With each heavy blow, Shiki gradually lost consciousness. She had tried to shatter the arms with lightning as she did at first, but after the initial setback, Balladeer had enchanted the arms with his own power. With the two canceling each other out, she had no way to deal with them.
"Heh, so you've lost consciousness already?"
Balladeer, rather bored, held the girl in his illusory arm. He had thought she could hold out a little longer.
Gulp
A round bead rolled out of the girl's sleeve, and after a few bounces, it landed in front of Xavier.
Balladeer paid it no mind, as it was merely a Vision that had already gone dark, less useful than even the most worthless Delusion.
Xavier, however, after a brief moment of daze, picked up the dim Vision.
At this moment, the Traveler pried herself out of the wall, but she found that Shiki had already been defeated. Her face, covered in blood and dust, clearly indicated her current state.
"You're next, Traveler."
"Damn it..."
Lumine could only curse now. She couldn't possibly defeat Balladeer. Just one of his bursts had sent her directly into the wall, and even now, her back still felt a burning pain.
Balladeer held Shiki and walked step by step towards the Traveler. He could have ended this battle at the very beginning, but he didn't.
He simply enjoyed the sight of humans, weak yet constantly struggling. He would give them appropriate hope, then extinguish it all, and watch the expressions on their faces slowly turn to despair.
Lumine looked solemnly at Xavier in the distance, then, enveloped in Anemo, Geo, and electro elements, she charged towards Balladeer!
"Oh? Not running away, but coming towards me instead? Courageous."
"If I don't get close to you, how can I beat you senseless?" Lumine said, glancing at Xavier again.
"Is that so? Then come even closer."
The distance between the two gradually closed, while Xavier, after seeing the Traveler's two subtle glances, quietly crept towards the door...
"Abyss Star!"
A massive rock condensed above Balladeer's head, but he shattered it with a single punch.
However, something unexpected happened to Balladeer: the fragments suddenly expanded in mid-air. The Traveler had unleashed a shower of Abyss Stars on him!
The Abyss Star shower buried Balladeer's figure. Just as the Traveler caught her breath, intense purple light shot out from the cracks in the Abyss Star.
Boom!
The shattered rocks flew outwards like cannonballs. The Traveler quickly created a Geo wall to block them, but her waist still sustained a wound.
"Traveler!" Paimon looked anxiously at the struggling girl. If this continued, she would truly lose her life!
"Cough, cough... I'm fine..."
Lumine's face was very pale, not only from overexertion of elemental power but also from her wounds.
"All that effort just to make me bleed a single drop."
Balladeer's voice came from behind the Geo wall, and then an arm enveloped in electro element suddenly pierced through the wall, clamped onto the Traveler's neck, and pulled her directly over.
Bang!
The Geo wall shattered, revealing an unharmed Balladeer. Oh, no, a scratch had appeared on his arm.
But Shiki was in a sorry state. Her exquisite kimono had large and small holes, with blood constantly seeping from them.
Clearly, this wave, the Traveler had inflicted DMG on her own teammate, but at least there was no life-threatening danger.
"Oh my, look at you now, how disheveled?"
Balladeer said, gradually tightening his grip. The Traveler quickly felt a sense of suffocation, her legs flailing in the air.
Lumine's fair face had already turned purplish-blue. Just as she was about to lose her breath, a familiar voice came from the doorway.
"Enough, isn't it? You've already achieved your goal, haven't you?"
"Oh? Shouldn't you be over there, Childe?" Balladeer heard Childe's voice and threw the Traveler onto the ground like trash.
"I was curious, is it not allowed for me to come and see?"
"Besides, I was sent by the Tsaritsa to assist you, and only to assist you, not to completely follow your orders."
"We are both Harbingers, and this Traveler and I are old acquaintances."
Childe said as he walked into the room. He had originally been waiting in the room arranged by Balladeer for the battle to begin, but after half a day, there was no movement. Instead, there were constant strong elemental power reactions from this side, so out of curiosity, he came over.
But upon arriving, he learned that the two had already been defeated, and this Traveler, who could be considered a companion, was about to die by Balladeer's hand.
Out of gratitude for the Traveler helping his younger brother Teucer, Childe decided to save her.
As for the engineer... he had seen him on his way in, but he wasn't interested in the weak.
"You're saying all this just to make me show mercy, aren't you?"
"Alright, as long as you don't let her escape."
For Balladeer, the most important Shiki was already in his hands. Whether the Traveler lived or died no longer mattered, as long as she didn't spread the news.
Killing her was merely following the principle that dead men tell no tales.
However, what Balladeer didn't notice was that he seemed to have forgotten someone.
Well, it should be said that he never cared, which is more accurate. Just a chess piece to be discarded after use, why would he care?
Besides, he was already dead; he was only alive now because of the machine's maintenance.
But the link between his consciousness and the machine had been accidentally severed by Shiki. Whether his consciousness could even make it through the night was a question.
"I will," Childe said, picking up the semi-conscious Traveler, then left the room. Paimon followed after a brief hesitation.
Balladeer watched Childe's retreating back without a word, his eyes narrowing slightly.
'Just wait. Once the fusion is complete, you'll be the first one I kill!'
He detested human emotions. He had once pursued such ethereal things, but after that betrayal, he only found them disgusting.
However, whether it was true detestation or merely jealousy born from unfulfilled desire remained unknown...
"Ha... ha... ha..."
Xavier ran wildly out of the factory. Even though his legs were incredibly sore, he didn't stop.
Because he might be the last hope to rescue Shiki and the Traveler.
Wading into the Waverider, Xavier didn't dare to hesitate for a moment. He immediately steered towards Narukami Island, following the Traveler's operating method.
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