"Haha, don't look so shocked. You're acting like a rookie."
"Turning a disadvantage into an advantage is child's play for a battle-hardened veteran!"
Childe looked rather smug. Clearly, successfully making a fool of a powerful opponent had delighted him.
He pressed the fingers of his right hand together and plunged them straight into the Prime of the Adepti's Exuvia.
"Now then, I'll be taking Morax's Gnosis..."
But in the next instant, his smug smile froze, and his words cut off abruptly.
He pulled his hand out, only to find it empty. There was no Gnosis, or anything else.
At last, a hint of panic and confusion crept over him.
He instinctively turned toward Ellin, only to find a mocking look on her face.
"Haha, don't look so shocked. You're acting like a rookie."
Looking smug herself, Ellin threw his own taunt right back at him.
"You..."
Ellin's words made Childe shudder.
He had thought he had outwitted Ellin, never imagining that he was the one who had been played!
Only now did he understand. No wonder he had advanced across the battlefield and approached the Exuvia so easily. No wonder this woman had kept holding back against him.
He had been the one being toyed with from the very beginning.
She had been leading him by the nose all along!
He had been played for a complete fool, like some clown.
He was Childe! When had anyone ever made such a fool of him?
Anger welled up in his heart, and overwhelming fury flooded his mind.
"Well played, but... everything comes at a price!"
He threw his head back and roared, unleashing all his power!
Hydro and Electro swirled around him as a dark radiance burst from his body.
Purplish-black armor enveloped him, and a starry cape billowed behind him.