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This Fatui Harbinger is quite arrogant for a mortal.
Zhongli described him as a "fuse" and Lumine sees why. The man lives for the chaos that comes with combat. If she could defeat him, there'd be one less variable in this Liyue conflict she's caught within.
One less variable in her quest to find her bother. In the past, they would've faced off foes like this together.
What's another obstacle in this journey.
Childe combines his weapons together into an Electro spear and twirls it around himself. All these shimmering particles and fancy moves—like a kid doing pencil tricks to impress someone.
"Not bad. Your swordsmanship is quite impressive," Childe says. "But, that's about as far as you'll get."
He leaps towards her, and a hot gust bursts forth between them, electro faintly crackling.
With her leftover strength, Lumine summons an Anemo vortex to counter the attack. The point of contact grows hotter as Childe pushes the blade further, and Lumine strains to keep her balance. And falls backwards, and drags her heel against the floor to support herself. Geo.
Unfocused golden crystals surges through the floor, homing in on Childe. The resulting explosion shrouds the area in smoke as Lumine quickly lands back on her feet, yet when it clears, only the glowing spear sticks out from the crystal-infested ground.
Then Childe chuckles. What is this, the start of a villain speech?
"Didn't think you had that card hidden up your sleeve..." he starts. Oh no.
It really is.
The guy's small mortal form hovers before the lifeless Exuvia, ignoring Paimon's protests. "Oh quiet down. Stop acting like some wide-eyed recruit. To those who are used to the battlefield, this sort of thing is a piece of cake."
Electricity crackles in his hand and flashes wildly as he forces a hand deep into the dragon's chest in search for the Gnosis. Gust whips cross the room. Power overwhelms the Exuvia.
Another display with so much effort. If she had her powers back, she wouldn't have to watch this cutscene.
"Well then, I'll be taking Morax's Gnosis now!"
So the Gnosis was never in there. Then again, why should she interfere in a nation's affairs when this world has yet to give back her brother?
That laugh. Those ribbon-like streaks of Electro. The fact that he zooms down from up there like some bird who lost a shiny piece of stone... It’s so over-the-top, Lumine doesn’t even mind the slight bruise she got from him crashing into her so rudely.
But he's just human, so surely he'd only pull out a bigger sword or something, at most.
Then he starts raising up into the air as water torrents encircle him in what looks like a magical transformation: Purple lightning shooting everywhere, glowing water splashing around him. He flexes his arms in a ridiculous manner to help them transform into even more absurd-looking gauntlets.
After flashes of concert-like lighting design and gusts so strong they were probably there to make him look cool, the significantly taller figure lands on the ground and—
Is that a galaxy cape.
In another life, maybe this guy would've turned out to be an actor. Or maybe he would use his flashy skills to entertain children, Lumine muses. Aether certainly did when they were young.
The Harbinger's next actions go by in a blur. As Lumine feels herself falling, she closes her eyes.
For her brother. She's on this journey, to find her brother. Not to critique the fashion choice of a mortal whose super-powered form looks like some kid's cyclops action figure. At least this won’t be a weekly occurance.
She sighs, and sees him waiting for her move with purple sparkles around him.
Fine.
She summons her sword.
Bring it.