Terror and Death

"Oh well…" Hearing no reply, Ruby sped down from the air and gave Childe a good smack on his face.

Before he could even realize what was going on, he flew out like a broken kite and crashed into a carriage behind him.

A red handprint was clearly visible on his cheek. He coughed and spewed out blood from his mouth along with… four teeth.

Looking at this scene, the rest of the fatui had their worldview refreshed.

Childe got up from the rubble, not caring about the expressions of his subordinates, "It seems I have to get serious." He activated his delusion and formed a pike with the hydro element.

With the help of electro delusion, he could burst out with extreme speed in a short range.

Using this, Childe instantly reached Ruby and slashed at her with his pike. But the puzzling thing to him was that this figure didn't even bother to evade or block the attack.

His powerful attack connected, but the result was a bit… underwhelming.

Childe saw his attack collide with the armor and then dissipate, yet the figure was unmoving. If it was a game, the damage number that would pop out would be 'immune'.

"It's okay. You should use a more powerful attack." Ruby stood in place and consoled him, "Go ahead, take another shot."

Childe, not believing in evil, gritted his teeth while ignoring the pain in his mouth, and unleashed the Foul Legacy Transformation. The surrounding electro element became restless and was frantically absorbed by him as he transformed into an abyssal-like creature. He rushed towards her again, this time with a massive electro spear.

Seeing this scene, Ruby sighed. This world is simply too weak. Whether it was the Gods, archons, vision-wielders, elemental life-forms, or some harmless little butterfly… they were all Lvl.0 sweet flowers in her eyes.

For the slap she gave him earlier, she had to control her power to the absolute extreme, in case she accidentally turn him into meat paste. This was the first time she came to such a low-tier world, so she had trouble controlling her power. While reviving or turning back time was an easy solution, she had to train to properly control her power, especially in the lower range.

This was another reason why she used this battle armor. This thing was designed by her mother. It was able to suppress her power to many different stages, with the lowest one being at the universe level. It allowed her to fight with low-tier beings without annihilating them directly. Though she could do so without this kind of armor, it would take much more effort without training.

.

.

While she was complaining to herself, the terrifying electro spear hit Ruby. Lightning surrounded her figure violently as if trying to devour her whole. But after a few moments, they dissipated into the air, unable to do anything.

The damage number popping out if this was a game was still the same, a big fat 'immune' word.

She felt like a bully trying to pick a fight in such a low-tier world. She didn't even use any of her actual powers or authority. Well, most of her abilities would collapse space-time and reality itself, so… 

'What a letdown. I should've chosen Ei instead. That antisocial neet has nothing to do anyways. She'd be a much more satisfying punching bag.' Ruby sighed, then teleported in front of Childe and clutched his neck in a very relaxed manner.

He frantically tried to loosen her grip but to no avail. He tried summoning lightning to electrocute her, water currents to slice thin parts of the armor, daggers to penetrate the visor, and so on. But she didn't loosen her grip, nor did she care about his meaningless struggle.

Though for outsiders, this scene must've been quite comical. Childe in his Foul Legacy Transformation was more than four meters tall. But he was getting strangled by a figure that was about one-third of his size. He kept attacking, but slowly felt his vision blurring due to lack of air. It was more and more taxing to maintain his transformation.

Not long after, his offensive stopped and he was barely conscious.

Ruby faintly whispered in his ears, "No need to struggle so hard, I'm just here to play with you. I'll be very gentle to make sure I don't break you, it won't be any fun if you're crippled for the rest of your life."

In Childe's mind, this was like the demon's whisper. He felt his entire body go numb. After returning from the abyss, he didn't think he would fall into such a situation like this again. Completely powerless and at others' mercy.

'Oh? She's going out?' Ruby found something interesting happening somewhere else.

'I can't miss the show of the cute little radish. Let's end this quickly.' She turned his body around and gave a light punch at his back.

Crack!

A crisp sound of bones breaking spread out.

"There goes the spine~" Ruby tilted her head and said with a melodic tone. But, because of the mechanical voice, it sounded extremely eerie and full of maliciousness.

Ruby dropped Childe from the air, and he crashed into the ground like a lifeless doll. His Foul Legacy transformation was already gone. 

She floated down and stepped on two of his legs, instantly crushing the bones in them.

Childe became sober due to extreme amounts of pain that was transmitted from his legs.

"See? You can still feel the lower part of your body. I took great care not to sever your spinal cord. With Dottore's help, you'll be up and running in less than one month!"

After losing interest in him, Ruby glanced at the surrounding fatui members.

Seeing that this horrible thing seemed to target them, the fatui members felt a chill go down their spine. Many of them started to retreat, and some of them even thought of fleeing. But that was it, a fleeting thought. Abandoning their post was considered betraying the fatui and Tsaritsa herself. None of them dared to do it.

Sensing their thoughts, Ruby chuckled, "You poor things. Can't defeat the enemy, can't even retreat. For you, desertion is worse than death. Not only you'll be hunted down and killed, even your friends and family back home will be slaughtered. Isn't that right, esteemed harbinger? Luckily, most of you are orphans. Though is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

Childe heard her mockery but had nothing to refute. It was the truth.

"Well, in that case, I'll give you a swift death."

Ruby slightly tapped the ground with one of her feet. Suddenly half of the fatui exploded violently in random order. Their blood, limbs, intestines, and organs spread out and dyed the entire area red. And from their blood, black spears materialized and struck the remaining fatui, turning them into meat skewers and killing them instantly.

In just two seconds, more than six hundred fatuus died violently. But a few of them were spared. They were just recruits and didn't dip their toes in the usual fatui atrocities yet.

So Ruby decided to let them go. But whether they survive the interrogation of the harbingers or not, it was up to them.

The world is unfair, and so is life.

"Bye, Mr. Tartaglia. I hope we'll meet again soon~" Ruby waved cutely and disappeared.