Just as Raiden Ei had predicted, her battle with Raiden Mei eventually evolved into a war of attrition.
They were both incarnations of lightning, possessing high resistance to Electro Elemental Power. Ordinary attacks could not even cause damage.
What could affect the other was the other power they mastered: the Power of Destruction, also known as Honkai energy.
Though these two powers were not identical, they were remarkably similar.
Of course, their battle was also a clash of their own wills and convictions.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more alarmed Raiden Ei became.
Their power, thoughts, and convictions were so similar, it was as if she were fighting another version of herself.
Raiden Ei thought that if they had met in another time, perhaps they would have become good friends.
But now, they could only be enemies, and the final victory must be achieved by standing upon the other's corpse.
Precisely because she understood herself, Raiden Ei knew that unless she completely annihilated her opponent, the other would absolutely never give up.
Raiden Mei clearly knew this as well, and the two fought without holding back in the slightest. Every attack was launched with the intent to kill, and the impact of their clashing strikes rippled across a thousand miles of sea.
The thunderclouds in the sky roared continuously, as the lightning filling the heavens dyed the entire region in a deep purple hue.
The sky seemed as if it were about to collapse, and a pressure so heavy it made one unable to breathe weighed down upon everyone who could witness this scene.
If no third party had intervened in this battle, the two of them would have definitely fought until they were completely exhausted, then finally decided who would live and who would die.
However, Aether's approach caused a slight shock in their hearts, and they immediately backed away a bit, keeping a wary eye on each other while looking at the direction Aether was coming from with solemn expressions.
A golden light cut through the seawater, lightning, and thunderclouds in the sky all at once, letting sunlight briefly scatter in this area, and then as Aether stopped a few thousand meters away from the two of them, the surrounding environment quickly returned to its original state.
"Who are you?"
Raiden Ei questioned Aether, her expression somewhat unfriendly and also a bit wary.
Although Aether had not yet made a move, she could feel that the other party was not a weakling.
Aether opened his mouth, and just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw Raiden Mei again and was momentarily stunned.
The Electro Archon was indeed a Twin Archon, but didn't he remember that one of them died in the Dark Beast Tide five hundred years ago?
Aether really found the current situation of Teyvat more and more incomprehensible, and since Fontaine, he had a feeling that he was being abandoned by the version.
Could this be an omen of the coming Apocalypse?
Aether pondered as he slowly spoke.
"Leave the Marks on your bodies, and I will let you go."
"Arrogant!"
Raiden Ei snorted coldly, then slashed her sword at Aether without hesitation.
In response, Aether simply swung the Golden Sword in his hand to parry Raiden Ei's attack. Most of the force was completely nullified in the collision, and only a small portion of the power caused Aether's body to take two steps back. However, the next second, he once again turned into a streak of golden light and flew toward Raiden Ei.
Raiden Ei smelled the scents of Anemo and the Electro Element, so she swung her sword to block. However, the moment she received the attack, the power of Pyro and Geo Elements bloomed on the sword blade.
Raiden Ei wanted to pull back and create some distance, but Hydro and Cryo Elemental Power suddenly surged toward her, greatly restricting her movements. Finally, a massive amount of Dendro swarmed in, completely binding her body.
Raiden Ei looked into Aether's calm eyes. This face felt strangely familiar to her, and she felt as if she had seen it somewhere before.
Combined with the ability to use multiple types of Elemental Power, he seemed very similar to the figure she had almost sealed inside the Statue of the Omnipresent God.
"Are you the Traveler's blood relative?"
After hearing Raiden Ei's words, Aether's movements paused for a moment, then he spoke.
"Do you know where Lumine is now?"
Raiden Ei shook her head. Although she knew when Lumine had first arrived in Inazuma, because of her own inner decision, she did not know how to face Lumine, so she did not meet her, and even deliberately avoided her.
"Then I will find her myself."
After Aether finished speaking, he raised his hand and wiped it on the Golden Sword. A massive amount of Elemental Power gathered on that sword, instantly extending the blade by several meters. Finally, Aether swung the Golden Sword, which was emitting a multicolored halo, and slashed toward Raiden Ei.
The Electro Elemental Power on Raiden Ei's body erupted violently, completely destroying the vines on her body and the ice crystals in the air. Then she prepared to swing her sword to block, but a figure was faster than her.
Raiden Ei looked at Raiden Mei, who was blocking in front of her, her expression a little surprised.
Raiden Mei, on the other hand, looked at Aether quietly and slowly spoke.
"Your desire for your wish isn't strong. Why are you wading into this muddy mess?"
"You can't even be sure that what you're doing is definitely the right thing, can you?"
After hearing Raiden Mei's words, Aether gave her a deep look.
"Of course I believe in my choice."
"But you're right, my desire for the wish isn't that strong; I'm just giving it a try."
"However, if you can't stop me, you should just give up now."
The seven types of Elemental Power erupted violently from the sword in Aether's hand, immediately blasting Raiden Mei backward.
However, Raiden Mei's posture was not particularly disheveled; she had taken the initiative to retreat and dissipate this portion of the force.
Just as Raiden Mei brushed past Raiden Ei, she spoke directly to her.
"Let's join forces first, then we can continue our fight later."
After hearing Raiden Mei's words, Raiden Ei nodded, agreeing to the proposal.
The person standing before her right now gave her an incredibly strong sense of pressure. Although judging from the strength he had shown so far, his power didn't seem much greater than theirs, she still felt that he wasn't taking this seriously.
It was a strange feeling. The opponent seemed to be fighting them, yet his attention appeared to be elsewhere.
Although she didn't know what Aether's situation was, Raiden Ei didn't dwell on it further. She directly wielded the Musou Isshin and swung out several dazzling blade flashes toward him.
Each blade flash contained an extremely terrifying power, but Aether merely raised his hand slightly. A terrifying torrent of energy gushed from his palm, and soon those blade flashes were all submerged.
Afterward, radial golden flames erupted from behind Aether, and his figure appeared in front of Raiden Ei in the blink of an eye. He swung his sword at Raiden Ei with a calm expression.
The moment this sword strike was unleashed, its light rapidly dimmed and emitted a dense Abyss Aura.
Raiden Ei's expression changed. She dodged with all her might, but the attack still grazed her shoulder. In an instant, the damage to Raiden Ei's body increased by five percent.
Adding to the damage sustained during her previous fight with Raiden Mei, the integrity of Raiden Ei's body had now fallen below 80%.
This was also Raiden Ei's greatest weakness at present. This body of hers was somewhat mismatched with her strength.
If it weren't for this, Raiden Ei would have been able to unleash even more powerful strength.
Finally, Aether's sword light plunged into the sea, slashing open a massive fissure over ten thousand meters long, one hundred meters wide, and one thousand meters deep.
One must know that at this time, a large amount of Primordial Sea Water had flowed into the sea, making it much more stable than ordinary seawater. Aether's attack this time could be described as terrifying.
Just at this moment, a purple-black figure fled away from below, and Aether's eyes immediately narrowed slightly.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, Dainsleif had also arrived.
At this time, Raiden Mei's figure reappeared in front of Aether, and she coordinated with Raiden Ei to launch a fierce offensive against him.
Aether unhurriedly blocked the attacks of the two, while simultaneously keeping his eyes fixed on Dainsleif's position.
Meanwhile, Dainsleif, seeing that he had been exposed, decided to take this opportunity to defeat Aether together with Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei.
No matter how many times he thwarted the Abyss Order's plans, Aether would never give up. The best way was to defeat Aether completely and then bring him back from the Abyss's seduction.
Even if Aether remained stubborn, as long as he did not let the Abyss Order rescue Aether, he believed the Abyss Order's subsequent plans would not be able to unfold.
Thinking of this, Dainsleif prepared to make a move against Aether.
However, when he reached a point not far from Aether, Dainsleif suddenly felt a chill in his heart as he gazed into Aether's indifferent eyes. An intense sense of crisis surged within him, and he immediately turned to retreat without hesitation.
At this moment, Dainsleif suddenly realized a problem. He had truly enraged Aether this time. Yet, while he had planned to join forces with Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei to deal with him, why did Aether's eyes still remain calm?
There was obviously only one possibility: all of this had been planned by Aether.
Sure enough, in the next second after Dainsleif withdrew, a blinding golden light dyed the entire world gold, and the seawater began to boil.
It was not because of a rise in temperature, but because the terrifying power contained within the light was injected into the sea.
Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei also sensed something wrong at this moment and immediately withdrew. However, their movements were much slower than Dainsleif's.
Aether's burst of power was too sudden. Dainsleif was only able to predict it in advance because he understood Aether extremely well.
When Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei were engulfed by the golden light, they immediately suffered a terrifying impact. It felt as if they were immersed in the deep sea ten thousand meters below; a terrifying pressure squeezed them from all directions. The two immediately unleashed their Electro Elemental Power to resist, but it only provided slight relief.
Of course, this move also consumed a huge amount of Aether's energy, which was why he had deliberately created such an opportunity for Dainsleif, making it convenient to deal with him in one fell swoop.
His main target was still Dainsleif. Setting aside whether that wish was truly effective or not, even if he defeated Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei here, he would still have to fight Neuvillette and Morax next. In his opinion, the chances of victory were truly not that high.
But as long as he caught Dainsleif and found a place to imprison him, with one less troublemaker, the success rate of his plan would definitely increase substantially.
When the blinding golden light gradually dissipated, several meters of the sea surface in this area had actually been evaporated, and only Aether's figure remained in the sky.
Afterward, the seawater surged backward, kicking up astonishing waves, but under the influence of the Primordial Sea Water, it quickly returned to calm.
Aether silently watched the sea surface. After a moment, he raised his hand and swung a sword toward a certain position. A colorful halo struck that area of the sea, and in the next second, the seawater there was directly split apart. A figure flew out of the sea, then fled into the distance without hesitation.
In the process of that figure fleeing, he seemed to cough up a lot of blood, causing a glaring red streak to appear in the seawater.
Aether did not immediately give chase, but instead looked in another direction.
At this moment, the seawater there churned violently, and then two figures burst out one after the other, their eyes filled with wary shock as they looked at Aether.
Actually, the move Aether had just shown was nothing special; he had simply fully unleashed his own power. However, the power within Aether's body was simply too astonishing. Even such an indiscriminate attack still caused them considerable damage.
Aether carefully sensed the current state of Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei, then softly sighed.
After taking this hit from him, the two of them still retained a considerable amount of combat power. It would take a lot of effort to defeat them, and by then, Dainsleif would have long since vanished without a trace. It wasn't very worthwhile.
Thinking of this, Aether slowly spoke.
"It seems this wish has nothing to do with me this time. You two can continue."
After leaving this sentence, Aether immediately chased after Dainsleif's fleeing figure. This time he would not be soft-hearted. In fact, he should have made such a decision when the opponent took the eye of the first cultivator, but it wasn't too late to make the decision now.
After quickly catching Dainsleif, he still needed to follow the winner among Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei to find his sister.
With this thought, Aether's speed suddenly surged, causing Dainsleif, who was ahead, to stiffen instantly. Gritting his teeth, he fled desperately toward the distance.
He absolutely could not be caught by Aether here, otherwise it would be very difficult for him to take revenge on those few [Sinners]!
Just like that, Dainsleif ran in front and Aether chased behind. This scene made both Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei slightly stunned, unable to understand what these two had come here for.
Afterward, Raiden Ei and Raiden Mei exchanged a glance, then once again swung their weapons to fight.
As they fought, the seawater eroded by Electro Elemental Power finally spread to the vicinity of the Kujou Encampment. The terrifying Electro Elemental Power radiated from the sea to the land, driving out all other elements in the Kujou Encampment in a very short time, leaving only Electro Elemental Power so dense it nearly solidified.
The Shogunate Army stationed at the Kujou Encampment was immediately affected by the drastic change in the environment. Even though almost all of them had been injected with Dragon Blood Potion, and even though their physical fitness far exceeded that of ordinary people, hundreds of them still fell to the ground and lost consciousness in the first instant.
Fortunately, Kujou Sara had already anticipated this situation and made arrangements before leaving.
The moment the situation arose, numerous doctors immediately performed a series of rescue operations on the unconscious personnel...