"Come on! Let me see your strength!" Blue light once again flickered on Childe's twin blades.
Having learned his lesson from last time, Childe now covered his blades and hands with extremely pure Hydro element. He swore that Yu Jin would absolutely not disarm him this time.
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask, I don't recall ever provoking you?" Yu Jin scratched his head, looking at the imposing Childe.
This seemed to be his third meeting with Childe. Could it be that he had offended him in their previous two encounters?
"Haha, reasons don't matter now. You just need to know that you owe the Northland Bank a debt, and I am the debt collector!"
As soon as Childe finished speaking, he brandished his Hydro blades and charged at Yu Jin.
"Collecting a debt now? Your work efficiency is really slow!" Yu Jin complained, looking at Childe's ferocious expression.
It had been so long, and they only just realized he was the one who planted the large flower. The Northland Bank's employees seemed to be freeloaders, utterly useless.
"Perfect, I'll give you a lesson!"
As soon as Yu Jin finished speaking, he kicked out! But he wasn't kicking Childe; he was kicking the green ground beneath him.
"Bang!" Large chunks of brown-black soil flew towards Childe, like a giant curtain unfurling, giving Childe no way to avoid it.
"A mere trick!" Childe closed his eyes. Although Yu Jin using such a low-down tactic surprised him, that was all it was.
In the face of absolute power, any insidious trick was useless!
"Hmph... Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" Childe was about to let out a roar, but after tasting the "fragrance" of the soil, he decisively shut his mouth.
The Hydro blades covering his half-bow sword rapidly grew, transforming into colossal blades several meters long in the blink of an eye.
Childe wielded the enormous Hydro blades as if they weighed nothing, and dense light-blue ripples instantly resonated around him.
The ripples were beautiful yet dangerous, and Childe had no doubt they could cleave through any obstacle in his path.
Opening his eyes, the anticipated blue sky and Yu Jin's dishevelled figure did not appear. Instead, there was complete darkness.
"Eh? Where is this?"
From within the cage made of thorns, Childe's bewildered voice echoed.
Yu Jin, who was on the ground restoring the soil, heard Childe's voice, put down his work, stood up, and walked to the thorny egg-like cage. He patted the thorn-covered vine wall and said,
"Are you done with your flashy moves? Alright, congratulations, Yu Jin's excellent employee mini-class is about to begin."
Yu Jin snapped his fingers, and the thorns immediately began to emit a faint golden glow.
"I ask you, what is the first rule of the Northland Bank's employee handbook?"
"Heh heh, do you really think these wooden..."
"Stab!"
"Ouch!"
Childe's sneer was cut short as he suddenly felt an uncontrollable sharp pain in his thigh.
He looked down to find a sharp thorn had, at some point, pierced his thigh.
Even more absurdly, Childe's proud, resilient body had been breached just like that. A trickle of blood dripped down the thorn, making Childe disbelieve his own eyes.
"Hiss!" Leaping lightning appeared on Childe's body, and the mask he wore askew on his head now covered his face.
Under the incredibly abundant Electro element, Childe's formerly grey-white suit turned black and purple.
Watching the purple lightning crackle within the thorny egg, Yu Jin clapped his hands in surprise: "Not bad, this elemental power, very good, very good."
Yu Jin was sincere in this remark. Aside from that puppet in Inazuma, Childe's Electro element was unparalleled.
Then he raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "Stab him again, and while you're at it, yank off his mask!"
"Swish, swish!"
A sharp whooshing sound filled the air. This time, Childe saw the thorns extend. A wicked smile played on his lips—too slow!
At this speed and angle, he only needed to jump slightly to easily dodge.
"Hiss!" Then Childe gasped, clutching his head—he had completely forgotten that the entire cage was thorny.
His vigorous leap just now had caused his head to collide with the thorn-covered ceiling.
A cool sensation spread across his cheek. Childe reached up to touch his face and, looking closely, saw his palm was covered in crimson.
"Plop!" Immediately after, a more intense cool sensation came. This was not only from the blood flowing from his head, but more so from the thorns ripping off his Delusion mask.
Seeing Childe in such a miserable state, the thorns that were meant to stab him silently retracted.
Through the wall formed by the thorns, Yu Jin saw Childe's blood-streaked forehead. He looked as if he'd been hit by a brick.
"Uh... that wasn't me, you did that to yourself." Yu Jin was startled and immediately distanced himself from the situation.
"Hmph—, I haven't been this angry in a long time." Childe picked up the mask from the ground and put it back on his face.
His breathing then grew heavier, gradually sounding less like simple anger and more like an attempt to relieve some immense pressure accumulating within his body.
"Let me show you the true power of the Harbinger, Childe!"
Childe's voice had become exceptionally hoarse. If one didn't listen carefully, they wouldn't recognize it as the same youthful Tartaglia from before.
"Boom!" The long-accumulated aura burst forth. A wave of power, carrying Hydro and Electro, along with a hint of malevolence, swept out, signaling Childe's strength!
"Pfft~"
However, to Yu Jin, who was outside the thorny "egg," all of this sounded no different from a fart. He scratched his head awkwardly. Harbinger? Is that all?
"Hmph!" Childe, still inside the cage, let out a muffled grunt. The aura he had just unleashed rebounded after hitting the thorny walls.
Since the cage was egg-shaped, the shockwave bounced around inside. Even Childe, the source of the burst of power, couldn't withstand it.
Childe raised his hand. What he held was a deep purple twin-bladed weapon, adorned with a few starlight specks.
In the past, whenever this sharp blade appeared, there was nothing it couldn't cut. But now, Childe had some doubts.
Because a bad premonition, one he had never felt before, began to surface in his heart.
"Hurry up, what are you dawdling for?" Yu Jin urged, seeing Childe deep in thought.
This guy could even transform? Yu Jin hadn't expected that. Lady also seemed to be able to. Could it be that transformation was standard for Harbingers?
But Yu Jin recalled the details of Childe and Lady's transformations. He shook his head; their transformations took too long. Weren't they afraid of being interrupted?
Hearing Yu Jin's impatient voice, Childe involuntarily tightened his grip on his weapon. This seemed to be the first time he had been looked down upon by someone else.
"Hmph—, you just wait!" Childe, in his Foul Legacy Transformation, took a deep breath. The power flowing through his body was so immense that even his own body was struggling to contain it.
This was the boon the Foul Legacy Transformation granted him, and also the source of its side effects.
Each time after the Foul Legacy Transformation, Childe felt a tearing pain throughout his entire body. But compared to the power the Foul Legacy Transformation brought, this bit of pain was undoubtedly worth it.
"Let me see! Just how tough these wooden thorns of yours truly are!"
The single eye on the Foul Legacy Transformation mask burst forth with dazzling purple light, and electricity and currents began to flow along the blades of his twin-bladed weapon.
Then Childe gripped his twin-bladed weapon with both hands and swung it down with all his might. The blade was as fast as an afterimage, trailing a large, purple and blue shadow.
"Duang~~"
A loud and continuous hum echoed from the thorny cage, indicating that Childe had indeed used all his strength.
Inside the cage, Childe tremblingly raised his arm. He stared blankly at the weapon in his hand, silent for a long time.
On the blade, which seemed forged from the starry sky, a huge notch was so glaring, like a sharp thorn, piercing directly into Childe's heart.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[patreon.com/Greyhounds]
Thank you so much for your support!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"