In the back alleys of Liyue Harbor, Hu Tao had already tied up all the Fatui agents. Through a bit of intimidation, she had followed the path and discovered a large stash of bombs the Fatui had buried.
After disabling the last bomb, Hu Tao wiped the sweat from her brow. Looking at the mountain of defused explosives behind her, she let out a long breath.
"You Fatui have some nerve, burying so many bombs in a place like this. If these had gone off, Liyue Harbor might have been blown to bits."
Hu Tao stabbed the Fatui squad leader with her Staff of Homa. These agents were far too reckless. If those bombs had detonated, even nearby Wangsheng would have been shaken. Since Wangsheng was an old building, that kind of tremor might have forced her to rebuild it entirely.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She poked a few more holes into the squad leader. Despite her young age, Hu Tao, having seen all manner of deaths, knew exactly where to strike to cause pain without being fatal. To confirm her methods, she had even studied a few medical texts.
"Please, just kill me. I've already got six or seven holes in me. Just end it."
"Kill you? No way. I'm handing you over to Miss Yelan. She's very interested in the Fatui's schemes."
"Yelan? That sadist who loves torturing people? No, no, just kill me. Among us Fatui, there's a saying: better to die than fall into Yelan's hands."
Hmm, she seemed to have stumbled upon something interesting. Hu Tao rubbed her smooth chin and decided to dig deeper.
"Why are you Fatui so afraid of Miss Yelan? She doesn't look that scary."
"Not scary? Don't joke. Not a single Fatui who's fallen into her hands has survived."
Hu Tao was genuinely baffled. That seemingly gentle older sister was that terrifying? She hadn't noticed. As far as she knew, Yelan just really liked spicy food.
Forget it. She'd drag these Fatui out into the street and find someone to watch them. She still needed to support the Millelith. After the war, she would report this to Keqing, who would look into it.
...
On a mountain peak near Liyue Harbor, Scaramouche watched with eager anticipation. Yae Miko had warned Su Bai time and again to stay away from him and never accept the power of a Delusion. But now, did Su Bai really have a choice?
"I wonder if Yae Miko will hate me for this. Not that it matters. I'm not forcing little Bai to use the Delusion. Even if she finds out I'm behind it, there's nothing she can do."
Scaramouche could already picture Yae Miko's hatred mixed with helplessness. A wave of pleasure surged through him, and he burst into laughter.
"A Delusion, huh?"
Back on the beach, Su Bai was still patching the seal, his face dark. To be honest, in such a critical moment, he wasn't opposed to using the power of a Delusion. But Scaramouche had forgotten one thing. All the adeptal arts Su Bai knew were powered by adeptal energy, which was generated from within him. Using it was as natural as using his own limbs.
Suddenly being asked to power his arts with a completely different force was impossible. He wasn't familiar with the Delusion's power. Even with it in hand, he couldn't use it for his arts.
"What am I supposed to do with this Delusion? I don't even know how to use its power. It's not going to solve anything."
Su Bai was utterly exasperated. The Delusion's energy was wildly unstable. He couldn't use it to fix the current problem. If he forced it, he risked the energy backfiring and disrupting the seal he was repairing.
Had Scaramouche spent too long with the Fatui and lost his mind? How could he be so confident that a little fox like him could control the Delusion's power on the first try?
"None of them are reliable. In the end, I have to figure this out myself."
Su Bai mentally calculated his remaining adeptal energy. Not much left. Damn it. Next time he ran into Scaramouche, he would kill him.
Thinking of the Millelith soldiers in Liyue Harbor whose life forces were nearly depleted, Su Bai gritted his teeth. It seemed he would have to use his trump card.
"Brother Xiao, this move was originally meant for you. Let's see if it works."
With that, a strange ripple emanated from Su Bai's body. A white light slowly rose from him, enveloping him in its glow.
When the light faded, the exhaustion on Su Bai's face had vanished. His body was now filled with adeptal energy, and his spirit seemed much sharper. However, his tails appeared to have shrunk slightly.
Glancing at his noticeably smaller tails, Su Bai sighed. This technique couldn't be used often. Using illusions to alter reality was still too advanced for him. Even just restoring some of his adeptal energy had damaged his foundation.
Still, this should be enough to help the Millelith hold out until Osial was resealed. Once that happened, Xiao alone could slaughter the remaining monsters.
A ball of condensed adeptal energy flew into the sky over Liyue Harbor. With a flash of white light, the Millelith soldiers noticed they had become faster. The monsters, on the other hand, had slowed drastically. Some even froze in place.
This turn of events allowed the Millelith to temporarily stop using their Delusions. They all knew those things weren't good. With this buff, it was best to avoid them if possible.
Trapped at sea, Osial grew increasingly agitated. The gap in the seal was shrinking by the minute. If he didn't break free soon, he would be trapped again.
"You leave me no choice. Even if I'm sealed again, I won't make this easy for you."
Osial's main head hatched a cruel plan. Morax, you claim to be Liyue's protector? I'll make sure monsters overrun the entire city. Let's see how long you can keep up that act.
With a furious roar, Osial tore off two of his secondary heads. Ignoring the pain, he hurled them into Liyue Harbor.
The severed heads began releasing vast amounts of divine energy. The monsters, which had been caught in Su Bai's illusion, snapped back to reality.
Empowered by this energy, the monsters lost all reason. Not even Su Bai's illusions could affect them now. Even if a god stood before them, these crazed creatures would charge forward and strike.
This sudden shift made the already precarious defensive lines dangerously unstable. Facing the berserk monsters, the Millelith had no choice but to use their Delusions once more.