The battlefield fell into complete silence.
Even the livestream chat went quiet.
Everyone had been thoroughly stunned by Yae Miko's shamelessness.
Valerius covered his face.
Only Yae Miko could come up with a plan this outrageous.
When he saw her completely ignore intelligence gathering and spend all her points on four extra Command Seals, he had already guessed her odds of victory were high.
What he hadn't expected was for her to throw all dignity out the window.
[Nahida: Sigh… what a pity.]
[Furina: What do you mean pity? Use your Command Seals and fight her!]
Furina didn't care in the slightest about "keeping the reward within Teyvat."
All she knew was that Yae Miko had played dirty.
And if someone played dirty, there was only one response.
Roll up your sleeves and beat them senseless.
[Zhongli: This… sigh…]
[Venti: This is a very difficult decision.]
[Seele: What's there to think about? Fight her!]
Teyvat's participants were deeply conflicted.
Belobog, on the other hand, had exactly one opinion:
Hit her.
Yae Miko still had plenty of Command Seals.
If she burned some here, it would only benefit Silver Wolf and Kafka.
[Stelle: Use all three Command Seals and blast her!]
[March 7th: Exactly! I'm getting angry just watching this.]
[Sparkle: Valerius, Valerius! Can I visit Inazuma sometime?]
Sparkle was absolutely delighted.
Yae Miko was incredible.
Surely this was someone worthy of recruitment into the Masked Fools.
[Valerius: Give it up. She's not like you.]
Yae Miko might enjoy watching others become the punchline.
But becoming the joke herself?
Absolutely not.
Inside the factory:
Navia closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"Command Seal: Reinforce Clorinde."
A crimson flash.
One Command Seal vanished.
"I'll only use one."
"If she can beat you, then she wins."
"If not, then we'll compete fairly for the final victory."
Navia was unwilling to surrender her chance at success.
But she also didn't want to overspend.
They had already invested points in intelligence.
If they burned too many seals here, they would have no chance against Silver Wolf later.
Even if they bought more, that would cost additional points.
Winning only to end up with a low-value reward would be pointless.
"Sounds good."
Yae Miko smiled.
She had known Navia would choose this option.
A Servant duel.
And in that department, Raiden Ei held a decisive advantage.
"Ei. Go."
"Understood."
Raiden Ei stepped forward.
Between their original three Command Seals and the four Yae Miko had purchased, they still had ample resources left to face Kafka.
This time, Ei had no intention of fooling around.
She wanted to win.
After all, if Phantylia could pull a resurrection item with six points, then together she and Yae Miko had a strong chance of drawing something equally valuable.
She drew her blade.
With a single sweeping slash, countless arcs of lightning engulfed Clorinde.
"So fast!"
Clorinde inwardly groaned.
Though she had also been enhanced, Ei was simply overwhelming.
At first she could barely keep up.
But as the battle wore on, she was steadily forced into a disadvantage.
Meanwhile…
Kafka glanced toward the direction where Ei had disappeared.
"So, my dear, what's the plan now?"
"Go to the internet café."
Kafka stared at Silver Wolf.
"Do you want me to shoot you?"
"Relax, hear me out."
Seeing Kafka's eyes narrowing dangerously, Silver Wolf hurried to explain.
"Yae Miko's group is definitely busy eliminating the last team."
"All we need to do is wait and conserve our strength."
"And then?"
Silver Wolf grinned mischievously.
"Then we drown them in Command Seals."
She held up her hand.
Three glowing Command Seals shone brightly.
"She doesn't seriously think we spent our points on intelligence, does she?"
Kafka chuckled.
"All right. Fair enough."
Ei had already returned and reported that Silver Wolf and Kafka had bought information.
That meant Yae Miko would be far less cautious.
In that case, Silver Wolf spending her days in the internet café was actually perfect.
It helped reinforce the deception.
"Trust me," Silver Wolf said confidently. "I've got this."
Then she turned and headed back to the internet café.
來ハ彶瑷尒, I'm back.
Everything in this game had gone surprisingly well.
But there was still one thing Silver Wolf couldn't let go.
She still hadn't beaten that infuriating player.
Until she won at least once, she wouldn't be satisfied.
[Attention: Player Clorinde has been eliminated.]
[Attention: Player Navia has been eliminated.]
The final team had fallen.
Silver Wolf's pace quickened.
There wasn't much time left.
Four days later.
A windless night.
A hazy moon hung in the sky.
In an open area on the outskirts of the city, Raiden Ei stood in silence, her magical power surging around her.
"My dear, are you still not done?"
Kafka folded her arms impatiently.
"The duel is about to begin, and you're still playing games?"
"Almost. This time I've got a real chance."
Silver Wolf's fingers flew across the keyboard.
Her eyes were locked onto the screen.
This was her best opportunity yet.
Clack-clack-clack!
The final note of the song ended.
Silver Wolf stared at the result screen.
First place.
She clenched her fist in triumph.
"I won. I finally won!"
The joy was indescribable.
After all this time, she had finally defeated that cursed opponent.
"All right," Kafka said dryly. "Can we go claim our reward now?"
"Yep."
Silver Wolf typed one final taunt, logged out, and stood up.
"Let's go."
"You even taunted them?"
"He taunted me every time I lost. Why shouldn't I return the favor?"
Silver Wolf strode out of the internet café without another word.
Game etiquette.
Kafka wouldn't understand.
Inside the church:
Valerius exited Audition with a laugh.
"Taunting me after I let her win? That's adorable."
He had thoroughly enjoyed tormenting Silver Wolf over the past few days.
If tonight hadn't been the final battle, he might not have given her that victory.
Bronya laughed and lightly shoved him.
"You're terrible."
Then she turned her gaze back to the livestream.
For some reason, she had a feeling Silver Wolf's chances were excellent.
"Step right up, everyone!"
Sampo rubbed his hands together.
"Place your bets! Silver Wolf or Yae Miko—who takes it all?"
A perfect business opportunity.
Naturally, he wasn't going to miss it.
"Oho, now this is interesting."
"I'm betting on Yae Miko. One hundred million credits."
"Silver Wolf. One hundred million Mora."
"Yae Miko. Fifty thousand Dennies."
Zhu Yuan hesitated.
"Um… gambling isn't exactly a good habit."
"Hehe. It's all in good fun."
Aventurine casually tossed out his chips.
"Yae Miko to win. Ten million credits."
"So much?"
Aventurine smiled.
"All or nothing."
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