Beisht's physical form was naturally smaller than that of the Vortex God, Osial. However, unlike her husband, she was not bound by an ancient seal. In terms of functional combat power, she was currently far more dangerous than a partially suppressed Osial.
The storm barrier Lilith had erected was shattered in a single blow.
The three Elemental Queens exchanged a swift glance. Vandini stepped forward. "I will stall this monster. Natasha, you take the offensive! Lilith, provide her with support! If we let her get any closer, the World Tree might hold, but Liyue Harbor in the back won't. That is Father God's territory..."
"Understood!"
The three shifted their forms. Vandini channeled her essence, manifesting dozens of water element giants, each over a hundred meters tall. They surged through the waves to intercept Beisht's massive heads.
Meanwhile, Lilith cast a series of high-tier buffing spells on Natasha. While elves were naturally inclined toward magic, their Queens were versatile warriors. With the wind's blessing, Natasha was enveloped in a gale, closing the distance to the sea monster in a blur.
"I'll draw her fire! Go!" Lilith unsheathed a slender blade, parrying the elemental orbs spat by Beisht's multiple heads.
Natasha's hair ignited like a solar flare, and a pair of fiery wings erupted from her back. She transformed into a colossal fireball, hurtling through the sky.
"It's you... Magasya! You dare betray my husband?! You side with the insects of Liyue?!" Beisht's voice roared from the deep.
"I apologize, but I don't know who Magasya is. My name is Natasha!"
Natasha slammed into one of Beisht's heads like a comet. The impact was absolute; a pillar of flame erupted from the monster's neck, cauterizing the flesh as one of its heads was blasted into ash.
"Magasya... you shameless traitor! I will tear you apart! Sea beasts, consume the tree! If you breach the shore, the essence is yours!"
Beisht's hateful shriek vibrated through the seabed. Around the World Tree, thousands of water pillars erupted from the ocean. Colossal sea beasts—some cunning, some feral—emerged from the depths. They were driven by primal instinct: a single fragment of that tree would allow them to evolve beyond their limits.
The Mortals Step Forward
Natasha retreated to Lilith's side, panting. "Did that kill her?"
"No," Lilith replied, her eyes narrowing. "You only destroyed one of her auxiliary bodies. But something is wrong... she feels far weaker than she should be."
Lilith realized a terrifying possibility. She looked back at Vandini, whose face was grim. "It's a diversion. The monster split her core essence among the thousands of sea beasts... they are essentially her 'children' now. This is going to be a battle of attrition."
Just as the three Queens braced for the swarm, a streak of frost-blue light tore across the ocean surface. The churning sea was instantly flash-frozen into a jagged field of ice.
"Who is that?" Natasha asked, looking back toward the World Tree.
"Father God's companions," Lilith whispered.
Su Han's voice echoed through the air. "Queens... the World Tree is not just your mother; it is our home. Relax. A mere remnant of the Vortex God cannot change the heavens."
At his signal, the elite members of the alliance stepped into the fray.
Kamisato Ayaka glided across the ice, her blade retracted into its scabbard. "Kamisato Art: Gale of Broken Snow!" It was no longer a simple Sometsu; it was a 180-degree wave of continuous, high-frequency slashes that pulverized any beast within range.
Beidou entered her "Thunder Emperor" state. A single swing of her blade literally cleaved the ocean in two, vaporizing hundreds of beasts in a crackling explosion of Electro.
Hu Tao was even more terrifying. She fought in her spirit-state, flickering through the water like a ghost. Wherever she passed, the ocean erupted in columns of infernal heat, boiling the beasts alive from the inside out.
Eula lunged forward, her flying sword spinning like a frozen sun. "Glacial Prison!" The blade plunged into the water, and a mountain of ice a thousand meters tall erupted from the depths, crushing the tide.
The Judgment of the Night
Fischl looked at Oz. "Now, Oz! Let us unveil the performance of the Empress!"
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
BOOM!
The night-raven expanded into a hundred-meter-tall beast of shadow and thunder. Fischl, however, produced a peculiar weapon provided by Su Han—a modified sniper rifle that channeled her Vision. Sharing Oz's vision, she had become a lethal long-range executioner.
"Witness the judgment of the Condemnation Empress!"
She pulled the trigger. The bullet vanished into a spatial rift, only to erupt from Oz's chest miles away. The beam of pure Electro pierced through the skull of a giant beast before it could even roar.
"Whoa... Fischl! You're a hundred times cooler than before!" Mona cheered.
"Hmph! My power is but a fragment of the Great Sovereign's darkness," Fischl smirked, though she was already sweating from the mental strain.
The Moon's Descent
Finally, the Raiden Shogun stepped forward. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone. Every sea beast in the area froze, paralyzed by the sheer weight of a God's presence.
Beisht, hiding in the depths, felt a chill that reached her soul. The Electro Archon... why is she here? My intel was wrong!
"This farce has gone on long enough," Ei said coldly. "To think a mere leftover would dare provoke my husband."
She drew a new blade. It wasn't the Musou Isshin, but the Yuehua (Moonlight) Sword.
"Since this is your first time tasting blood, I suppose a Demon God's consort is a fitting sacrifice."
A full moon appeared behind the Shogun, silver and cold. There was no "Musou no Hitotachi" from the chest this time—Su Han had "educated" her that his wife shouldn't be flaunting such things to the public.
Ei stepped forward, a simple, horizontal slash.
"Sunder."
A silver light cut through the world. The ocean was silent for a split second before a massive rift opened in the sea, stretching to the horizon. Every remaining beast was erased. The blade cut a path so deep it threatened to expose the sea floor.
As the sword-light bore down on Beisht, Su Han's voice rang in Ei's mind. [Leave her alive. Don't kill her yet.]
Ei flicked her wrist at the last millisecond. The silver light veered slightly, severing four of Beisht's heads and leaving only one intact, exposed to the air and trembling.
The Raiden Shogun looked down at the cowering monster. "Transform into your human form and crawl over here. Otherwise... the next strike will be your end."
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