Match, Part 1

Having dropped off Emiya at Wanmin restaurant in Liyue, the trio were left looking for Tartaglia.

"Where is this guy? You sure you have no clue?"

"Yeah. We've already searched all the places in Liyue where I know he stays around."

"Ugh. This is gonna take one hell of a long time then."

Suddenly, two people clad in strange clothing intercepted them.

Paimon gasped, "Fatui! What do you guys want this time? Even though we're in a city, Lumine won't hesitate to kick your butts right?"

Nodding, Lumine prepared to draw her sword.

"Ah, there will be no fighting within Liyue Harbor today. If anything, I have a message from Harbinger Childe."

"A message?"(Lumine)

"Yes", said the other fatui member, "He would like to meet you atop Qingyun Peak for a duel with the Lancer."

"Lancer?...oh, you. I kind of forgot that you mainly still went by Lancer."

"Yeah, yeah. Movin' on. SO. We're going to Qingyun Peak huh? I assume you know where it is?"

"Yeah. Not exactly an ideal place to duel since there isn't much area to fight in."

"Well, let's deal with that when we get there. Lead the way, missy."

"Alright, to the teleporter we go! Paimon's excited!"

As the trio walked off towards the nearest teleporting device, the two fatui members looked at each other.

"We were forgotten huh?"

"Yeah. I have half a mind to yell at them, but..."

"We'll get our butts kicked."

"Yup."

~On Qingyun Peak~

"Ah, you're finally here. A little late, but that's fine."

"Well yeah. You didn't exactly give us a meetup location."

"Didn't I? I sent those Fatui members."

"And they got to us a couple minutes ago. So bleh", Paimon said, sticking out her tongue.

"Ahaha. Sorry I guess. Anyway, lets choose a place to fight, Lancer."

"Eh. Since I already told Lumine and Paimon here, and the annoying bastard in red isn't here, call me Cú."

"Oh. So Lancer was an alias hmm. Well, call me whatever you would like."

"I'll just stick with Childe. It's shorter than your other name anyway."

"Alright. So, where would you like to fight?"

"Hmm. Let's do that lake over there."

"Wait wait wait! Childe! You forgot that this place is where the adepti stay. I don't think Cloud Retainer will like it if you two fight there."

"Adepti?"

"A grouping term for gods and illuminated or divine beasts within Liyue."

"Oh, that's it? I've taken down lots of divine creatures myself. Hell, I've even beaten up a couple Demon God Pillars and gods."

"Well, that's great and all Cú, but it still isn't a good idea to mess up someone's home."

"Eh. Who cares? I'll just seal off everything with a rune of protection to decrease collateral damage."

"Hmm. I like this guy. Say, why don't you join the fatui?"

"Nah, sounds Russian and shady. Ain't interested. Lets just get this fight started."

"Weren't you going to rune the place or something?"

"Yup. Gimme a couple minutes."

~A little while later~

"Done."

"Great. Let's get started. You stand over there," Childe said pointing the edge of the cliff, "while I stand right here at the base of this mountain."

"And Paimon will start you off!"

Standing in the middle of the two, Lumine and Paimon looked at both gladiators before Paimon shouted,

"Ready?"

"No no, wait a second. Lemme just finish this last rune."

"I thought you said you were done?"(Lumine)

"With the area. Not myself."

"Why are you applying runes to yourself?"(Childe)

"Because", Cú grunted, finishing the last stroke of his runes," my stats are way higher than yours which makes this really unfair. So, I'll lower myself a bit so that it'll become a fight between skill rather than a one-sided beat down."

"...I'm quite offended by that statement. Please remove your-"

"Keep them on. Childe, as much as you like fighting, it really isn't fair when his stats are literally 5x higher than yours."

"...Fine. Because the little miss said so. Paimon, go ahead."

"Alright. Ahem ahem!"

"Ready?"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let the duel begin!"

Just as Lumine leaped, carrying Paimon, and scaled the mountain to get a better view and get out of the fight, Childe drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

"Tryin' to shoot me huh? Sorry! But that ain't gonna work!"

Cú dashed forward holding his red spear, while dodging Childe's incoming arrows.

As he watched Cú get closer, Childe fired faster, no longer waiting for his hydro element to empower the arrows.

"Hah!"

Having reached Childe, Cú took a wide swing.

Woosh!

The twirling spear missed Childe's nose by a centimeter as Childe bent backwards to dodge the blow.

"Haa!"

Suddenly switching his bow for two hydro short swords, Childe aimed for Cú's exposed torso.

Grunting a "Damn, you're just like that bastard", Cú drew his spear back and blocked the dangerous blow.

The two began to exchange rapid fire attacks.

Clang clang clang clang clang.

Despite the short swords being made of water, a resounding noise of metal hitting metal reached the ears of Paimon and Lumine who were sitting atop the highest point of Mt. Aocang.

"...So fast."

"Well, Childe is the fastest hydro user in the game. In fact, he's probably the fastest attacker in general!"

"True, but Cú's fast too! Paimon can just make out their blows!"

Below, the two continued to exchange blows before suddenly, Childe's twin swords disappear, replaced with a massive lance taller than him.

"Hmph!"

As Cú watched the lance edge closer, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Shoot. This is his burst isn't it. Use the skill, use the skill now!

Quickly utilizing his skill, Cú managed to completely evade the blow.

Childe widened his eyes, surprise written across his features.

"How?"

"Protection of Arrows. Complete evasion essentially."

"Damn. That's pretty broken."

"Tell me about it. Hey can you copy weapons with that water power?"

"Copy weapons? No? And it isn't water power, it's hydro vision."

"It's made of water."

Having finished his last sentence, Childe hopped backwards, switching back to his original bow and arrow.

Cú once again aimed to move closer to Childe, only getting hit by a couple arrows, most which bounced off due to his skill.

"Got you now."

Switching his grip, Cú thrust his spear forward, intent on piercing his opponent.

"No. I got you."

Suddenly, Childe aimed towards the sky shouting a loud "Riptide!" before releasing his arrow.

The arrow, in the blink of an eye, turned around and hit the ground right between the feet of Cú, resulting in a wave of damage.

"Kgh! AoE bursts are horrible", Cú complained as he hopped up into the air, grimacing from the damage.

"It's not over yet", Childe shouted as he aimed at the airborne lancer and shot a round of arrows.

Utilizing his spear in a sweeping fashion, Cú parried the incoming arrows before landing and rushing forward again.

Another bout of melee attacks commenced with Childe noticeably tiring while Cú seemed just as fine as the beginning.

"Getting tired yet bowman?"

"Of course not! This is so exciting. Almost...no, more exciting than my fight with the Traveler!"

"Heh. This fight ain't too bad."

After a long time of trading blows and throwing a couple bursts here and there, the two broke apart, panting from the long fight.

"Lets finish this, Childe. Ready your strongest move!"

"Of course. Hah!"

The two rushed towards each other, Childe already swinging his long hydro spear.

"Too slow."

Cú dodged the spear again, smirking at Childe.

"Too oblivious."

"Wha-?"

Suddenly, an arrow came from the sky hitting the ground right in front of Cú.

"You-!"

Having realized what the arrow was, Cú hopped backwards, just dodging the burst.

"Dammit. I missed", Childe said sadly as the hydro spear dispersed back into his bow and arrow.

"Hah. The victory. Is. Mine!", Cú shouted.

Crouching like a hound, the lancer dashed forward before jumping high into the air, holding his spear like he was going to throw it.

As Childe watched, Cú's spear was incased in bright red flames like it was overflowing with the pyro element.

"Gae!"

Just as Cú was about to shout the last part of his weapon's name, a static sound was heard.

Bzzt. Bzz.

"Cú!....bzz....can...you...bzzz....here....me?"

"Huh?"

A hazy blue screen appeared on Cú's right.

"Da Vinci?"

Taken by surprise, Cú's aim was off as he launched his spear.

The red streak embedded itself a couple feet to the right of Childe instead of hitting him straight on.

"Phew. I'm sav-"

Not even before he finished his sentence, poor Childe was blasted away by Gáe Bolg's area of impact and smashed into the mountain Paimon and Lumine were sitting on.

"Cough! Hack hack...what? Damn, that burst is so strong. I would have been dead if that thing hit me straight on...cough."

"Hello? This is Cú Chulainn. Who is it?"

"Bzzt...bzz...Ah finally! Connection is stable! This is Da Vinci. We at Chaldea finally managed to reach you. Say, how you doing? Your vitals are fine on this side."

"Eh. I was in the middle of a duel and you interrupted me!"

"Ehehe. Oops, sorry!"

"Whatever. So, since you managed to contact me, have you contacted Archer?"

"Not yet. Emiya's signal isn't clear enough to get a hold of. Say, are you somewhere high right now?"

"Well yeah. I'm on a mountain."

"Hmm. That must be why we managed to contact you. Anyway, we should be able to rayshift you two back to Chaldea by tomorrow. Does that sound alright with you?"

"Huh. Gimme a second."

Turning towards Childe, Lumine and Paimon who had gathered in front of him, Cú said.

"Change of plans guys. Seems we two outlanders get to go home tomorrow."

"You two are leaving?"

"Aww. Paimon was just getting to like you guys."

"Leaving? But we're in the middle of our duel!"

"And I won."

"..."

"He's right Childe. If that blow had hit you straight on, you would be dead."

"Ugh. I concede that point."

"So you two are leaving tomorrow huh?"

"Yep. Hey Da Vinci. Say hi to my friends from this world. The girl is Lumine, the floating kid is Paimon, and the guy is Childe."

"Hello. I'm Da Vinci, a world renowned genius! Say, have you heard of me?"

"Da Vinci? Sounds like an otherworldly name. No I have never heard of a Da Vinci."(Childe)

"Ah..."

"Don't be too sad Vinci. Their history is very different from ours."

"No worries haha. It's okay. Anyway, we'll schedule your return tomorrow at the exact place you are now. Tell Emiya will you?"

"Sure."

The blue screen then blinked out.

"Dang, so you two are going back soon huh. Paimon's gonna miss you."

"Same here. This duel was fun."

"Me too."

"Say, can I fight Archer before you leave tomorrow?"

"Sure I guess. You're gonna have to ask him though", Cú replied as he went around taking down all of his runes.

"Great. Oh, and who's Emiya?"

"Archer's real name", Lumine replied.

"So you both use aliases....well, see you two tomorrow at the same spot. I assume you may want to tell some people here in Teyvat farewell before you leave."

"Yeah, I guess."

Smiling, Childe turned and jumped off the cliff in Liyue's direction, quickly disappearing into the terrain.

"Well, we've got news for Emiya I guess. Let's go fetch him."

"Uh-huh. And eat some of his yummy food too! Oooooo. Paimon can just smell it from here!"

"...So is Paimon like Greed or something?"

"Just figured that out?"

"Hey! Paimon isn't greedy! Paimon just has her priorities straight!"

"Sure."