Ryen's only demand for the fight—special effects! More special effects! And even more special effects!
Hearing Tartaglia's grumbling, Rosalyne snorted but didn't bother to refute him.
There was no need to question Venti's strength—especially when he was fully equipped with divine artifacts.
After all, this was the original Archon who had lived for over three thousand years. He was just… a bit lazy most of the time.
But that was no reason to doubt his power.
When Venti got serious, there really weren't many opponents left for him in this world.
However, to Jean and the others, they would have preferred to keep believing that Venti wasn't that powerful—rather than seeing this terrifying display.
"So basically… just how irresponsible is this guy?!"
Lumine spoke up on behalf of Jean and the rest.
"He's this strong, and yet he made us handle the Dvalin situation ourselves back then?"
"He could've just blown a little wind and solved the whole thing! What a useless bard!"
Diluc nodded in solemn agreement.
It was good that their Anemo Archon was strong—but the stronger he looked, the bigger the contrast, and the more uncomfortable Diluc felt inside.
What kind of person even does things like this?!
The ground began to tremble. The surrounding stone pillars quaked violently.
Azhdaha's breathing grew heavier and heavier, until at last, he slowly opened his eyes.
Crimson light filled them—devoid of emotion, containing only slaughter and destruction.
"Morax…"
"Barbatos…"
"You brought them here… to destroy me completely?!"
The last shred of Azhdaha's emotion ignited in fury as he staggered to his feet.
Golden chains appeared all over his massive body—but clearly, those chains could no longer restrain him.
With a roar, every link shattered, and the towering stone pillars around them collapsed in an instant.
He stomped down hard—earth and mountains quaked, and the world itself seemed to shake apart before everyone's eyes.
The pillars around them broke and scattered like illusions.
But this time, Zhongli did not infuse divine power to maintain the seal.
Azhdaha had lost all capacity for reason—his hateful gaze locked entirely onto Zhongli.
"Morax… a thousand years of resentment—how will you repay it?!"
"Morax—die!!!"
With a furious roar toward the heavens, the final seal shattered completely.
Zhongli let out a quiet sigh and said in a low voice,
"Let's begin."
The words had barely fallen when the Cryo Archon swung her scepter. From where she stood, the entire world froze over.
Air, stone fragments, divine energy…
Even the rocks shattered and suspended midair—all froze in place.
It was a power that froze space itself.
Even Rosalyne and the others had never seen the Cryo Archon unleash herself like this.
But the Cryo Archon knew the truth—this wasn't her own power alone. The Sub-Zero Sovereign's support was what made this possible.
After all, she wasn't one of the original Archons.
Still, this seemingly terrifying attack only managed to stall Azhdaha for an instant.
But that instant was enough.
"Ehe!"
In a flash, Venti drew his bow—the howling black stormwind roared to life.
It swept around Azhdaha's massive body, lifting him into the air.
"As expected, your power's dropped quite a bit. I could never blow you away like this before,"
Venti exhaled in relief, his heart finally settling.
Back in the old days, even if he went all out, he could barely budge Azhdaha with a single shot.
After all, Azhdaha was from the same era as him.
"Barbatos! How dare you!"
Azhdaha roared furiously, and five elemental forces gathered across his colossal body.
In an instant, he shattered Venti's storm and crashed back down to the ground.
A massive blast of Electro energy shot toward Venti like a plasma bomb.
The piercing sense of danger made Venti's heart tighten—he instantly dissolved into wind and darted away.
"Old man! This isn't what you said! This guy doesn't look weakened at all!"
Zhongli had no time to answer. He held his spear in one hand, the Totem of Undying in the other.
"Keep restraining it."
"You really know how to make things difficult!" Venti complained, joining forces with the Cryo Archon.
The two combined their power—not with fancy, dramatic techniques, but with pure, concentrated elemental force raining down in endless strikes.
Each blow shook heaven and earth.
At this point, skill no longer mattered.
Even Zhongli, the so-called God of War, wouldn't rely on martial arts against a being like Azhdaha.
The dragon was simply too massive—no technique could contain him.
Only overwhelming force could.
Ningguang and the others watched with fascination, but Ryen just frowned, clearly displeased.
"They could've gone for flashier attacks! Where are the special effects? What a waste of divine power!"
"..."
Everyone fell silent for a moment before Lisa snapped impatiently,
"For an enemy like this, flashy special effects are useless! You're probably the only person in the world who still cares about that!"
Ryen nodded solemnly.
"Exactly! In my mind…"
"If it were me fighting, I'd use all sorts of Vision elements—combine them into spectacular, dazzling attacks!"
Yae Miko pressed her lips together, sighing helplessly.
"But the Vision has no effect on Azhdaha, right?"
"I know that!" Ryen spread his hands.
"I don't expect the Vision to hurt him. I just need the attacks to look cool enough—flashy enough!"
"And then, when the time's right, I'll finish him with one punch."
"Imagine it—three days and three nights of battle, both sides trading their strongest moves, until finally, with burning faith and the bonds of friendship and love, I unleash a blazing fist!"
"Under the might of my Iron Fist, Azhdaha comes to his senses—now that's a perfect ending!"
In the end, it was all about looking cool… and finishing it with a punch!
Yae Miko stared at Ryen quietly and said in a low, dry tone,
"That kind of storyline is outdated in light novels. The whole 'friendship and bond power-up' trope? If someone submitted that, we'd reject it immediately."
Ryen shook his head regretfully.
"You people just don't understand passion—or art!"
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