There was never any real suspense in this battle.
If the opponent had been Il Dottore, Lumine would have had reason to be cautious. After all, the Doctor was monstrously powerful and intelligent. Even if she rotated three staves to maintain invincibility, he could likely shatter all three shields in rapid succession and still land a lethal blow.
Unfortunately for Scaramouche,
He was merely a very large toy.
At best, his strength barely reached the level of a high-tier god. His attack speed was slow, and the backlash from forcibly channeling the Dendro Gnosis continuously ate away at him. Against Lumine's rotating Lich Barriers, the result was effectively permanent invincibility.
Scaramouche could have stood there attacking for an entire year and still never broken through.
If he couldn't break the shield, what suspense could the fight possibly have?
And it wasn't as though Lumine lacked combat power. Her refusal to dodge wasn't just to show off her staves, it was also pure, unapologetic psychological warfare. What she hadn't expected was just how fragile Scaramouche's mental resilience was.
He collapsed into emotional shutdown far sooner than she anticipated.
Lumine didn't even bother with close combat. She hoisted a machine gun, alternated with an RPG, and combined it all with relentless dragon breath. The once-majestic mech, so imposing and godlike, was dismantled piece by piece in moments.
Strangely enough, it gave Lumine the same oddly satisfying feeling as clearing a match-three puzzle game.
In the blink of an eye, the mech disintegrated into scattered parts and vanished.
Scaramouche and the Gnosis fell to the ground together.
The Gnosis landed right in front of him, close enough to grab with a single reach.
Yet Scaramouche lay sprawled on the floor like a corpse, utterly motionless.
Lumine scratched her head and muttered,
"Seriously… was that really enough to break you? I didn't even tease you that much."
"What if he goes crying to his family later? If Makoto scolds me, what am I supposed to do…"
She casually put another shield on herself, walked over, picked up the Gnosis, examined it briefly, and stuffed it into her pocket.
The thing had already taken a punch from Ryen before, and after Scaramouche's reckless use, it had grown noticeably dim.
Even at full strength, Lumine wouldn't have cared for it anyway.
It wasn't nearly as useful as one of her staves.
Only Ryen, the obsessive collector, would ever get excited over something like this.
She poked Scaramouche with her staff, flipping him onto his back.
He lay there like a salted fish, eyes dull and lifeless, utterly vacant,
A puppet that had been completely broken.
"Tsk… well, at least he's alive. Honestly, way too easy to bully."
At that moment, Dehya arrived with Paimon. Paimon had already explained everything on the way over.
Frankly, Dehya thought that if she were in Scaramouche's position, she'd probably have shut down too.
His lifelong obsession, his reason for existence, had been shattered, then casually kicked aside. He endured immense backlash while attacking nonstop, only to discover he hadn't even scratched his opponent.
On top of that, Lumine's relentless verbal jabs.
This wasn't physical combat anymore, it was an assault on the soul.
Dehya couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.
From beginning to end, Lumine had only dismantled the mech at the very end.
Scaramouche's injuries?
All self-inflicted.
Unbelievably unlucky.
"Perfect timing," Lumine said cheerfully, pointing at Scaramouche.
"Dehya, help me tie him up. I still need to take him back to Liyue. His aunt is waiting there."
"Oh, and one more thing…"
Lumine leaned in conspiratorially, whispering to Dehya and Paimon.
"Later, just say that Scaramouche and I fought three hundred rounds before I finally beat him."
Dehya stared blankly.
"Three hundred rounds…?"
If counting the final barrage of bullets fired into a mech that no longer resisted, then yes, over three hundred shots had been fired.
"Heehee… phrase it more delicately!" Lumine muttered.
"Who knew his mentality was this fragile? I barely said anything and he just… collapsed."
"If Makoto finds out, she'll definitely say I bullied him."
"Please, Dehya! I'll treat you to a meal later!"
Dehya sighed, at a complete loss for words over this strangely farcical battle.
"Alright… leave it to me."
She stepped forward and, without hesitation, pulled out a thick rope and bound Scaramouche tightly.
At that moment, a faint spark appeared in his eyes.
He had heard it,
Lumine was taking him away. To Liyue.
And that mention of an "aunt"…
Almost certainly meant Ei.
Scaramouche could accept a humiliating defeat.
He could even accept death.
But facing Ei again?
Absolutely not.
He tried to resist, weakly twitching his fingers, attempting to activate elemental power.
Dehya considered adding elemental restraints.
Lumine raised her staff and pointed it straight at him, threateningly.
"Don't push your luck! I can absolutely keep putting shields on and beating you up!"
"..."
Scaramouche gave up thinking.
Scaramouche gave up resisting.
He allowed himself to be bound, utterly humiliated.
He wasn't afraid of combat.
But this kind of fight,
Where he couldn't break defenses, couldn't escape, and was subjected to relentless verbal torment,
He never wanted to experience it again.
From this moment on, Scaramouche's greatest fear became shields and staves.
And the person he feared most,
Was Lumine.
Seeing him finally submit, Lumine put away her staff.
"That's more like it! Behave yourself, once we get to Liyue, your aunt will make you something really tasty!"
"Auntie…?"
Dehya looked at Lumine in confusion. Lumine spread her hands matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. I call Makoto 'Big Sis,' so that makes me her little sister. Ei is her real younger sister, so I'm sisters with her too. Ei is Scaramouche's mother, doesn't that make me his aunt?"
Dehya's expression cleared at once.
"So that's how it works… Come on, Lumine. Let's head back to the Akademiya, there's still some cleanup to do."
Just then, Rahman walked over, beaming from ear to ear.
"Traveler, you're done too? That was fast, worthy of someone as strong as you."
Lumine waved cheerfully.
"He was just a disobedient brat. Beat him once and he behaved. How about your side?"
At Rahman's signal, members of the Eremite band dragged forward something that could barely be recognized as human.
"Uh… every brother gave him one punch and one kick," Rahman said awkwardly, scratching his head.
"He doesn't look great, but I promise he's still breathing. Don't worry, we won't let him die that easily!"
Lumine glanced at Azar, barely exhaling, and sighed.
"He probably won't last much longer like this. That's a problem… Ryen wanted him alive so he could rot in infamy forever."
"Then what do we do?" Rahman asked nervously, glaring back at his subordinates.
"I told you to go easy! Why did you hit him so hard?!"
One Eremite rubbed the back of his head.
"Boss… didn't you say 'beat him half to death'? And there were a lot of us, everyone only hit him once. You were the one who kept going for five minutes."
Rahman shot him a look that instantly shut him up, then turned back with an embarrassed grin.
"Uh… I might've gotten carried away. Sorry, Traveler. What now?"
Lumine shook her head.
"It's fine. Not a big deal."
She raised her staff and spoke calmly.
"Life Restoration."
A soft pink glow fell over Azar. In the blink of an eye, his body reformed, fully human again, all wounds completely healed.
"Oh! That's great!" Rahman exclaimed. "You can restore him like that?"
Azar himself wasn't surprised. Lumine had beaten a pseudo-god while shielded, this kind of healing was trivial by comparison.
Looking at Azar's restored face, Rahman's fists began itching again. He chuckled quietly.
"Traveler… since he can be healed… how about we, "
Lumine rolled her eyes.
"I get it, I get it. You've all worked hard, call it a bonus. Go ahead. Beat him up. Just leave him with a pulse so I can heal him again."
"Ten minutes only. After that, we're heading back to the Akademiya."
The Eremites erupted instantly, cracking knuckles as they surrounded Azar once more.
In the next moment, curses, punches, and kicks filled the air.
Bound like a dumpling, Scaramouche looked at Lumine with even deeper terror.
This aunt of his,
was a devil.
Rahman snuck in a few kicks of his own, then stepped back with deep satisfaction. He'd already had his fill earlier, hogging the fun wouldn't do.
Rolling his shoulders, he laughed heartily.
"Alright! That was cathartic. Thank you, Traveler, letting us beat him up like that."
"When the Little Lucky Grass King returns and the Four-Nation Alliance is established, life for the desert folk will only get better."
"I've said it before, we're uneducated and poor. We don't have riches to repay you."
"But if you give the word, we'll risk our lives for you without hesitation. That's the creed of the desert people."
Lumine waved it off with a smile.
"It's fine. Nahida is a gentle god, she'll treat the desert and the rainforest equally."
"She said once that when Sumeru's problems are solved, the sand wall will be dismantled, and desert folk won't be blocked from entering anymore."
"With the alliance's support, the desert can be transformed into farmland. You won't have to live on the edge of a blade anymore."
Rahman grew contemplative.
"How wonderful… King Deshret, the Greater Lord, the Little Lucky Grass King…"
"I finally understand, who the god is doesn't really matter. Whoever lets people live well is the god worth believing in."
"I can't abandon my faith in King Deshret, but…"
"I'll give everything I have to help the Little Lucky Grass King reclaim Sumeru."
"For the desert, and for the rainforest."
After a pause, Rahman glanced at the dragons overhead and smiled sheepishly.
"Um, Traveler… there's one more thing I wanted to ask."
Lumine immediately saw through him.
"Dragon knights, right?"
"As expected of the Traveler, sharp as ever!" Rahman laughed.
"If Sumeru joins the alliance, we can have dragon knights too, right?"
Lumine nodded.
"Exactly. The dragon-knight corps is expanding, under the four-nation plan, each country aims for a thousand dragon knights."
"You led the effort to solve Sumeru's crisis, your strength is proven, and Sumeru is short on manpower. Logically, there shouldn't be a problem."
"Just remember, dragon knights must be loyal to Sumeru, and to Nahida."
Rahman waved his hand broadly.
"No problem! Believing in King Deshret doesn't conflict with loyalty to the Little Lucky Grass King."
"As long as she lets the desert folk live well, I'd sell my life to her without hesitation."
"Of course, becoming a dragon knight would be even better."
Everyone exchanged knowing smiles.
In the vast hidden domain, only Azar's screams echoed endlessly.
Scaramouche watched as Azar was beaten, healed, then beaten again,
each time Lumine restored him just enough for the next round.
A chill crept into Scaramouche's heart.
This aunt of his…
was a supreme demon straight out of the abyss.