Chapter 63: Making Venti Submit

Next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed. The memory purge did the trick apparently. Which removes the unnecessary memories he accumulated from using Third Magic to literally make a copy of memory into his brain and filter it out manually to obtain information of the past.

"Maybe I should dedicate a partition for the sole purpose of purging memories considering how much I will be using it from now on." I wondered while picking myself up with Telekinesis from the sleeping Tanya and Charlotte.

I yawned and scratching my bum while abusing my Telekinesis to cook meals while I am taking a bath. Cleaning magic is cool and all, but nothing can beat a cold shower in the morning to freshen your body and mind.

By the time I'm done, Charlotte already wakes up from the lack of my body warmth that she liked and always wanted to snuggle when sleeping with me.

"Rise and shine you two. Breakfast is ready." I served freshly cooked pancakes for all three of us, topped with syrup.

After we finished eating, they went to take a bath instead of a shower to soak up in hot water while I returned to my workshop after remembering I was kidnapped and forgot to release the Anemo Archon's mortal vessel.

I mean, should I release him? What if he tried to take revenge later? Killing Venti might be a problem though since Barbatos is god worshiped by people of Mondstadt.

A quick portal to my Workshop later.

"Mmm!" Venti tried to scream but the mouth gag only allowed muffled screams to happen.

"Gimme a sec." I loosen the mouth gag and ropes before taking it off.

Venti breathed a sigh of relief as he could finally breathe properly as he rubbed his sore arms.

"Let me go." Venti said in a cautious but also terrified tone. Not terrified of Ray's strength but the fact he almost been raped by a mentally questionable man.

Ray was actually thinking about the pros and cons of releasing Venti back to the wild. On one end, Venti is Barbatos. Recruiting a god to his cause would smoothen a lot of the bumps in the future. Cons being his goal to steal Gnosis would be discovered.

Wait, Gnosis! I just stole his Gnosis and yet Venti didn't seem to remotely care about it at all. All he wants is to be released.

"You don't mind me taking your Gnosis? Isn't this thing what you gods fought to claim during the Archon war?" Ray took out the Gnosis and flaunt it infront of Venti without fear of him stealing the Gnosis from his hand because the barrier is still in place.

"I… don't care. I just want to be released." Venti's first sound hesitated but he seems to swallow back what he wants to say and ask to be freed instead.

Ray knew there was something Venti wanted to say but didn't. Not that he wanted to keep it a secret, it's more like a contract or something similar preventing him from telling.

The Third Magic could extract the memories directly but the potential hazard is too much, especially making a copy of memories of beings that lived for thousands of years.

After thinking for a while, Ray got an idea. Maybe Spiritual Subjugation can override Venti's contract of secrecy.

Venti becomes on guard when the atmosphere becomes tense. He wonders what else this guy wants from him. His dignity and Gnosis had been stripped from him. What else does he want? His thoughts cut short when a shockwave of invisible power washed over him. It stunned his soul to a terrifying degree that he couldn't move or act at all as he felt like he was trapped.

His surroundings become dark and empty like a void. Once he lifted his head, he saw himself paralyzed on the palm of a giant dark figure with only his glowing blue eyes visible.

"Submit." A solemn voice echoed and boomed like stars exploding in heaven.

His divine soul shaken and unable to put up any resistance. Like ants before god. That's how he felt.

The palm tightened its grip and Venti was forced to project his true soul, a projection of himself made of Anemo power with wings and a cloak over his head paired with green glowing eyes.

It was futile however.

Once he freed from the giant's palm, the void brightened up. The giant revealed its form. A faceless death god, guider of soul, a reaper with giant scythe. It's Ray's manifestation of his imagination of the God that commands the souls.

Mana literally evaporated from his body continuously for who knows how many times, yet it still not enough to flesh out this mindscape and the image of a reaper to trap Venti or Barbatos after his true soul appeared.

The reaper lifts the scythe off its shoulder and holds it ready as his cloak billowed despite the absence of wind. "I who command Death. Master of the soul. All souls belong to me. Thus, submit." Its voice echoed the realm and was heard by Barbatos very clearly.

"Funny how you just asked the God of Freedom to relinquish his own freedom to serve another." Barbatos didn't seem to be intimidated at all as he looked at the being with analyzing eyes.

"Thus, the hard way it is then." Ray sighed that intimidation wouldn't work.

He figured this would happen since Venti is not just any god but a god that survived the Archon war. War here weak are culled and only the cream of crop are crowned as the seven Archons.

The giant reaper crumbled into particles and revealed Ray, floating in the void as his eyes glowed white.

This is his mindscape, he has the home ground advantage. The mindscape is replaced into a familiar sandy dune, blades litter the world and giant gears frozen in time decorating the sky with smogs.

"Hope this goes well." Ray stood upon a hill, staring at Barbatos, still shocked by the appearance of this Emiya's inner world that Ray reconstructed.

Nervously, Ray inhales and exhales which confuses Barbatos since it should be him that be nervous, dragged into god knows where, had his Gnosis taken away and now forced to participate in a battle where if he lose, he lose his freedom.

"Execute command. [Deus Ex Machina] toggle mode Active." Ray whispered but heard by Barbatos from the wind that carried the words to his ears.

Instantly he felt a change, emotions and expression drained from the face of his aggressor. He felt something ominous and summoned a spear made of condensed wind.

"Opponent detected. Formulating tactics with the highest probability of victory. Safety of the host is the first priority, victory is the second priority."

"Allies zero, recalibrating tactic." The emotionless Ray stares at Barbatos with a superb analytical stare.

Barbatos didn't know what happened but he knows if he allows his kidnapper to complete whatever he is trying to achieve, he will be defeated or worse, enslaved.

Barbatos lunged at Ray using his spear made of wind but Ray simply evaded with a ghostly maneuver, as if he knew where the spear would land.

Seeing a direct attack as ineffective, Barbatos abandoned the spear that was never his choice to begin with and switched to bow. Flurry of shots released by the bow but none could remotely even scratch a fabric of Ray's clothing as he easily evaded any attacks thrown at him as he saw each of them, their release, trajectory and where it landed before Barbatos even conjured its arrow with Precognition.

"Information gathered sufficiently. Calibrating new information into battle tactics. Initiate counterattack mode."

For the first time in a long while, Ray's Divine Reactor Core, previously known as Mana Reactor Core, burst into life, pulsing with a gigantic amount of power that coats his entire body into a cocoon of golden energy. Then the cocoon shrunk until it's only a few millimeters above his skin.

"S-Such a dense divine power!" Barbatos was shaken by the sudden revelation by his opponent. The amount of divine power more than ten times of his own.

He wondered if he could even win this battle when his only real advantage was dwarfed.

A giant sword appeared in his hand and suddenly he vanished from his sight. Barbatos becomes nervous and honestly terrified. Then, a disturbance of wind just a few inches behind him. He didn't turn his head and disperse his body into the Anemo element and reformed a few meters away, drawing his bow to shoot more arrows. But all he can see is the edge of the greatsword is literally just a few inches before his eyes.

How do you expect a battle between one with another that has the ability to see into the future?

There is little Barbatos could do as his opponent already predicted his every move before he even did it. No matter how he tried to evade or escape, the sword would haunt his vision everytime he blinked.

He tried propel himself away to escape the blade but Ray already anticipated it and magic circuit -ish pattern appeared on the body of the greatsword and Ray used Alteration in split second to alter the sword to act as magic foci and a magic circle expand at the tip of the sword before an energy beam with heat greater than the sun shoots out the magic circle and split into multiple smaller beams that chase after Barbatos relentlessly.

Ray then dashed forward while dragging the Traced Greatsword of Artorias with incredibly agile footwork to reach Barbatos a few hundred meters away in just three breaths and once again made a horizontal slash at his back.

Barbatos was trapped. Every side is extremely hot, disintegrating white beams chasing after him with his back being the only escape route but instantly blocked by Ray appearing with a horizontal slash that aims to cleave him into two from waist down.

Barbatos didn't know why but the way Ray fights is as if he already knows what Barbatos himself would do next before he even does it.

Such orthodox method yet effective as from the start to end, he is like a bird thinking he was released from a cage not knowing he is just inside a bigger cage that he never could escape.

The way Ray fought is conserving his power while utilizing his ability to see the future to optimally attack Barbatos with mechanical precision and waste all his power till he drops from exhaustion.

Barbatos wasted all his power that he returned to his mortal body, Venti and looked at the beam vanished but a blade was pointed at his neck.

"Final warning. Cease resistance and submit or be eliminated as a threat." The cold and dull blue eyes befreit of emotions stare down at Venti, making him shudder at how inhuman the eyes look.

"I…"

Venti wanted to deny it. But, he was afraid of what would happen to his allies, his people and his friends. He already knew Ray wanted to collect the Gnosis and inevitably, conflict would arise. He already caught a small glimpse of his enemy's power and capability. He just cannot see how they can win against Ray if he is already this strong while still 'playing safe'. Venti could only shudder at the thought if Ray went all out. He still has his duty and people to protect.

"I will submit. But with conditions." Venti declared his submission and thus fulfilled the condition to be considered not a threat.

"Disengage mode [Deus Ex Machina]. Mode toggle Passive." The mechanical acting Ray spoke before the normal Ray returned with a stern face.

"Speak your terms." Ray said with a harsh tone but he is actually very Very happy that his experiment worked!

'Wohoo! So what if I'm bad at fighting. I can just let the program deal with it.' Ray cheered internally while listening to Venti's term.

He asked that his people and subordinates not be harmed. Then the second is his land that the people relied on to not be harmed too.

Did Venti just guess what I planned to do to Teyvat? Anyway, I agreed easily because I can't do it. I can just let someone else do it for me.

"I agree, however if they attacked me instead then I will retaliate back. You can't expect me to stand still and let others beat me to death." I shrugged and brand his soul as my property, cementing his submission to me. The eternal servitude to me that he cannot escape even in death coz I can literally bring him back if he tried.

What a productive morning today is.

———

(Quite a shitty fight scene. I know and I'll try to improve. Especially when describing attacks.)