To the north of South Gate of Heaven—or perhaps, it shouldn't be called that anymore.
Because the place that could once be called South Gate of Heaven had long since been razed to the ground, and even the originally towering Mt. Hulao had been snapped by Azhdaha's brute force.
The two powerful beings fought to the borders of Liyue; for a time, the sky tilted to the northwest and the earth sank in the southeast.
Under the dual protection of the Ideal Fluid and the Jade Shield, the people of Liyue, who had already wiped out all the monsters, watched with eyes that had grown somewhat numb. The ground was still vibrating, but they had grown used to it, hadn't they?
If it weren't for the fact that the optics would be bad, Hu Tao would have already wanted to pull out the card game Orion gave her and start a round; she had become a bit addicted to it recently.
Of course, it wasn't that Hu Tao didn't worry about Orion, but rather that she was among the group of people who understood Orion best; she knew that his current performance indicated he hadn't been pushed into a corner.
The ground shook as Azhdaha's four claws stomped the earth, continuously drawing power from the ley lines. The ancient patterns on his body gradually turned a crimson color—the power of the pyro element he was drawing from the ley lines.
For a moment, heaven and earth were burned crimson as countless red meteors fell from the sky; it was a combined skill of the pyro and Geo Elements.
Orion stood with his arms crossed. His backlit figure in the sky was cast in silhouette, but those amber eyes still shimmered with light.
He raised a finger, and a black hole instantly formed in the sky. Those falling fire meteors were actually sucked into the black hole one after another by him.
The red on Azhdaha's four claws turned purple, and countless lightning bolts gathered into a torrent, which he breathed out in a single burst toward the fire meteors congregating at the black hole. The Overloaded reaction was triggered, and a massive explosion instantly spread in all directions, illuminating even the dark clouds!
Azhdaha didn't want to give Orion a chance to breathe. The color on his body changed again as a high-pressure water cannon blasted toward the sky, followed by a massive ice ball appearing before him. That ice ball was incredibly huge; even compared to Azhdaha's mountain-like body, it was nearly half his size.
The Fulong Tree at Azhdaha's tail swung, batting the massive chunk of ice into the sky.
Yet, when that ice chunk made contact with Orion's position, it actually passed right through and flew further away, except that there was a circular melted hole right in the center of the ice.
A high temperature of five million degrees surrounded Orion's body; the ice ball was vaporized the instant it approached.
Such a terrifying heat source appearing high in the sky was no different from a great sun descending to the mortal world. The moisture in the air was almost baked dry, and the vegetation on the ground was ignited by the high temperature, Burning to ash, only to strangely grow back rapidly—it was very eerie.
Azhdaha felt something was wrong. He wanted to escape by burrowing into the earth, only to find himself surrounded by golden light, with countless golden gates encircling him in a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
In the next moment, Noble Phantasms were launched continuously from the thousands of Gate of Babylon portals. To think that mere C-rank Noble Phantasms could restrain the Dragon King, who was the incarnation of the world's rules, was truly a fool's dream. Fortunately, the Dragon King's authority was not yet complete, and Orion didn't expect this set of attacks to subdue the Dragon King.
The Gate of Babylon was a skill Gilgamesh from the Type-Moon world developed because he was too lazy to view and sort through his infinite treasury, and after seeing Enkidu manufacture and fire weapons, he imitated it. Launching Noble Phantasms was a lazy way to use it.
The correct way to use the Gate of Babylon Noble Phantasm was to first identify the enemy's weakness and then select the corresponding Noble Phantasm from within, or simply choose the Noble Phantasm based on the intended goal.
The reason Orion hadn't used the Gate of Babylon for so long was that he needed to select the Noble Phantasms he wanted to use.
Those Noble Phantasms were all control-type Noble Phantasms carefully selected by Orion, and they were all anti-personnel Noble Phantasms meant to capture a single unit at most!
A longsword that would slow movement for several seconds upon hit, arrows that would surely poison on the second hit, a lance that would cause a fall upon hit, ammunition that would definitely inflict a slow status... they were too numerous to count!
Over a thousand golden gates flashed brilliantly, and the launched Noble Phantasms were like machine guns. The recoil from the firing rate of 1,200 rounds per minute even pushed the gates of the Gate of Babylon backward.
The attack lasted for a full five minutes. After the Gate of Babylon was withdrawn, although the wounds on Azhdaha's body were limited, his already heavy body had reached a point where it was almost difficult to walk.
Orion waved his hand again, and countless wolf packs appeared. Those wolves quickly pounced and bit at Azhdaha's body, once again beginning to absorb the Forbidden Knowledge pollution within the Dragon King.
Azhdaha felt incredibly stifled. These wolf packs were merely Anemo Element constructs; to him, who was essentially an incarnation of the planet's laws, they were nothing more than oversized Slimes. But at this moment, he was like a frail little girl being dragged into an alley by a group of thugs, only able to watch helplessly as he was manipulated by them—
Dressed in one colorful little dress after another and then dragged off to be photographed for a magazine cover. It was humiliating!
But in his current state, he truly could not move. To use a game screen as an example, Azhdaha now had a one-line health bar under a half-line name, and under that health bar were nine and a half lines of slow debuffs.
I'm so angry I could die!
However, Azhdaha, who had already absorbed all the Forbidden Knowledge from Liyue's ley lines, possessed extraordinary wisdom. If he couldn't win in a direct fight, then he would use some underhanded tricks!
Inside the shield, Keqing and the others were overjoyed to see that Orion had actually completely suppressed Azhdaha. In particular, Orion's various miraculous displays—the frictionless shield, the black hole that could absorb everything, and the golden spatial ripples that could spit out countless weapons.
There was also that little fire-man form. Inside the Ideal Fluid shield, they were completely thermally insulated and couldn't feel the temperature changes, but just seeing the changes in the scenery outside allowed them to imagine that terrifying heat.
Unlike Jahoda, who was acting like a fangirl, the consultant whose eyes were sparkling with golden light, and Hu Tao, who was marveling at how awesome she was for being carried around every day by such a person, Yelan was starting to lose her composure.
"How could such an existence be so obscure? There was no sign of anything extraordinary before. And that red clothing... Could he be the Great Magus known as the Archivist of the Arcanum of the Void?..."
As the head of Liyue's intelligence, Yelan naturally had to prioritize Liyue's interests in everything.
But just as she was feeling overwhelmed, Zhongli's words suddenly reached the ears of the girls.
"Miss Yelan, I think you needn't worry."
Yelan looked at Zhongli, feigning composure: "I wonder what you mean, Mr. Zhongli?"
"I am referring to my friend's attitude toward Liyue Harbor," Zhongli said. "This friend of mine seems to be promoting the reputation of that mysterious organization called Hexenzirkel. You may not know this, but the Hexenzirkel is a group of powerful, world-class witches and scholars whose main purpose is to seek the truth about the world, debate metaphysics, and conduct in-depth research on the Irminsul. They would never allow a Saboteur to go around causing harm to a nation. I know full well that you can't take these words as absolute, but ask yourself: if this Magus named Orion had ill intentions toward Liyue, don't you think he'd just help rescue people at most—and then simply leave?"
The evidence is that he has already provided proof of friendship to the Seven Stars of Liyue. You can verify this at any time."
Yelan was stunned for a moment, then nodded and replied: "I understand."
Zhongli's guidance was very direct: treat him with a normal attitude, show courtesy, and grasp this goodwill of his.
As for that so-called proof of friendship, it was actually because Orion had suddenly told him two days ago that when he last went to the Jade Chamber, he couldn't help but leave Ningguang an Hiraishin Kunai. Orion had also given Zhongli one; it was a Hiraishin Kunai, but with more blue-violet hues.
Zhongli had been telling him to give it to the Seven Stars later, wanting to see if the Seven Stars could overcome the difficulties on their own. But since it was given, it was given; Zhongli didn't mind, especially since Orion hadn't told Ningguang what the item was for.
But at this moment, Keqing, who was behind them, completely misunderstood.
Established a friendly relationship with the Seven Stars, and it can be confirmed at any time?
Isn't that me! I've been with Orion for so long, and we're good comrades; it really can be confirmed at any time now.
Under Hu Tao's strange gaze from the side, Keqing's purple eyes looked affectionately at Orion's tall and straight figure.
He actually did it for me... I'm crying my eyes out!
Hu Tao also suddenly looked at Orion.
Not good!
My consultant is going to be snatched away by Keqing again!
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