At this moment, Ying was like a giant beast overlooking its prey, raising her hand and snapping her fingers lightly.
In an instant, the surrounding weapons seemed to come alive like soldiers receiving orders, rapidly flying towards the Automaton.
Under this dense flurry of blades, every strike from the Automaton seemed utterly desperate. Its already sharp sword, amplified by Anemo, became even more formidable, ravaging the colossal mechanism like hungry wolves.
The endless slashes continuously wore down the Automaton's armor, soon rendering it tattered and broken.
Seizing the opportunity, Ying controlled the Skyward Blade to target the automaton's joints, instantly severing its limbs. The Automaton, losing its support, collapsed with a heavy thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Ying's gaze was cold as she watched the fallen Automaton, shaking her head.
"In the end, it's just man-made..."
Before Ying could speak further, the surrounding swords moved again, forming a neat circle around the Scaramouche who was trying to escape, leaving only a path towards Ying open.
Ying turned around, looking at Scaramouche, whose earlier confidence had vanished. She spoke calmly.
"You have one last chance. If you tell me the entire truth of what just happened, I might consider letting you die a less painful death."
"Snap!"
Scaramouche gritted his teeth in anger. This was the first time he had been so thoroughly mocked.
"Hmph... quite the boast. Controlling such a vast number of weapons all by yourself, I'd like to see how long your Elemental power can sustain this!"
Seeing that he remained defiant as always, Ying didn't say much. She simply snapped her fingers again, sending the swords flying rapidly towards Scaramouche.
"Haa!"
Scaramouche raised his hands. Instantly, a cluster of bizarre, dark purple elemental energy exploded, transforming into a rain of droplets that surrounded him, forming an artificial shield. The one- and two-star swords, upon contact, instantly melted into molten iron.
Ying's brow furrowed slightly. She immediately changed the attack pattern of the swords, making them fly rapidly around Scaramouche, greatly disrupting his vision.
Scaramouche considered breaking through but feared Ying might suddenly attack with the Skyward Blade. He decided to simply wait it out.
"Hmph... after my research, even that massive Anemo projectile from last time couldn't break this energy shield. I'd like to see how long your Elemental power can last..."
Scaramouche's plan was not flawed. Ying's Anemo energy was already significantly depleted. Even if she concentrated all her remaining elemental power on controlling the weapons, she could only last for five minutes at most. However, unfortunately for him, Ying wasn't limited to just Anemo.
Confirming that her opponent wouldn't seize the chance to escape, Ying used Anemo to lift herself into the air. She looked down at Scaramouche's minuscule figure below and murmured,
"I refuse to believe Lumine would die just like that. But even so, it doesn't give anyone the right to bully her and then say those words to me..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ying slowly raised her right hand, concentrating a large amount of Geo energy. However, unlike before, this elemental energy did not inflate into a massive orb. No matter how large the Geo energy became, it maintained the size of a normal Anemo Vortex.
As Ying added Electro energy, the vortex inside spun faster and faster, as if drawing in the surrounding air in concentric circles. The color also changed from pure yellow to a sphere composed of purple and yellow.
As the vortex spun, a flash of lightning suddenly erupted from within the orb. Though seemingly small, this lightning instantly turned a nearby large tree into dust.
"What is that?!"
Scaramouche was startled. His intuition screamed at him that he absolutely could not withstand this attack from Ying. Ignoring his injuries, Scaramouche immediately channeled his energy, trying to break through the sword formation. However, he met with fierce resistance.
Seeing him attempt to flee, Ying immediately used her remaining Anemo to envelop the Wind Vortex, and with a gentle wave of her right hand, the Wind Vortex rapidly shot towards Scaramouche.
"Damn it!!"
Scaramouche immediately channeled nearly all the energy within him into an energy wave, launching it towards Ying's Wind Vortex. He expected that even if he couldn't block it, he could at least negate most of its power.
To his surprise, upon contact, his energy was directly consumed by the Wind Vortex. The disparity between them was like starlight versus the bright moon.
Scaramouche's eyes widened. He couldn't believe his energy was so utterly defenseless. As the Wind Vortex drew closer, Scaramouche's mind raced, desperately searching for a way to counter...
"Boom!!!"
A muffled roar followed, and a mushroom cloud rose from the vortex. The entire world was instantly bathed in light. Smoke and dust billowed everywhere, and dense elemental energy filled the sky, like the end of the world. The power was so immense that it even dispersed the dark clouds in the sky, revealing the long-unseen sunlight.
As the smoke cleared, a deep crater was revealed. Ying had already landed on the ground. The previous attack had nearly depleted all the elemental energy within her. Even the countless weapons surrounding Scaramouche had turned to dust as a result of the attack.
Walking slowly to the edge of the crater, Ying looked down and couldn't help but freeze slightly.
Scaramouche stood in the center of the crater, his hands, held up to shield his face, were already bloody and mangled. Blood flowed from his wounds all over his body, his appearance truly terrifying.
Ying narrowed her eyes, observing him closely for a moment before noticing a purple glow emanating continuously from his hands.
"Cough... cough..."
Scaramouche spat out a mouthful of blood. He opened his palm, looked at the item in his hand, and murmured weakly,
"I didn't expect... even the ... Gnosis... could barely withstand that move..."
"What is that?"
Upon seeing the small item, Ying was first confused, then suddenly recalled the plot points told to her by others.
Gnosis? Why was it in his hand? Had the divine being Lumine spoke of come here before? But why would they give it to him for no reason... wait... was it to save Lumine?
The clues in her mind quickly connected. Although it was still a conjecture, Ying felt an unprecedented confidence in her judgment. Her previous despair over Lumine's potential death had unconsciously eased slightly.