"Awooo!"
Just as Wendy was about to merge the wind and water in her hands, a biting cold wind, like a cannonball fresh from the barrel, slammed violently towards her!
Swoosh—
BOOM!!!
An innocent hill was instantly flattened, and the diverted river slowly seeped into the bottom of the new ravine.
"Hm?"
"Quite resilient."
Wendy looked on with some surprise as a giant wolf rose from the dust and ice shards.
[Fluid Shield]
A skill with internal and external friction infinitely close to zero, it possessed a near-"immune" defensive effect against all non-energy weapons. When converted into [Fluid Cut], it held the terrifying cutting power to sever most known materials.
The above were merely Wendy's conventional means of attack and defense.
"Demon God."
A voice, still calm even in the face of a powerful enemy, echoed in Wendy's spiritual world.
"Barbatos is currently acting on the orders of 'Sky Island.' You dare to take this opportunity to cause trouble within Mondstadt's borders… Retreat at once, lest you bring disaster upon yourself!"
"Barbatos?"
Wendy tilted her head, sorting through the intelligence she had gathered from the wind.
"Oh."
"The 'Anemo Archon' Barbatos, who rules over the free city-state of Mondstadt."
"Which means,"
Wendy's gaze narrowed slightly.
"You must be his retainer, Andrius, the Guardian of the North Wind."
The azure and blue light in her hands slowly dissipated.
"…No, that's not right."
"Putting aside the fact that you only have the strength of a [Primordial Species], even a [Higher Primordial Species] couldn't have taken that last hit almost unscathed."
Her initial judgment was flawed. The memories obtained from the wind were chaotic. After sorting through them for a moment, Wendy understood what the creature before her was.
"A 'remnant soul' enhanced by ley line energy?"
That's right.
The Andrius that appeared before Wendy was merely a spiritual body sustained by ley line energy, not a true living being. The reason Wendy hadn't been able to identify its true nature immediately was her unfamiliarity with the concept of "ley lines."
Simply put, it was a lower-tier form of Imaginary energy that flowed throughout the continent of Teyvat via a special network, which could be harnessed by most native life forms.
They had a very common name: elemental power.
"What a pity."
Wendy looked at the majestic giant wolf. Andrius, who commanded the powers of both "Wind" and "Ice," had a truly impressive appearance. Unfortunately, she hadn't brought a device for "transporting" souls, and her own Authority of "Consciousness" was specialized in attack and perception, lacking any similar skills.
Aside from the Apostles, only that Khamsin possessed an Authority of "Consciousness" of such intensity, but the two of them were currently rivals…
She was actually quite fond of keeping pets.
Hmph.
The air currents reconverged in her palm. Now that she knew its true nature, she wouldn't give it another chance to "block" her. With both a guardian and the capital city at stake, no matter what that Anemo Archon was off doing, he wouldn't turn a blind eye to the current situation.
"Come now."
"Lord 'Anemo Archon'."
"If you don't appear before me soon…"
A violent tornado compressed crazily in the air, forming a spherical mass of deep cyan energy of exaggerated proportions, which swept the sky clean until it was utterly clear.
"Your home is about to be annihilated."
---o---
"Hm?"
Ana appeared high above a massive island.
The raging bolts of lightning that should have been thundering wantonly in the sky were completely cleared away by her mere presence.
"There's no Honkai phenomenon occurring, so where did these maggots come from?"
[Quantum Beasts].
That's right. Ana sensed the presence of Quantum Beasts on the large island below, and they didn't seem to be pure ones either. The Quantum Beasts in the Quantum Sea, due to their prolonged contact with Honkai Beasts, mostly appeared in forms resembling them.
But these Quantum Beasts below, which resembled "jackals" and were very adept at concealing their auras, bore clear traces of artificial modification.
Although the Empire had done similar things, the essence of researching and using quantum energy was to adapt to and fight against the Quantum Sea, and thus it did not invite the "Tree's" interference.
But for a leaf still hanging on the Tree, one that hadn't even undergone its exam…
To dare use quantum energy on such a massive scale—the consequences were recorded with abundant clarity in the Empire's history books.
"Never mind."
Ana decided to put those thoughts on hold for now. Although the situation on the ground was drastically different from the intelligence report, as a member of the Empire, and especially of the noble Schariac clan, their first priority was always to eliminate the threat of the Quantum Sea.
What's more, these Quantum Beasts were indiscriminately attacking the native inhabitants.
While the primary objective of this trip was indeed the local Demon God, faced with this situation… just as she had done when campaigning with the legions in world bubbles, there was no reason not to act.
Crack!
Frost swirled around her. Ana slowly closed her eyes.
With the high altitude above the island as the epicenter, her perception spread out rapidly like radar towards the distant sea. Enemy detection wasn't Ana's forte, but blanketing the surrounding waters for a radius of several hundred kilometers was not difficult for someone of her Legion Commander rank.
"Around two thousand…"
"It seems these Quantum Beasts have yet to form a large-scale swarm."
"However, if this stalemate continues for much longer, the number of natives, especially those with combat ability, might drop to less than thirty percent."
Ana quickly calculated the costs and benefits of the "degree" and "timing" of her intervention, as well as His Majesty the Emperor's considerations for their trip—saving these people would be a net gain!
VMMM!
White and cyan light converged around her, forming a crystal crown atop Ana's head. Twelve icicles in an ornate gothic clock-face style condensed into pointers at her bare feet. The powers of the "Ice" and "Rock" Authorities coalesced into two translucent lanterns that hovered on her left and right, shining brightly.
"In the name of Schariac—"
"Our bodies and souls in service to the Monarch! Our power to sweep away the shadows! Our glory all for the Empire!"
The Schariac family's unique "chant" was the most ceremonial of all the Empire's upper echelons. Although during the third millennium this practice was "widely criticized" within the efficiency-focused Empire for being overly dramatic (brimming with chunibyo energy), this style seemed to be quite popular with His Majesty the Emperor. While he never expressed it publicly, one could see the signs from the ever-increasing attention he paid to the Schariac family.
Then… this trend of flattery, which had lasted for several hundred years, was finally reined in under the admonishment of Lord Ziz of the [Pillar of Heaven].
To this day, only the Schariac family, the "cultural origin" of the practice, still maintained this tradition.
"By the Monarch's might, through the Throne's radiance."
"Frost—"
Spears of ice blotted out the entire sky over the sea!
"—Annihilate all my foes!"
SWOOOSH!!!