What...is...he?
He turned over and stretched his arm out ahead of him, dragging his chest across the stone floor, away from the obliterated terrain behind him. Scarlet stained his outfit, ruining his perfect grey jacket. Unfortunately, it seemed that his luck was dying out fast.
Fingers wrapped around his neck from behind and his body left the ground as he was yanked up in the air. A pair of deathly cold eyes met him and in the first time in a long time, fear encroached itself into his furiously beating heart. He coughed up crimson onto the ground, so much so that it'd hurt to take another gulp of saliva.
"S-Shit...hit a little harder now will you?"
Uttering that was a literal death wish that just might come true. The grip around his neck tightened and the glaring eyes before him watched him wince defencelessly in sheer pain.
Instantly, he was sent flying across multiple yards and spun helplessly in the air, then an excruciating burst of pain spread throughout his back as he crashed into a rock wall at a dangerously high velocity.
His vision grew weaker, his breathing grew coarser, his movement grew slower. Every part of himself ached unbearably and his fatigue drove him to the edge of unconsciousness. Coughing up blood signified his deteriorating stamina–exhaustion trampling on his lungs and limbs. He sluggishly lifted his head to witness the hulking figure headed towards him. Although his body and mind were battered, a steadfast flare of hope burned bright within.
Only a little longer to victory...
Seven days ago, our ardent Harbinger strolled along the cool sand with nightfall blanketing the sky above him. The grass swayed in sync with the trees nearby, rocking peacefully to the chilly wind of the night. Solemn streaks of moonlight shined upon his caramel locks of hair, the calm ambience sucking out every drop of distress out of his system.
He trekked cautiously so as to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to himself. Nevertheless, he still took the time to admire the beautiful landscape around him, flourishing with windwheel asters and valberries.
"Why are these elemental traces leading me to Mondstadt? Could he have fled there? Nah surely not. There must be some other reason as to why they lead there."
Far off into the distance, he spotted a familiar building that belonged to the wealthiest man in Mondstadt. He decided on hanging around that area secretly to wait until dawn tore open the darkness. Though, it would soon seem that the Dawn would be tearing him open instead.
BOOM!
A surge of blinding inferno burst from ahead of Childe, knocking him back. He had his bow equipped in his hands straight away, aiming right at the source of the blast. Movement was detected from the burning area.
Gradually emerging from the rampant flames and smoke was a masked figure with hair as red as roses. He tugged his greatsword out of the ground and pointed it at the lone Harbinger. It appeared though that Childe was familiar with this masked vigilante.
"Well well well, fancy seeing you here. Why bother donning that stupid mask when its easy to tell who's under it?"
"Huh. I could ask the same about that despicable mask you've got on your head, Tartaglia."
The serenity of the night vanished as the atmosphere began to get intenser by the second.
Both men circled each other, weapons drawn and readied for battle. The red-haired man held his greatsword low while the blue-haired boy steadily locked on to the man's head with his bow.
"That's a remarkable Compound Bow you've got there. Unfortunately, it's being used by you. I'll take it off of you to not waste such a fine piece of weaponry once I'm done here."
"Hahaha! Look at you, cherishing the good old days as an itty-bitty Knight of Favonius, aren't you? Or are you carelessly wielding the Favonius Greatsword out of spite for those pathetic excuses that you call as Knights?"
The two combatants looked at one another dead in the eyes, the desire to clash blades embedded in their glistening pupils.
"Had I brought the Wolf's Gravestone instead, this would be your final resting place once I make you take your last breath before you can even move."
"Like how your father took his after being slapped up by a little monster?"
No reaction came from the masked swordsman. Then, he ripped off his mask to reveal his face that emanated nothing but a hatred that burned greatly.
"Don't bring my father into this."
"I don't care. I'll do whatever I want, even if it means I have to get rid of you to achieve the grand goal of Her Royal Highness. But I sense strength in you, a strength that not many have. Perhaps this battle could make us comrades."
"You're just plain delusional. I'd eat shit over being comrades with you."
"Hahaha! Wonderful! Well then, I'll make sure you'll choke on buckets of it, Diluc."
The owner of the Dawn Winery spun his greatsword skillfully and lunged at the Harbinger.
The Harbinger leapt back and dodged the attack, firing a wave of Hydro from his bow in return.
Diluc sidestepped the wave easily and then launched himself into the air with his blade swung upwards.
Another surge of orange flames engulfed his greatsword and he swung back down fiercely at the Harbinger, unleashing a roaring Phoenix onto him.
"Burn!"
Tartaglia dropped his bow to construct a familiar pair of Hydro daggers to block the sudden overpowering attack. But comparing the measly size of those daggers to the monstrous size of the Phoenix, such defence was deemed futile.
The blazing bird blew up in front of the Harbinger's face, vaporizing his daggers and torching parts of his clothes. Tartaglia backed up to coat himself in Hydro to try and put out the boiling flames on his shirt, gritting his teeth in agitation.
He's got quite the fight in him eh.
Diluc nose-dived from the sky and slammed his greatsword with catastrophic force onto the ground, sending tremors throughout the area and shook the foliage in the vicinity.
Fire spread throughout the claymore as well as onto the grass; leaving no time for the Harbinger to recover. The fire was spreading more around the Harbinger and the flames grew even taller. He felt as if he were cooked alive from the tremendous heat of the flames.
Diluc rolled forward and swung the burning claymore down on his foe. Tartaglia swiped the bow from the ground and held it up with both his arms to tank the powerful swing.
But a powerfully agile kick flew into the Harbinger's gut and sent him staggering back. Quickly regaining his footing, Tartaglia took aim again at his opponent and riddled the man with a shower of Hydro arrows.
Diluc instinctively hurled his greatsword to the ground and an explosion erupted from it which caused a cloud of smoke to form and obstruct the Harbinger's view.
He's somewhere in that smoke. I'll chase him out of it.
Devoid of hesitation, he summoned the same gargantuan whale of Hydro to come splashing down on the smoke as it drenches the dirt completely.
Suddenly, like a vicious bolt of lighting, a figure dashed behind the Hydro wielder with his greatsword and slashed into Tartaglia's back. The searing heat of the blade scorched the Harbinger's skin and fried the flesh that it tore into. Diluc retracted his blade to swing again but a rush of Electro knocked him far back.
"Nghhh...You're something else huh. Very well! Feast your eyes on this!"
Tartaglia turned around and revealed a fresh pair of Electro daggers. His mask fell from his hair to shield his face, signalling his usage of his glowing Delusion. He zipped forward at lightning speed and grazed Diluc's waist with his dagger.
The vigilante swung fiercely with his fiery blade, channelling his raging will into it. However, the Harbinger's movements were a lot quicker than before which enabled him to block all incoming swings with relative ease. He then realised his heightened agility and got ready for a counter-attack.
But out of nowhere, numerous Pyro arrows penetrated Tartaglia in the back! The Harbinger winced and sent another surge of Electro around him, knocking back the vigilante. A voice echoed from the trees nearby.
"Outrider Amber here to assist!"
Instead of poking fear into the Harbinger, an eerie smirk stretched across his face. Bewilderment nudged Diluc, wondering what made the Harbinger react that way while sprinting towards him.
Soon, horror struck his heart as he realized what ran through Tartaglia's mind.
Tartaglia turned his head to Amber, who was firing arrows repeatedly, suddenly dashing towards her direction.
Diluc knew that Amber's experience in combat was extremely underwhelming as compared to his own, foreseeing the tragedy would take place if Tartaglia got his hands on the innocent Outrider.
The Harbinger slammed both hilts of the daggers together and forged a murderous double-bladed polearm that emitted erratic sparks of Electro.
As he was going to launch his creation at the frightened Outrider, glaring beams of yellow light shined from behind him. He took a glimpse behind and shock seized his body.
A pair of crimson eyes imbued with a horrifyingly bloodthirsty desire for slaughter met the Harbinger's blue pearls and his greatsword ignited with hellfire. It was evident in this battle that the Harbinger's body hadn't recovered fully from his impulsive use of his Foul Legacy transformation on those hilichurls.
"Relish your final breath, Tartaglia."
The blazing greatsword was raised high and finally plunged onto his back. The smouldering blade sliced open his flesh and searing pain resonated through Tartaglia's body.
Though, Tartaglia's long periods of training from the past triggered his body to react on its own.
The polearm was turned over to face behind the wounded Harbinger and with one swift thrust, the polearm struck through Diluc's gut and blood oozed out of the wound that was carved. The flickers of Electro cooked his inner tissues that worsened the already stinging pain.
Tartaglia scampered forward while pulling out the polearm from Diluc and flipped around, witnessing the damage he dealt to Diluc. Both of them panted slightly, eyeing each other momentarily. The damage on their bodies began to take a little toll.
A little rest was all that the Pyro vigilante needed to resume his searing onslaught.
He smoothly performed an excellent sweep kick to the Harbinger and he collapsed to the floor. He swung the Favonius greatsword with brute strength but the Harbinger wouldn't let up so easily. He tossed aside his polearm and flung his palms in front of him in defence, catching the blade of the weapon.
The deadly thin blade cut deep into his palms, more spurting of the rose-coloured fluid onto his attire.
Diluc gripped the blade harder and it re-ignited once more with a brilliant stream of orange. Yet Tartaglia was a step ahead of his dominant foe.
Unimaginable quantities of Electro travelled from the palm of Tartaglia to the flaming blade, overloading the weapon and causing another explosion that sent Diluc flying back.
He gracefully landed and blew off the smoke on his greatsword. Tartaglia sprang back up with plenty of vigour to spare. He licked his lips in enticement at the ferocity of their heated combat.
"Show me what you're made of, Ragnvindr!"
Tartaglia jumped into the air and a hoop of Electro surrounded Diluc. He was puzzled for a moment, but then caught notice of Tartaglia rising higher with his polearm gripped closely to his torso.
With his great mastery of Pyro, he infused his Greatsword with an incomprehensible volume of Pyro energy.
Tartaglia was high in the sky and targeted his polearm at his opponent below. He held his polearm high above his head and skyrocketed to the ground.
Diluc shut his eyes, placing every part of his faith into his claymore. He swung his trusted weapon and an even bigger Phoenix emerged from the tip of the blade.
It soared beautifully in the night sky and with one mighty thrust of the Delusion-wielding Tartaglia, the two manifestations of devastating power collided and a cataclysmic explosion consumed the entire vicinity.
The winery owner and the Harbinger witnessed the unadulterated destruction in the wake of the battle. Dead boars lay motionless on the cold floor and fallen burnt trees littered the dirt. The once lush greenery was now blackened and withered plants.
Both ceased to continue battle after realising the extent of the damage that they have caused.
"I got one thing wrong about you Diluc."
"..."
"I...should never have underestimated one who has risen from tragedy and fought harder than others to get stronger. You...have my respect for that."
"I didn't ask."
"Hahaha...your father would be proud of you."
The odd yet deep sentiment struck deep in his soul. He hesitated for a moment, before lifting his greatsword once more. Almost as if he were unaffected by the painful laceration, his eyes still held an undying ferocity despite his composed facial expression. Yet, a new unknown emotion seemed to be mixed in with all of that tenacity.
"Get lost before I rip you apart."
"I'll come back stronger than ever and you better be ready for it. Heh...maybe someday, we could be more than comrades."
A veil of Hydro shrouded the Harbinger, dissipating moments later and then Tartaglia was nowhere to be seen.
The red-haired gentleman sheathed his mighty greatsword, walking off into the darkness. Amber made chase and caught up to him quick.
"Hey Diluc, thanks back there. I shouldn't have intervened...I didn't think it through."
"The nature of your actions were valiant, but it was monumentally stupid to allow your vulnerable self to be noticed by a Harbinger of the Fatui."
"You're still mean as ever! But still, that was so unlike you to let him free! Why did you do that? The Diluc I know would've prolonged the fight until he won."
He stopped walking, his eyes pointed to the ground. Amber looked eagerly to find out the reason behind it. But he merely grunted and continued walking.
"Hell if I know."
...Finally reaching the nearest Statue of the Seven was an excruciating journey for the Harbinger. Mountains of fatigue stacked themselves onto his bones after searching endlessly for the sacred monument.
He took advantage of every drop of adrenaline in him from the battle to carry himself across the land. He slumped against the statue and its mystical aura seeped into his wounds, slowly closing them and regenerating each cell.
Despite suffering intense injuries, not a molecule of regret could be found in his mind. He smiled brightly at the awesome battle he shared with the exceptionally elite wielder of Pyro.
Just as he thought he was losing morale in his search for Zhongli, the unexpected battle took place and fully refuelled his drive to pursue the one he truly desired most. His mouth curved into a youthful smile and he rested his body by the statue a little longer...
...He gazed from a cliff close by the land of the glorious Lupus Boreas. Observing the boy that sauntered away from the Statue of the Seven, heading to Liyue. He folded his arms and turned away, heading down the cliff he stood upon.
"Was the night before all an act or..."
The disbelief in his mind dwindled by a little.