Original God, But Chat Group

"ROOOOAR!!"

The pain made Dvalin shriek, but his six wings still flapped, supporting his massive body as he refused to fall.

"Why are you there!"

Dvalin turned around and stared at the unharmed Li Yue, demanding an answer.

"I should have swallowed you whole."

Li Yue didn't reply. Instead, he let out another Aizen's quote.

"The sky, you see, is actually colorless. It didn't deceive you—your own eyes deceived you."

"..."

Dvalin fell silent, along with everyone on Gazing Star Cliff below.

"Um... what does Li Yue mean by that?"

A confused Paimon couldn't help asking the Traveler.

"He means Dvalin's eyes failed to see his movement trajectory."

Diluc gave a face-saving explanation, clenching his fists at the same time.

He hadn't seen Li Yue's movement trajectory either—not just Dvalin. He'd only seen Li Yue get caught in Dvalin's mouth, but after Dvalin's jaws snapped shut, Li Yue suddenly appeared behind Dvalin, and Dvalin had taken a heavy blow.

Was this an Adeptus of Liyue? This strong?

Venti, however, was different. As the Anemo Archon, he understood that Li Yue was using the power of space—a force strong enough to kill Dvalin outright. But Li Yue hadn't gone for the kill; instead, he'd slashed Dvalin's back with a shallow wound. So Li Yue had no intention of killing Dvalin. Yet his words—Venti, that smooth-talking Anemo Archon, caught a certain flavor from them.

The flavor of showing off.

"Bastard! I'll eat you!"

Dvalin snapped out of Li Yue's Aizen's quotes shock and lunged at him again in fury. Li Yue vanished once more. The instant Li Yue disappeared, Dvalin twisted his body, but still couldn't dodge the attack that sliced through space.

Another gash appeared on his massive frame, blood gushing out.

If anyone below could see it, they'd notice that both wounds on Dvalin's back were concentrated in the area of the Poison Blood. Those two cuts had drained a lot of the Poison Blood, slightly easing Dvalin's suffering.

But after being slashed twice, Dvalin's Poison Blood pain lessened even as fear of Li Yue grew. He chose to flap his wings and pull away, widening the distance. He didn't believe Li Yue could strike from that far.

"Why pull away? If you want to kill me, you should get closer. Or is it that you're afraid any part of me might vanish from your sight when I'm near?"

Li Yue flashed another gentle smile.

"If that's the case, it's just unnecessary worry. The distance in battle only matters when opponents are evenly matched. So the distance between you and me carries no meaning."

"Like this."

As he spoke, Li Yue instantly appeared right in front of Dvalin, even pressing his free left hand on Dvalin's head.

"See? I can touch your body anytime, then raise my sword and cut off your head!"

He lifted his right hand high, swinging the blade toward Dvalin's skull.

Dvalin's eyes went wide as he frantically rolled his body, barely dodging the strike. The entire dragon scrambled to put distance between them in panic.

Li Yue didn't pursue. He stood still, looking up at Dvalin flapping his wings to steady himself in the distance.

"Oh? You managed to dodge that time, Dvalin. You've grown. I'm pleased."

"But I'd advise you not to push too hard, because... the power to step on an ant without crushing it is very hard to master."

"So scary! Li Yue is so scary!"

Paimon on the ground gave her timely assessment.

"He looks like a total supervillain!"

"Yeah, Dvalin seems more like the victim here."

Even Venti couldn't help nodding in agreement. He looked at Li Yue with a complicated gaze. The flavor was too strong—Li Yue's words reeked of showing off to an absurd degree! Could this Li Yue be the old man's newly recruited Yaksha?

"Is this what Li Yue looks like when he fights? And what he says... somehow feels full of new knowledge."

Nahida didn't think Li Yue seemed like a villain, but her intuition told her his words were steeped in philosophy.

By now, Dvalin felt no anger toward Li Yue—only fear. He flapped his wings with all his might, shooting straight into the sky, then began unleashing all his power from above.

Every wind in Mondstadt that he could command was summoned, forming an enormous vortex above Gazing Star Cliff.

"Not good, Dvalin's about to use his ultimate technique!"

Venti stared at the vortex in the sky, several times larger than Mondstadt City, and tensed up. Dvalin was reacting more fiercely than he'd imagined—this was a fight to the death.

The whirlwind Dvalin stirred up even dragged snow from distant Dragonspine Mountain, making snowflakes begin to fall over Gazing Star Cliff.

Li Yue stretched out his left hand, catching a drifting snowflake.

"What a beautiful scene. Though the season's wrong, seeing snow and ice now is still quite nice."

He looked up at Dvalin. The Anemo element in the vortex had gathered to an immense degree. Under Dvalin's control, it coalesced into massive Anemo arrows that rained down from the vortex—a wide-area barrage of Anemo projectiles enough to obliterate the entire Gazing Star Cliff! No escape possible!

"It's Dvalin's ultimate—the Finale of the End!"

Just like in the game's story, Venti named the move on the spot.

"Is this really the time to talk about that? We should be running away right now!"

Paimon grabbed Lumine by the shoulder, shouting in panic.

"It's too late."

Diluc made the call, raising his greatsword as flames began to burn along its edge, readying himself for a final stand.

"Yes, it's too late."

Li Yue in the sky echoed the same sentiment.

Flying around wildly would have made him hard to hit, but now that you're charging up a long-hold ultimate, you're just a sitting duck.

He swung the Enma's Blade in his right hand toward Dvalin, and a massive Space Slash appeared at the dragon's neck, instantly shattering the Poison Blood there.

With the Poison Blood on both the back and the neck broken, Dvalin lost consciousness in an instant, plummeting from the sky. The Anemo arrows it had controlled scattered into natural Anemo energy, blowing away in all directions.

Dvalin's enormous body crashed onto Gazing Star Cliff, landing not far behind the group.

"Dvalin... was actually defeated!"

Grand Master Jean stared in shock at the massive form lying before her, then looked up at the sky.

Up above, Li Yue, the focus of everyone's gaze, gripped his sword in his right hand and slicked his hair back with his left, styling it into a slicked-back pompadour, his face full of arrogance.

"No one was born standing above the heavens—not you, not me, not even the gods. But this unbearable vacancy on the throne of the sky is about to end. From now on, I will stand above the heavens!"

28. Meme Lord: Pretty slick!

The massive East Wind Dragon lay sprawled on Gazing Star Cliff, the two lumps of Poison Blood on its back and neck completely shattered, the tainted blood that had corrupted Dvalin fully drained. With Venti's help, the enormous wounds were already healing, as the Anemo Archon and his familiar tended to the dragon's recovery. Meanwhile, the rest of the team gathered around Li Yue, who had just descended from the sky, all brimming with curiosity.

"Li Yue, you're amazing! You actually beat Dvalin!"

Paimon, the God's Mouth, had countless questions and couldn't wait to ask him.

"How did you do it? I didn't see you with a Vision—does that mean you can use Elemental Power without one, just like Lumine?"

"What he used isn't Elemental Power."

Before Li Yue could speak, Master Diluc answered on his behalf.

"Not Elemental Power?"

Paimon was puzzled.

"That's right. What I used isn't Elemental Power."

Li Yue admitted it openly, spreading his hands.

"I thought it was Elemental Power at first, but the old man in my family told me it's not, so I don't really know what kind of power this is. But one thing I'm sure of—this power I use is pretty strong."

"You look totally different now, you know."

Paimon pointed a little finger at Li Yue, wiggling it.

"Up in the sky, you looked like a total supervillain. Now you're completely different—like you went from a supervillain to an ordinary person."

"And your hair's different too."

Up in the sky, Li Yue's hairstyle had ended up as a slicked-back pompadour, but now it had returned to its usual natural, loose strands.

"Oh? Did I really look like a supervillain back then?"

Li Yue grinned and shot the question back at Paimon.

"Yep! You looked like a total bad guy! Dvalin seemed more like the victim."

Paimon planted her hands on her hips and nodded firmly.

"Then I guess I did a pretty good job."

Li Yue nodded in satisfaction.

"Mr. Li Yue, are you saying you were putting on a performance?"

Grand Master Jean looked at him curiously.

"That's right, I was performing. I was copying my adoptive father—that's how he fights. Pretty cool, right?"

"Cool, sure, but my gut tells me your adoptive father is definitely not a good person."

Paimon gave a spot-on reply.

Li Yue just smiled without saying a word, then turned to ask in the Chat Group.

Meme Lord: Adoptive father, how was it? How'd I do?

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: ...

Having watched Li Yue's entire battle with Dvalin, Aizen was at a loss for words.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Having seen Aizen's world storyline, I say pretty slick!

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: The timing of the speech was spot-on, the actions were clean and decisive, and the whole fight was handled with complete composure. To borrow Miss Kasumigaoka's words, overall performance—pretty slick!

Following Kasumigaoka's example, Aizen gave a serious analysis before echoing her assessment with a "pretty slick."

Meme Lord: Getting praise from my adoptive father means I really did well. Great—this trip for some epic showboating totally satisfied my meme needs!

The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: "So you came all the way to another nation just to fight this dragon?"

The Meme Lord: "Of course not. I'm also here to pull off a badass move like my sworn father!"

The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "..."

The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: "So you're literally just here to show off?"

The Meme Lord: "Not exactly. I also planned to grab some Anemo creations from the Anemo Archon for my sworn father. But now? I might not only get the Anemo Archon's creations, but also snag some Dendro creations from the Dendro Archon for him."

The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "Thanks."

The Meme Lord: "Don't mention it, sworn father! We're tight! Once Dvalin recovers, I'll send the Anemo and Dendro elements your way."

Nahida was indeed a pleasant surprise. He'd only tried Shikai to see where a random Portal would open, and the first try landed him right in the little Dendro Archon's room. A freebie little Dendro Archon was too good to pass up!

Li Yue glanced at Nahida beside him. She stood at his side, staring curiously at Venti and Dvalin in the distance. After two days with Li Yue, she'd witnessed his wonders—his ability to cut through space with a sword. She knew about that. And now, as his adopted daughter, she'd likely follow him from now on, giving her plenty of time to study his power. But the Anemo Archon intrigued her more. She wanted to see what governing wisdom she could learn from this senior god.

Last night, while Li Yue stole the Sky Lyre, Nahida and Venti had a brief chat at the Tavern.

They'd revealed their identities to each other—after all, gods can't hide from gods—and agreed to keep each other's secrets, living on with their true selves concealed.

Venti was a First Generation of Seven Archons, while Nahida was a Second Generation Archon. Locked away for 500 years, she'd never attended an Archon Meeting, never interacted with other gods, and didn't know any of them. So after a proper introduction, they were at least acquainted. But not long after, Li Yue returned with the Sky Lyre, and Nahida hadn't had much chance to talk with Venti. Now, she was full of curiosity, eager to learn the art of being a god from him.

After all, Venti was one of only two remaining First Generation Archons, with an incredibly long existence. Mondstadt had stood for millennia. This Anemo Archon must have vast experience in ruling—exactly the knowledge she, a new god, needed most!

Dvalin had been defeated, the Poison Blood purged. Once he woke, he'd become Mondstadt's East Wind Dragon again, the Anemo Archon's protector.

After that, she could surely ask this senior god for advice on governance.

Lost in thought, Nahida nodded happily, glad that the senior Anemo Archon and his dragon had reconciled, and excited to learn from him next.

Li Yue could read her thoughts from her expression. As the Dendro Archon, her mind was always on a few predictable things—especially now that she'd come to the Anemo Archon's nation and met him. Her thoughts were easy to guess. But remembering the videos he'd seen before crossing over, of the three archons raising a child, Li Yue had to laugh. The gods before her were all eccentric in their own ways. If she tried to learn from them, she'd probably end up completely ruined.

But even ruined, it'd be better than staying in Sumeru and letting that fool near the World Tree!