this time!" Beidou shouted in a confident boast.

But before any of them could react, the Demon Tide shot through the air and away from the trio and headed not toward the Chasm nor Liyue Harbor but further north. The swarm of Heartless looked to be heading back to Dunyu Ruins but with no clear sign of stopping.

"It's heading away?!" Beidou shouted in surprise. "What the heck?"

"It's heading toward Dunyun Ruins but… no. It's not. It's heading toward Luhua Pool!" Keqing informed the two while having a good sense of direction.

The Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing had traveled around Liyue and carefully memorized each detail of the land to further her understanding of providing help and opportunity to the land she loved. Moreover, she was also in charge of land, livelihood management, real estate, and construction which required a bit of developmental direction for successful projects. This is why she was able to ascertain exactly where the Heartless were heading due to her sense of direction coming in handy.

"Luhua Pool… We need to get there now!" Sora affirmed while gathering himself.

"You two go on ahead."

Turning their heads to the side, both brunettes looked at Keqing and her strange request.

"Keqing? But why?"

"I need to inform Ningguang and the other members of the Qixing. The Heartless are turning into a problem that we need to prepare for." She then smiled over at Sora. "But not in a completely worrisome way. I know that with you and Beidou on the case, then there's nothing to worry about. You've both shown me that these monsters can be beaten. Together. That's all that matters."

Wanting to say a bunch of things, Sora knew that time would not allow that, so he did the next best thing and returned a smile to her.

"Keqing… thanks! We'll deal with them and be right back!"

"Heh. It's not every day that the Yuheng of the Qixing gives out compliments like this. But I'll take it in stride!" Beidou proclaimed loudly.

A small yet acceptable sigh escaped Keqing's lips before she nodded her head.

"Mmm. Now go! I'll inform Ningguang and make sure no Heartless enter Liyue Harbor."

With nothing else needing to be said, Sora took one look over at Beidou who simply nodded her head and gave him the sign.

Just as he was about to take off, Sora saw something on the ground where the Demon Tide had resided for a moment before taking off. The boy from another world had gone mysteriously silent in that instance. Walking over to that area, Beidou and Keqing were starting to talk about something else but were then taken aback at how abruptly the boy just moved and didn't know what to think.

As he got closer, the boys' eyes shot up in amazement at what he was looking at.

'How did- How did this get here?' Sora shouted in his head.

Sitting there on the ground was a strange-looking keychain that appeared to be two separate keys held together by a small bar of metal and connected to small skeleton heads. However, this item was something that the Keyblade wielder immediately knew what it was and broke into a smug grin. While the question of how his keychain got here or was held onto by the Heartless was something unanswerable, he was just happy to get it back. This keychain gave him access to a whole new design for his Keyblade which took on a unique appearance.

Wheel of Fate.

That appearance was a wooden Keyblade with a design that resembled the characteristics of pirates. More specifically, the Caribbean and his connection with Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth, and the experiences he had in that world. From the ship sail along the blade to the pirate wheel at the tip of his weapon. Sora felt a sense of remembrance and comfort in this blade. Not only did it allow him access to a Formchange that used a spear and then a flagstaff, but this Keyblade brought back the memory of his talk with Jack on the Black Pearl after the final battle.

"There's always enough time…"

Unbeknownst to Sora, two distinct and significant keychains glowed within his pocket. Sadly, the Keyblade wielder didn't realize this as his attention was still on the fact that he found a meaningful keychain from his latest journey.

"Huh? Did you say something Sora?" Keqing asked, knocking the boy out of his train of thought.

Shaking his head, the spiky-haired boy put the keychain into his pocket and held a hopeful smile on his face. Moreover, the smile on his face was different to the point that they could easily see that the boy had attained a newfound sense of confidence. Something left their minds a buzz.

"Sorry. Just thinking to myself. But now I'm ready!"

With time being wasted, Sora optimistically nodded his head signaling to the two that he was ready to set off. Beidou was of the same mind and cracked her knuckles together in an excited way. A simple nod was sent to Keqing before the brunette duo took off toward Luhua Pool with the intent to stop the Demon Tide once and for all.

Darkness was in for a butt-kicking.

Elsewhere in the area…

Standing on the edge of a rocky cliff, the Master of Masters was simply watching from a distance the two brunettes take off while the purple-haired girl ran in the other direction. It seemed obvious what was happening. Splitting up to deal with two different problems that were connected to the Heartless.

"Not bad, Sora. But not anything groundbreaking."

The Lost Master then placed his hands behind his back and let out an amused sound. One that could be interpreted as an amused chuckle.

"But I won't right you off… yet. You've got a *whole* bunch of things heading your way! You're only getting started with how bad things can really get."

A brief moment of silence passed for the mysterious hooded figure until he brought one gloved hand up and snapped.

"Now we move on to the next battle!"

A portal then appeared behind the Master of Masters causing him to disappear from the area leaving no trace that he was even there. It was as if nothing stood on the rocky terrain.

However, from a great distance stood Moon Carver keeping his eyes trained on the exact spot where the Lost Master once stood. Plenty of various thoughts rang through the adeptus stag's head as he tried to wrap his head around everything that's happened.

From the complex interaction he had with the hooded figure to learning a bit about other worlds… none of it made any sense. But the fact that this Lost Master knew about the past of Liyue and causally dismissed it like it was merely nothing… now that was truly concerning. However, the adeptus could not but let his mind return to the topic of other worlds.

Other worlds… Such a revelation was something to warrant unease. In all of Moon Carver's time, he knew a brief bit about the existence of other worlds outside of Teyvat. That much was obvious. Many events and creatures did not fit within the *laws* placed down on Teyvat. Things that he had heard about and things that he had not mentioned at all to those he would call friends. This mysterious figure's intentions and actions were going to cause him silent cruelty.

As idiotic as it might have been, the oath to keep the Lost Master's story private was something that Moon Carver would honor. The stag himself wasn't sure if it was an act of good faith or a hidden sense of agony. The idea that he would be punished if he uttered a word to anyone concerned the adeptus. Perhaps he may not be harmed but those he held dear to his morals and heart might be threatened. Alas, the number of friends he had was small, and he had no intention of making it any smaller. Hence, he would not say a word of what the hooded figure said.

However, that didn't include this mysterious creature that seemed to include the darkness inside hearts. That bit of information left to him by the hooded figure made absolutely no amount of sense no matter how Moon Carver dissected it.

In addition, it didn't help that he witnessed the battle between the spiky-haired boy and two girls from Liyue that he recognized. The girl with purple hair was the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing. He remembered that she was present during the battles against Osial and Beisht. The other woman with brown hair and red characteristics to her outfit was also present during Beisht's attack against Liyue Harbor. Both women were prominent figures in Liyue Harbor's safety.

The boy, however, was not present during either attack. Moreover, during this time against the mysterious creatures, he was the standout among the three. His strange attire and peculiar choice of a weapon were certainly stand-out features. But that wasn't the start of the bizarre. The abilities performed by this boy were unlike any the adepti had ever seen before. Control over the elements was as simple as waving his weapon around. Speaking of… his weapon. Moon Carver had never felt the presence of something so… alien. Something so… powerful before. To the stag's eyes, it drew an unfathomable amount of attention to it. Even without knowing anything about it… the adeptus stag knew it was a powerful weapon.

Therefore, he had stayed a good distance away from any prying eyes but would continue to follow the two brunettes on their journey to Luhua Pool where this strange mass of dark creatures appeared to be going.

Things were not calming down anytime soon for indication's sake.

Meanwhile, at Luhua Pool

The situation at the pool was worse than either Eula or Yanfei had predicted.

*BAM!*

*CLING!*

"Gyah!"

"Eula!"

The sight of the blue-haired girl being thrown back from an explosion caused Yanfei to become wide-eyed and feel a bit nervous about how things were playing out. What started as a simple task of taking out these strange dark monsters soon turned into an act of survival. The lynchpin that started this drastic change was the arrival of an Abyss Mage with an unusual design.

This unique mage had the typical body structure and design but the color around its body was different. Different from say an Electro Abyss Mage whereas this foe had a darker color scheme of purple followed by bright yellow eyes. The mage also carried a staff that had a strange pink heart glowing at the tip of it. Yanfei and Eula had never seen an enemy like this before.

Additionally, the situation changed when the mage swung its staff forward at the ground when suddenly puffs of smoke appeared out of nowhere only for more strange creatures to appear. Only this time… they weren't like the others. Enemies started appearing throughout the area and had even taken on the appearance of golems that the two girls recognized quite easily.

These strange new foes came in the form of a dark creature with a humanoid body but with various features. One feature was that the hands were claws with red tips and its black feet were weird-looking and had a strange-looking helmet. Yanfei started to think that these monsters looked awfully like soldiers.

But the other concerning factor aside from the strange mage and soldier-like monsters was the appearance of several automatons. The even more concerning thing about their appearance was like the Abyss Mage. The mechanical golem had a dark color tint to its entire body followed by a golden design around its arms.

However, the most discerning factor about these three creatures appearing around her and Eula was that they all shared one thing in common. A strange-looking emblem appeared around their bodies indicating that they were part of the same faction.

"Yanfei! Get back!" Eula yelled while leaning on her claymore.

The icy maiden's elegant and beautiful appearance was still present; however, it was noticeable that she had taken a lot of hits based on the scratches and bruises around her body. Dealing with the Shadows was one thing, but when the strange new Heartless, Abyss Mage, and mechanical golems appeared… things had gone up in difficulty quite a bit. Not to mention, Yanfei was also here. She had proved to be of great help when dealing with the Heartless at first, but everything came to a halt within minutes.

Now… Eula had to make sure that she got out of there safely. That's all that mattered now.

"But- "

"No butts! I'm getting you out of here now!"

"I'm not leaving unless you're coming with me!" Yanfei protested while swinging her arm forward and blasting a dark creature back with her Pyro abilities. "We're sticking together like I said!"

A strained look appeared on Eula's face now, "That was before the situation got worse!"

"Hyah!"

Eula then swung her weapon down in a diagonal slash against one of the armored Heartless before twisting her body and kicking another Heartless to the side. She then dashed forward at one of the Ruin Guards and dropped her body low to the ground and to the left to avoid being crushed by the automaton's hand. With enough speed, she managed to slice the arm clean off, leaving the machine to stumble back but continue its pursuit against her.

Seeing this, Yanfei let out a battle cry and jumped in the air before throwing her arms out in an offensive manner. What she had done was create what appeared to be a giant stamp made of fire and have it slam right onto the Ruin Guard causing an explosion to cover its body.

Not wasting any time, Eula shot forward and activated her Elemental Burst by heaving her claymore across her body and slamming into the mechanical foe.

"I condemn you!"

Now, an icy sword floated above her head as she began an onslaught of consecutive slashes across its body while also dodging any swipes from the armored Heartless. Eula slammed her weapon down onto the Ruin Guard's body before the icy sword exploded and caused ice to everything nearby.

The two girls were now standing next to each other while eyeing the foes that prevented them from leaving and warning the people of Liyue Harbor.

"There's no easy way out of this" Yanfei muttered while ready to throw a fireball at the first enemy to attack her.

"No… there's not."

"Got any ideas?"

"Several. Are they safe? No. Will they work? Maybe. Are we running out of time? Yes. Most definitely."

A sly grin appeared on the pink-haired girl's face, "Well, from where we are standing, I'd say any plan is a good plan right now."

Eula could argue against that, "While normally I'd agree with you, the fact of the matter that you are here with me right now is the reason I won't agree."

"Eula! We need to get out of here!"

"You're right. We do. But- "

"And that means you! Don't tell me that only I have to get out of here alive. What would Sora say if he learned that you stayed behind?"

That question caused the icy maiden to stiffen up for a second before hardening her gaze at the strange Abyss Mage.

"…He'd call me an idiot or reprimand me for thinking that I could do this alone." Eula then chuckled a little bit. "He would also tell me that together we can accomplish anything if we set our minds and hearts to it."

"Haha! Sounds like he has made quite the impression on you."

"…Yeah… he has…"

The two girls then prepared themselves as they watched the unusual foes get ready to attack. The only sensible way they would both be making it out of here… was by fighting back.

*A/N* - Hahaha…ha… yikes. It's been a minute. September was the last time this story got updated and a lot happened in terms of Genshin's story. However, make no mistake, I'm not stopping or giving up on this story anytime soon. I have plans. Big plans. Plans that might be utterly amazing or fall flat on its face. But there is a rough drafted plan in place for how the story is going to play out. I seriously have a bunch of things to blame for my long absence from this story. Alas, that's not why you're here checking this story out. Hence, I want to say thanks for checking this story and chapter out. I didn't expect to gain such attention for this story when starting in early 2022. I thought a KH x Genshin Impact story would be cool given its rich lore and characters that are likable. Now looking back to when I started, I wish there was more. And that's on me. But I want to at the very least make chapters that are fun, entertaining, and at least get some intrigue in. So, thank you for checking this story out. I really mean that.

Now then, enough of me talking about myself, let's talk about several things that I included in this chapter. The setup for this chapter might also give an idea of what's going to happen soon. Liyue is going to be in for another shocking event and the Guardian of Light is at the center of it. In addition, with the implementation of Sora's other Keyblades… don't worry. I have a plan. I'm also taking a bit of inspiration with how I will want him to fight and adapt to situations that can be sourced to KH3 mods. Truebladeseeker has some amazing mods as well as others involving new and original and old attacks throughout the KH series. I also want it to be fun and badass given that Sora is a wildcard of sorts in how he fights.

I also included a few selection of songs to go along with the fight scenes. I'll be working on including more appropriate songs to match the feel and theme of a fight.

Regarding the Master of Masters… Hoo boy. There's a lot that can be done with his character and personality, but I don't want to make him seem like the main bad guy. Granted, as a character he's changed how I view him. From learning about him in the phone game to the main line game to what he is now and his goals to stop Darkness… there's a lot to him. The worlds that he referenced are also big easter eggs to other games from Square Enix.

The first world mentioned by him would be Final Fantasy Type 0. Man, that game… one of the darkest Final Fantasy games I've played. I loved that game and couldn't help but want to use it in some way. The second world mentioned by the Lost Master is about Nier Automata. Now, in KH lore those worlds are not even mentioned or talked about so this is an original idea that I thought about doing. But what we do know of the Lost Master is that he's an old dude lol. He's seen a lot, and I figured it would only make sense that he has viewed the rise and fall of many worlds. Hence why the mention of Type 0 and Nier Automata were used.

This puts us to the last world mentioned by him… Versus XIII. I didn't want to outright say it was Versus XIII but that whole world and concept is an entirely other story lost to time and unforeseen events. But for kicks and giggles, I included him mentioning it as a big "Oh snap!" kind of moment. We have no idea what KH4 and beyond will hold or how the Master of Masters knows about Quadratum, but for this story, I'm going to throw things at the wall and see if it's fun and cool.

Plenty of things are being built up and I can't wait to flesh things out so that Liyue has a proper introduction to the troubles and craziness that Sora has to deal with in his adventures. I can't wait to see/read/write about all the enemies who are about to get their ass kicked by Sora. It's gonna be fun!

Well, that's all I have for now. I want to thank everyone once more for checking this crazy stupid story out as well as sticking around for new chapters. It started in an… interesting kind of way but is continuing to be something new and original. I hope to see you again in the next chapter. Take care and have a good one!

TLDR: I'm a slow cook. Please forgive my slowness and let me cook up a chapter. Also, thanks for checking the story out. Until next time!