Facing the terrifying Lord Ravager, just as everyone was struggling to hold the line, Tsaritsa finally appeared.
Alongside her came a middle-aged man with a cold, emotionless expression. His complexion was ashen, and he looked nothing like a living human.
However—The moment Sam Li saw him, even his usually calm expression changed.
"It's him—"
Venti, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised at all. Instead, he let out a breath of relief.
"They finally made it."
Nearby, Mavuika looked confused.
"You know the man standing beside Tsaritsa?"
Neuvillette seemed to sense something. His gaze grew heavy.
"The aura coming from him is extremely powerful, but…"
Paimon immediately urged him, "But what? Hurry up and say it!"
Neuvillette murmured, "But he doesn't feel like a living being."
He could sense it clearly.
Inside that man's body, there was no soul in the conventional sense, nor a complete consciousness—only an immensely powerful shell.
At the side, Venti spoke slowly.
"As expected of Tsaritsa. She really succeeded."
Sam Li explained in a low voice.
"This man is the vessel of a Descender."
More precisely, Tsaritsa had used the collected Gnoses to reconstruct the body of the Third Descender, creating it to oppose the invaders from beyond the heavens.
After hearing Sam Li's explanation, Neuvillette, Ei, Mavuika, the Traveler, and Paimon all revealed expressions of shock.
At this moment, it wasn't just Sam Li, Venti, Ei, and Neuvillette who stopped fighting.
Even the Lord Ravager, the Antimatter Legion, and the swarming Abyss monsters halted their attacks upon the appearance of Tsaritsa and the Third Descender.
The Lord Ravager turned her gaze toward the Third Descender, clearly sensing the threat.
But in the next instant—
She gave neither Tsaritsa nor the Third Descender any chance to act first.
Her figure vanished from where she stood, and in the blink of an eye, she appeared directly in front of the Third Descender.
Boom!
A massive explosion of destructive energy erupted, centered on the Third Descender.
Sam Li, Venti, and Mavuika—who were farther away—quickly braced themselves against the shockwave.
Tsaritsa, who was closest, had no time to dodge. She barely managed to condense a Cryo shield before the destructive energy engulfed her.
The shield shattered instantly, and Tsaritsa was sent flying.
In the very next moment, another explosion rang out.
Two figures were hurled away.
They were the Lord Ravager and the Third Descender—both in a sorry state as they crashed heavily to the ground.
"Morax, that 'ehe' bard, and you lightning village girl—don't just stand there…"
"Hmph. We'll settle that after this is over."
"After all these years, her mouth is still as sharp as ever…"
…
The next moment, Sam Li, Venti, Ei, Mavuika, and Neuvillette all moved.
They unleashed their full power, launching another coordinated assault on the Lord Ravager.
With Tsaritsa and the Third Descender's vessel joining the battle, they united to begin a new round of attacks.
Sure enough, with Tsaritsa's arrival—especially the Third Descender's vessel—their side finally had enough power to truly contend with the Lord Ravager.
For a time—
Blades and weapons flashed endlessly.
Countless Geo spears rained down. Colossal water dragons surged across the battlefield. Lightning blade-light flickered. Scorching flames swept the land. Freezing ice sealed the ground. Howling storms tore through the sky.
The intensity of the battle caused heaven and earth themselves to change color.
As for Hu Tao, the Traveler, Paimon, Xilonen, Nicole, Zhu Yuan, Caesar, and the others, they could only retreat to the edge of the battlefield, preventing Abyss monsters from slipping past into Sumeru's heartland.
The fighting continued all the way into the early hours of the third day.
Still, there was no victor.
After nearly three days of nonstop, high-intensity combat, both the archons and the Lord Ravager were at their limits.
Only now did Sam Li and Venti finally force the Lord Ravager into a desperate situation—and glimpse the possibility of victory.
At that moment, Mavuika shouted loudly,
"One last push—suppress her!"
Ei shouted coldly,
"Clear out of the way—"
As her words fell, she forcibly overdrawn her power and swung her blade once more, unleashing another peerless, thoughtless strike that landed squarely on the Lord Ravager.
"Don't give her a chance to recover—"
As Ei's blade struck, Sam Li's Geo spears followed immediately.
Countless spears fell like a torrential rain, smashing down on the Lord Ravager's position and locking her firmly in place.
Before she could break free, a violent storm descended, massive tornadoes trapping her at the center.
Then came torrents of water—
followed by blazing flames.
When the barrage finally ended, Tsaritsa shouted toward the Third Descender, "It's up to you—seal her!"
As her command rang out, the Third Descender's body suddenly expanded, drawing in all surrounding elements—Anemo, Pyro, Electro, Geo, Hydro, Cryo, and Dendro—into itself.
Raising a fist glowing with seven colors, it swung down toward the Lord Ravager.
As that punch was thrown, space itself fractured.
Lightning flashed across the sky, the earth trembled violently, and the air seemed to boil.
Everyone believed that a full-force strike combining all seven elements would be enough to suppress the Lord Ravager.
However—
At the very moment the fist was about to land—
Suddenly, a massive claw tore through space itself, carrying terrifying destructive energy, and slammed into the Third Descender.
The Third Descender's vessel was already unstable, burdened by the pressure of the gathered elements.
Struck by this sudden blow, it could no longer maintain its form.
Boom!
It shattered in midair, breaking apart into fragments of withered bone.
The Third Descender's vessel had fallen.
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone.
Before anyone could even react, the Third Descender was already gone.
Tsaritsa stared wide-eyed, despair gradually filling her expression.
"How… how is this possible…?"
Sam Li seemed to realize something and immediately warned everyone,
"Be careful. There's more than one Lord Ravager."
Clearly, that sudden attack had come from a second Lord Ravager.
In the next moment, as the dust settled, the original Lord Ravager stood up from the ground.
"Swallowing Heaven… you finally arrived."
As her words fell, the sky over Teyvat was torn apart.
A colossal beast—so enormous it seemed to cover half the heavens—slowly revealed its form.
Despair spread instantly.
When Mavuika, Ei, Tsaritsa, Paimon, the Traveler, and the others saw the second Lord Ravager appear, despair filled their hearts.
One Lord Ravager had already been nearly impossible to defeat.
Now, there were two.
And with the Third Descender's vessel already destroyed, how could they possibly contend with two Lord Ravagers with the strength they had left?
Mavuika refused to give up. She raised her greatsword high.
"Protect Teyvat!"
The others shouted along with her.
"Protect Teyvat—!"
Yet such cries could not halt the advance of two Lord Ravagers, more than a dozen Doomsday Beasts, countless Abyss monsters, and the endless forces of the Antimatter Legion.
In the next instant, the Lord Ravager known as the Devourer of Heaven opened its massive maw and descended from the sky, as though it intended to swallow the entire desert in a single bite.
At that critical moment—an ancient dragon's roar echoed from the depths of the cosmos.
At the same time, as if sensing something, dense, ancient markings began to surface across Sam Li's body.