The war erupted the instant both sides came face to face.
Countless monsters and mortals roared as they charged at the Millelith lines—
but the Millelith were already in formation, their defenses tight as a stone wall.
They absorbed the first wave of impact, then retaliated.
Their Liyue Millelith spears swept and stabbed in unison,
and with every motion, a field of monsters fell.
The cries of dying humans echoed through the smoke-filled Chenyu Valley.
This was the battlefield of men and monsters alike.
Meanwhile, as a meteor and a blazing fireball fell from the heavens,
the battle of the gods officially began.
A colossal Buddha, nearly a thousand meters tall, stood between heaven and earth.
Behind it, the turning of the thousand-armed wheel sent a barrage of fists crashing down from the sky,
shaking the earth itself.
At the same time, radiant golden spears of rock descended alongside the fists,
carpet-bombing the valley where the enemy gods stood.
The dozen or so opposing gods had almost no chance to resist.
Perhaps, against Jiang Yan or Morax alone, they could have fought back.
But against both—together? There was no hope at all.
Jiang Yan stood atop the great Buddha,
hands pulling at the air around him.
Crack… crack… crack…
A terrifying tremor spread outward.
The ground shattered and tilted as if about to collapse.
The shockwaves slammed into the gods below, wringing cries of agony from their throats.
"Morax!" one of them roared. "When Osial invaded you, we didn't interfere.
Is this how you repay us?!"
Morax replied flatly, his tone calm as the earth itself:
"That invasion was not our wish.
But upon this land, there can be only one victor."
"Ha! Excellent! Truly worthy of the title Rex Lapis!"
The gods laughed madly.
"Morax! Even if we die, we will not let you go unscathed!
Let Chenyu Valley—become a wasteland!"
Their expressions twisted with madness as they began to disrupt the elemental energy within their bodies.
"They're going to self-detonate!"
Azhdaha was the first to sense the danger, his expression darkening.
Morax raised his hand—
the Jade Shield expanded outward, covering their side.
Jiang Yan immediately gave orders for the Millelith below to retreat inside the barrier.
But it was already too late.
The withdrawal of tens of thousands was not something that could happen in an instant.
And the gods' self-detonation came the moment the Millelith began to fall back.
The explosion roared.
A tidal wave of energy burst forth like a storm,
charged with the boundless malice of dying gods.
Jiang Yan narrowed his eyes—
because within that storm, he saw arrows.
Tiny glowing arrows—
the mark of Vector Manipulation.
He could control this energy storm!
With a single push of his foot against the great Buddha, Jiang Yan leapt into the air.
He swept his hands wide, shaping the air into a wall of tornadoes,
encasing the Millelith within a protective barrier.
Then he broke through Morax's shield,
flying straight toward the surging energy storm.
"Jiang Yan! Get back here!"
"It's too dangerous!"
Azhdaha and Morax both shouted, brows furrowed.
Jiang Yan turned, grinning, and raised a thumb.
"Trust me!"
Leaving only those words behind, he faced the storm head-on.
Raising his right hand, he met the oncoming wave of annihilation.
Morax's brows knit tighter—
he remembered that time during their sparring match,
when Jiang Yan caught his rock spear with one hand.
Could that same power stop this?
Seeing the confidence on Jiang Yan's face, Morax finally let out a slow breath.
"Trust him this once, Azhdaha."
"You've forgotten how he caught my spear before," he added quietly.
Hearing this, Azhdaha froze for a moment,
then finally relaxed a little.
He had almost thought Jiang Yan was sacrificing himself for the Millelith still outside the barrier.
After all, this was an explosion caused by more than ten gods detonating themselves at once—
even Azhdaha, a being of pure geo, wouldn't dare take it head-on.
Then—
HUMMMMM!!!
A faint vibration rippled out from Jiang Yan's raised hand.
The raging storm of energy froze the instant it touched him—
then, impossibly, began to reverse.
The chaotic blast twisted, folding in on itself,
as all that energy started to converge toward Jiang Yan's palm.
"No… no! Impossible!!!"
"How can you wield such power?! Who—what are you?!"
The despairing wails of the gods echoed as their essence was dragged into the forming vortex—
their souls, their elemental bodies, everything—
sucked into the swirling sphere of light in Jiang Yan's palm.
The sphere grew rapidly—from the size of a glass bead,
to that of a basketball—
and finally, under his compression and control,
it condensed into a jet-black orb the size of a small car.
Jiang Yan could feel the immense, terrifying energy contained within.
"Compressed to the limit already, huh…?"
He murmured to himself.
He had planned to make it smaller—basketball-sized, maybe—
but any further compression would destabilize the energy structure inside.
"Still… this thing could make a hell of a weapon."
He contemplated it.
This was no ordinary power—
wherever it was unleashed, disaster would follow.
A double-edged sword—
dangerous no matter where it was kept.
But if it could be thrown at the enemy...
That thought made him grin.
A weapon like this—he almost didn't want to get rid of it.
It was like holding a strategic nuclear bomb in his hands.
Unfortunately, it couldn't be mass-produced…
—or could it?
"Mass-produced?"
His eyes lit up.
The Archon War wasn't over yet.
Though few gods remained in Liyue—
perhaps a handful in Minlin—
there were still plenty elsewhere.
"Yes… I could make smaller ones."
He mused, thinking aloud.
In Guili Plains, the scars left by his Sword of Promised Victory still contained the grudges of the slain gods of Ch'i.
Those could fuel another one.
And beyond Liyue—
the wars in Inazuma, Mondstadt, and the other lands raged on.
Plenty of gods yet to fall.
Plenty of power yet to harvest.
"Looks like I'll be doing some traveling…"
He smiled.
To read 30+ future chapters, head over to patreon:
patreon.com/ToastWizard