The Perception Of Her Own Being

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***

Hu Tao vaulted over the intense flaming pillar— created due to the elemental reaction with Dvalin's breath attack consisting of anemo element— and evaded the curtain of wind pressure generated by Dvalin's wings, by simply leaping backwards and landing a considerable distance away, in the platform, safe from the ongoing rampage.

"Cross over! Te-he~!"

She commanded her little ghost familiar— a blazing spirit that she often played hide and seek with that also happened to be her only companion until recently— to decimate the opponent in front of her.

The little ghostly entity answered her command; doing a spin around the tip of the weapon, it then embedded itself onto her polearm becoming one with it.

The polearm was instantly lit ablaze in a dark reddish aura, yet no flames were created, and with a single swing...

Cut off three of its claws in one circular motion, completely ignoring Dvalin's armor as though it never even existed.

Dvalin simply couldn't believe it, even as it felt the burning spear, clad in that mysterious eerie aura, of hers cut through its claws that were stronger than steel.

The Sovereign of Skies, brought so low— Three of its claws flung in the air, and heavily fell into the stormy rift of void that was under the platforms, leading to a place that the eyes couldn't see nor could they determine.

The claws of a dragon took more than hundreds of years to grow completely.

Losing its claws was akin to losing its fingers.

(Why am I...subjected to this...)

The Dragon of the East groaned in pain as its mind was overridden with intense surges of hatred, anger and indignation— an amalgam of complex negative emotions.

Dvalin had been betrayed at every turn in its existence in this world of Teyvat.

Its friend, Barbatos— the God said to represent wind and freedom— had abandoned it, and now was trying to strip the dragon of its strength and finally end its life.

The people who were under its protection— for whom it had fought selflessly for as long as it knew, for as long as it could even recall— banished it, calling it Stormterror just because it existed, despite protecting them for so long— despite upholding its duty tirelessly without any complaints.

Life was truly unfair— such was the truth everyone discovered at the end of their journey in this plane of existence.

***

While Hu Tao was the one who had dealt the most damage to Dvalin so far, the most annoying human out of them all, that bothered Dvalin to no end, was none other than a certain blonde haired archer— Fischl.

Her pet familiar raven kept on electrocuting it, imbuing its body with electro, slowing down its movements momentarily, and her precise sniping skills that aimed at its eye whenever she saw the slightest bit of an opening, forced Dvalin to move and sway its head out of harm's way multiple times throughout this battle, making it even more awkward for it to cast spells or attack its enemies.

This was also the reason Dvalin couldn't properly use its powers as most of the times it had to be distracted and couldn't concentrate properly on the spells, decreasing the power they held significantly.

(Annoying bug…)

The Sovereign of the Skies cursed inwardly, reaching the limit of its anger.

Something produced a change to Dvalin's distant looking eyes, making its eyes flash momentarily.

In Dvalin's azure eyes, the change that occurred was dramatic, yet almost unnoticeable to onlookers if not given the utmost attention.

The Dragon's head swayed a bit towards the area where Fischl was currently standing upon, narrowing its gaze at her.

She was busy shooting her arrows at Dvalin's weak points, at those she could spot momentarily, so she wasn't aware of the danger that lurked behind its gaze.

Hu Tao, however, who was right next to her, noticed the change right as it happened, her flower shaped pupil flashing in an eerie light as if seeing through the intention of the Dragon.

Her hair stood up on end as her mind was buzzing like a siren, telling her to move from her spot— At once.

Following her gut instinct, Hu Tao jumped backwards without wasting even a millisecond— but not before grabbing Fischl into a princess carry— the jump landing them both a considerable amount of distance away from their initial spot.

Jean and Diluc also seemed to have noticed it and wanted to warn her, but as Hu Tao pulled Fischl out of harm's way, they refocused on destroying Dvalin's shield instead.

"W-What are thou doing!?" Fischl screamed in shock, she didn't expect to be kidnapped so suddenly like this, she almost dropped her bow out of fright.

"Mein Fräulein?"

Oz also looked back in concern, not understanding the reason behind the action of its teammate.

However, it was the correct decision.

*BOOM!*

Instantly, the air in front of them exploded then compressed into a whirling of storm imbued with the pure power of anemo, making the place a literal death zone.

It wasn't an exaggeration or anything, it was literally a compression of space— more specifically the compression of air in a singular location— and immediately afterwards, it swelled like a balloon and exploded out creating a literal storm of pure anemo power imbued with the intention slicing apart anything near it in innumerable pieces— vanquishing said person's existence.

The phenomenon was strange, as if space itself had been twisted around— compressed, shifted and folded, before exploding outwards— and if one were to be caught up in it, any and all protections would be discarded and they would surely lose their lives.

An invisible minefield that doubled as a swirling storm of wind blades.

And it occurred right where Fischl's head had been just a moment ago.

Be it the air bomb or the swirling storm of invisible blades that followed afterwards, both were incredibly deadly.

If Hu Tao had even been a second late in moving her away from that spot, Fischl would have died in that very instant.

"T-That...what was that…"

Still shaken with fear— the reality of her almost dying settling in ever so slightly making her legs weak— Fischl asked in an uncertain tone.

Despite having great eyesight, she didn't even notice a thing!

In reality, the 'thing' that exploded was another barely visible wind trap set by Dvalin, the same kind which Diluc and Jean disarmed not long before.

They were seasoned veterans so something like that was extremely easy for them to spot.

And while Fischl had plenty of experience with scouting, she relied on her Vision and Sniping skills way too much, and wasn't good in close combat, which heavily relied on reading your opponents movement most of the time, leading to the situation that had happened.

This could have been fatal.

If Hu Tao didn't pull her away...That might have been the end of her journey in the world of Teyvat...

Ever since she became a scout for the Adventurer's Guild, she had been put in many dangerous situations before, more than once.

However, this may have been the first time she had ever been in such a life-threatening position.

Facing such danger showed her the cruel reality, that life simply wasn't just fantasies, books and adventuring with leisure, but actual hidden danger was prevalent in every corner that could have ended her story right there, and she would have no say in it.

"Bugs!!" The Dragon of the East cursed in an angry tone.

Dvalin, who had now spread its wings, was directing a look of hostility towards her, as it failed its attempt to get rid of the most troublesome opponent in this fight.

"Hoohoo!! Are you okie dokie, Fischl?"

Hu Tao's voice brought her back to reality.

"Y-Yeah…thanks..."

They were still in the middle of the battle, and she didn't have the leisure of relaxing, nor did she have the luxury of breaking down at the reality she became privy to.

She motioned to Hu Tao to put her down and resumed her shooting.

She had to do her part. Just like everybody else in this fight.

Or else people might get injured, or worse, lose their life.

The made up persona of Prinzessin Der Verurteilung, slowly fell apart, in the face of a true battlefield, and disappeared, for just this one moment.

Right now, she was herself, doing her very best to help as much as she could, to do anything she could to ascertain victory for themselves. As she understood the ugly undeniable reality that the cost of failure would be the life of herself and everyone else in her party.

"Are you alright, Fischl?" The worried voice of Yomite broke her out from the melancholic trance that she was experiencing.

She glanced at the young man, her party leader, who gave her a concerned look and waved at him with a slight smile, reassuring him that she was fine.

Her gaze lingered on him for the slightest bit longer, tender emotions flashing in them, before she drew another arrow, once again, at the creature's eyes.

Her arm, straining to hold the bow in place, still shaking ever so slightly, she fired.

Her psyche was slowly returning, her gaze sharpening and her concentration and determination to win greater than ever.

She won't let anything happen to her friends, but foremost, to him as she realized something she never felt before...at the impasse between life and death… she can lose everything, yet it seemed, she can't lose him.

***

After he made sure Fischl was okay, Yomite resumed chunking away the shield of Stormterror. It seemed like an eternity had passed, yet they still couldn't get past its shield, although somehow, Hu Tao was able to deal massive damage to it for an instant...

He had to rely on the trashy and feeble claymore of his, as the moment he even thought of using his cube ability, it was as if Dvalin immediately read his mind and interrupted him whenever it came to it, either by sweeping at him with its claws or leaning its neck forward to bite his head off.

That was simply ridiculous.

It truly seemed like Yomite's attack from a week ago bore fear into the roots of its being, making it extra cautious of his movements.

Jean turned to her party members and signalled them to come closer and once they did,

"Dandelion Breeze!"

Closing her eyes, holding her blade in front of her in parallel to her body, she invoked the wind's protection. Her vision lit up in the greenish blue hue of the anemo element. Words gained power, power imposed on reality as a swirling of gentle wind covered all the party members.

The stones on the platform lit up as a circle encompassing the entirety of the party was etched in it— glowing with the power of anemo. And in that circle, a Dandelion Field filled with constructs of Dandelions made up entirely of the anemo element bloomed gently, a breeze swirling around making them sway in their gentle rhythm.

The petals of the constructs slowly separated, blown away by the breeze and gently engulfed everyone. The next moment small injuries, scratches and cuts anyone standing within the greenlit circle experienced was instantly healed and the refreshing breeze regenerated quite a bit of the stamina they exhausted making them refreshed and renewed for the coming battle.

As for this battle… it was far from being over.