His arrow having failed to hit its mark, Tartaglia used the momentum from his roll to close the distance to Fidelle.
Fidelle smirked coldly, gripping the center of her longbow with both hands. With a sharp snap, she split the bow into two halves.
Blades instantly sprang from the edges of the severed halves, transforming them into twin daggers that gleamed with a menacing chill.
Cardinal Fission Arm Blades—the name given to Fidelle's dual blades after her bow split.
"Dual blades, you say? Perfect. I wield them too."
-
"Her... her bow can actually split apart and become swords?!"
Paimon had never seen a weapon that could transform like this, her small face brimming with astonishment.
Lumine's eyes burned with intensity as she stared intently at the battle unfolding in Ring No. 4.
It seemed Fidelle had maintained the upper hand throughout the fight. Although Tartaglia hadn't yet activated his Foul Legacy Transformation, Fidelle clearly had trump cards of her own!
Lumine refused to miss a single detail of this breathtaking match.
-
On the arena, Fidelle locked eyes with Tartaglia.
A true warrior couldn't rely on just one weapon. While Fidelle's archery skills were formidable, her close-quarters combat abilities were far from weak.
Gripping her twin blades tightly, she charged toward Tartaglia.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Three ear-splitting metallic clashes echoed across the arena in rapid succession.
Fidelle's blades flashed as she exchanged three brutal strikes with Tartaglia in the blink of an eye.
Seizing an opening, Tartaglia slashed his blade, only to strike an afterimage.
So fast!
Tartaglia's pupils constricted as he sensed the surging, primal energy and pure destructive intent hurtling toward him.
Fidelle's figure suddenly materialized less than three meters behind him, two intersecting arcs of Electro energy hurtling toward his back.
"Just what I wanted!"
Tartaglia whirled around, advancing instead of retreating!
He crossed his twin blades, bracing against the thunderous impact.
BOOM—!!!
Tartaglia's arm muscles bulged as he braced against the inhuman force.
A flicker of surprise flashed in Fidelle's eyes before she unleashed two more strikes.
Tartaglia was sent flying backward.
"Delusion—Unleash! Foul Legacy Transformation: Raging Tides!"
A nightmarish suit of armor, bristling with spikes and crackling with purple-black energy, instantly enveloped Tartaglia.
His strength, speed, and defense skyrocketed, and his twin blades morphed into a long spear.
-
"Foul Legacy Transformation... It seems Fontaine will win this match," Kaeya remarked, discussing the battle on Ring No. 4 with Amber and Bennett.
Bennett: "Huh? But Childe just went all out! Miss Fidelle might not be able to withstand his current form, right?"
Kaeya: "No, no, no. Childe has already played all his trump cards, while Miss Fidelle hasn't even revealed her true abilities yet. Watch closely—both of them are experts. Observing this match carefully will greatly improve your practical combat skills."
"Such blasphemous savagery against the Divine Court... Hmph! Merely a fleeting firefly before the Throne of Eternal Night!"
Fischl raised her left arm, summoning a phantom Electro bow, her voice suddenly rising in pitch:
"By the Holy Decree of Condemnation—when the thirteenth crimson moon hangs in the sky, my world-devouring arrow shall pierce the barrier of the Sands of Time! These Abyssal World Magic Eyes, piercing through all illusions... shall forever etch the final verse of an epic that transcends the raging tides!"
Kaeya: "..."
Where's Oz?
Bennett: "I know this one! Fischl is saying she'll work even harder in the future to catch up with them and even surpass them."
Kaeya: "Ha ha! That's the spirit! Keep at it! I'm rooting for you~"
-
On the arena stage, facing Tartaglia in this state, Fidelle's fighting spirit surged to unprecedented heights.
She pressed the twin blades in her hands together, and they swiftly combined into a war axe. Gripping the axe with one hand, Fidelle leaped into the air, then switched to a two-handed grip on the axe's haft, channeling all her strength into a mighty downward swing.
Even Tartaglia, now clad in his Foul Legacy Transformation armor, knew he couldn't directly withstand this blow.
He dodged nimbly, and Fidelle's war axe crashed heavily into the arena floor.
Instantly, violent Thunderbolts erupted from the axe's point of impact, cascading outward in all directions. Tartaglia swung his spear fiercely, colliding head-on with the raging Thunderbolts.
Each strike unleashed a purple-black energy shockwave that brutally shattered and annihilated the incoming Electro blasts.
While Tartaglia was fully occupied with countering the Thunderbolts, Fidelle shouldered her war axe and swung it down from above, aiming a devastating blow at his head.
Tartaglia could no longer evade this strike. Gritting his teeth, he channeled every ounce of his energy to meet Fidelle's battleaxe head-on, raising his spear above his head in defiance.
In the next instant, the most cataclysmic clash of forces erupted!
Fidelle's battleaxe became a conduit for raging Electro Element Energy, coalescing into a heaven-piercing strike of pure destructive thunder. With a savage roar, she unleashed the full fury of her blade!
BOOM—!!!
Time seemed to freeze for a split second.
Then came an ear-shattering explosion, as a massive sphere of destructive energy erupted outward in all directions.
The shockwave swept across the arena with irresistible force, surging outward in a destructive torrent. Yet it dissipated into nothingness upon striking the protective barrier surrounding the arena.
At the center of the battlefield, a scorched crater one meter in diameter marked the point of impact.
Though seemingly small, this crater spoke volumes. The arena itself had been forged by the Geo Archon, and any force capable of damaging it must have been unimaginably potent.
At the edge of the crater, Tartaglia knelt on one knee, his Foul Legacy Transformation dissipated, leaving him in tattered clothing, his body scorched and scarred by burns and electric shocks. The glow of his Delusion had dimmed, and he gasped for breath, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Yet his eyes still burned with fierce intensity:
"You're strong!" he declared.
Across the crater, Fidelle stood with her battleaxe slung over her shoulder, her gaze defiant. Though she, too, panted heavily, her condition was far better than Tartaglia's.
The victor was clear.
Across the scorched chasm, their eyes clashed again in mid-air. No words were exchanged, only the heavy panting and the crackling remnants of violent energy that lingered in the air.
After a brief silence, a thunderous roar of cheers erupted from the viewing platform, the arena resounding with thunderous applause.
Paimon clapped her tiny hands vigorously, oblivious to the fact that they were already turning red. The little one joined in the cheers, for some reason inexplicably delighted to see Fidelle defeat Childe.
How strange!
Angie had already descended from the stands, ready to greet her defeated brother.
-
On the arena, Fidelle extended her hand to Tartaglia. Tartaglia stared at her silhouette, momentarily stunned.
"Has your spirit shattered?"
"Ha ha."
Tartaglia grasped Fidelle's hand and rose to his feet, his voice earnest. "Don't get cocky. Next time we meet, I'll definitely win!"
"I'll be waiting."
Fidelle released his hand and strode toward the edge of the Main Arena, where a small reporter was waiting to interview her.
Tartaglia watched her retreating figure, shaking his head vigorously, but he couldn't shake off the lingering feeling in his heart.
She really is so much like her...