Watching the massed ranks of the Fatui advance across the valley, Arlecchino's expression darkened into an icy scowl. Among those advancing ranks were clerks and standard infantrymen who had vanished mysteriously from Snezhnaya, ordinary civilians torn from their homes, children from the House of the Hearth she had sheltered personally, and captured subjects from across the Seven Nations. Every single one had been stripped of their mind through horrific surgical augmentation, marching forward like hollow, reanimated corpses.
Only now did Arlecchino truly grasp the sheer scale of atrocities Pierro and his circle had conducted in the shadows of Snezhnaya.
Yet with over ten thousand augmented combatants closing in from every side, she had no leisure to indulge her fury.
Her detachment was seasoned and heavily disciplined, fortified with refined alchemical draughts. But endless days of forced marching and non-stop skirmishes had drained their reserves near dry. Even their physical endurance was wearing thin. At full strength, backed by ample potions and enchanted blades, cutting through these mindless husks would have been manageable. In their current exhausted state, survival was precarious.
Setting aside all hesitation, Arlecchino snapped the Ley Line sprout between her fingers.
A spatial rift instantly tore open in the air beside her, radiating dark, abyssal energy as the Iniquitous Baptist strode through the tear.
"What urgent matter requires..."
The creature began to speak, but the words caught in his throat the moment his senses registered the surging ocean of elemental energy flooding the canyon. He turned his gaze toward the surrounding ridges, freezing entirely in place.
Turning back to Arlecchino, the Baptist's eyes flickered with utter disbelief. "Did you march straight into the Jester's primary stronghold?"
Arlecchino shook her head, her voice dropping into a low, harsh rasp. "Pierro must have activated every underground laboratory across Fontaine and Natlan simultaneously, driving every single modified soldier here to wipe us out. I need immediate tactical reinforcement."
A sharp prickle of cold tension ran down the Baptist's spine.
The Abyss Order certainly possessed formidable military strength, and crushing ten thousand augmented soldiers would typically be well within their capacity.
Under normal deployment conditions, that is.
Aether had recently sent word that the vanguard forces assigned to the block world had already broken ground on their new capital, officially commencing the national restoration of Khaenri'ah. The bulk of their military assets was currently undergoing intensive centralized training within the Abyss, awaiting the next major transfer window.
Those legions could not be mobilized carelessly. With the revival of their homeland finally staring them in the face, not a single Khaenri'ahn warrior was willing to seek pointless trouble in the outside world. If any lives were lost on the eve of their rebirth, the resulting fury among the ranks would be impossible to contain.
Beyond that central host, the remaining operational units were scattered across Snezhnaya hunting for Pierro's trail, or scouring the wilderness of the Seven Nations to gather dispersed Hilichurls. The absolute maximum force the Baptist could mobilize on the spot was barely a thousand fighters.
Combining a thousand abyssal combatants with Arlecchino's weary two thousand would still leave them dangerously outmatched against such a massive host.
They were not like Liyue, whose entire standing army had undergone comprehensive upgrades. Without fully automated alchemical brewing lines, their baseline strength had barely evolved beyond standard parameters, aside from minor batches of potions and enchanted weapons purchased from Mondstadt and Liyue.
Holding this line was far beyond their current capabilities. Had the enemy numbered only five thousand, they could have forced a breakthrough, but ten thousand was a different beast entirely.
Thoughts racing at blinding speed, the Iniquitous Baptist made an instant tactical choice. "I can pull together one thousand at most. Hold this perimeter. I will notify the high command in Sumeru immediately."
Without waiting for Arlecchino's response, he vanished back into the dark tear.
Moments later, the air rippled as dozens of Abyssal portals manifested in rapid succession, disgorging over a thousand dark-robed fighters across the rear line.
Arlecchino's chest tightened. A combined force of three thousand could not hold indefinitely against ten thousand augmented soldiers. The alchemical potions remaining in their packs would sustain them for ten minutes of high-intensity combat at most.
Yet given the Baptist's promise of reinforcements, she had no other choice.
"Brace your formations!" Arlecchino shouted, her command cutting through the canyon. "Hold the line! Support is already en route!"
The Snezhnayan soldiers tightened their grip on their polearms, their knuckles white with tension as they uncorked their remaining alchemical vials.
The leading Abyss Lector exchanged a brief nod with Arlecchino, his voice echoing with resonance. "Unleash the abyss!"
A relentless barrage of elemental spells connected to the deep leylines, raining down upon the vanguard of modified soldiers like an apocalyptic storm.
It had been centuries since Teyvat had witnessed a battle involving over ten thousand combatants on a single field. The concentrated tides of elemental energy churned like a tempestuous sea, sending tremors through the earth and causing Furina and Neuvillette to narrow their eyes in deep concentration from their high vantage point.
The ground shattered under the bombardment, the rolling terrain instantly cratered and scarred by violent detonations.
Within moments, the two lines clashed in brutal close-quarters melee.
With the Abyss Mages providing long-range suppressive fire from the flanks and Arlecchino's soldiers cycling through their strength-enhancing potions, the defensive line held firm in the opening minutes without suffering casualties. Yet the sheer momentum of the enemy's numbers steadily drove their perimeter backward, forcing them to yield ground pace by pace.
Furina watched the retreating formation, her brow furrowing slightly. "Do they truly have any means to turn this tide?"
Neuvillette did not answer immediately, lowering the specialized optic device in his hands before speaking in a calm, measured cadence. "Clorinde is stationed near the perimeter of the underwater sector. She will arrive within minutes, but our main infantry divisions will require more than half an hour to complete their deployment."
Furina fell silent.
Half an hour was an eternity on a battlefield where ten thousand combatants were systematically grinding down three thousand. Long before the garrison arrived, the line would be wiped out.
She had to weigh the necessity of stepping onto the field herself.
Though she was neither an original Archon nor a primordial warrior, channeling the deep leylines of Fontaine would allow her to drown these numbers with ease. Striking against mortal flesh crossed a delicate divine boundary, yet looking closely at those hollow eyes, these augmented shells could scarcely be called human any longer.
A dense concentration of hydro energy began to swirl beneath Furina's boots, gently wrapping around her form. Across the distant shallows, subtle elemental ripples stirred the surface of the lake, entirely unnoticed by the combatants below.
At the front of the line, Arlecchino drove her blade forward, seeking to punch a clean opening through the frontal blockade. If she could shatter a single vector of the encirclement, the unit could slip through.
Yet even without a visible commander on the field, Dottore had clearly etched rigid combat routines into the soldiers' minds. The moment Arlecchino pushed her assault, the surrounding units tightened their formation, amplifying their counter-pressure instantly.
Cleaving two modified soldiers in half with a sweeping slash, Arlecchino glanced over her shoulder to assess her ranks.
Her soldiers were beginning to suffer casualties. Meanwhile, the Abyssal units fought with frustrating, calculated caution, keeping maximum distance and relying purely on elemental kiting while avoiding direct melee engagements.
Arlecchino felt a flash of irritation, though she understood their caution. With the restoration of their homeland on the horizon, these transformed warriors were clinging desperately to their lives, unwilling to fall on the threshold of their new world.
The ring of modified soldiers tightened further, choking off every avenue of escape. Calculating the remaining potions in her ranks, Arlecchino gritted her teeth, preparing to order a consolidated tactical retreat.
On the higher bluffs nearby, Clorinde finally arrived at the head of the Champion Duelists and the vanguard of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol, fielding roughly four to five hundred elite fighters.
Surveying the chaos below, Clorinde's expression turned sharply skeptical. "You expect this handful of troops to suppress a force of that scale?" she asked, fixing Neuvillette with a sharp gaze.
Beside them, Furina slowly raised her hand, her voice steady. "Secure the perimeter and clean up the aftermath. I will handle the main engagement."
"Lady Furina..." Clorinde paused, looking at the Archon with visible concern.
For a sovereign deity to directly unleash divine power upon mortal-born soldiers, even augmented ones, would invite severe diplomatic scrutiny from the other thrones if word spread to the Seven Archons' council.
"There is no need to deliberate," Furina said, her tone hardening. "If the other Archons demand an explanation after the dust settles, I will address them at the divine council. For now, our priority is clearing these foreign combatants from Fontaine's soil. We cannot allow them to tear our borders apart any longer."
Irritation burned in her chest. She had initially viewed the crossing as a passing curiosity, only for it to erupt into a full-scale border crisis. Fontaine was already strained by domestic factionalism; enduring endless foreign skirmishes on home territory was intolerable. The fastest resolution was driving Arlecchino's column into Sumeru and letting the conflict move beyond their borders.
Seeing Furina's resolve, Clorinde gave a quiet sigh and stepped back.
Dense moisture crystallized in the atmosphere, the surface of the distant lake bubbling as if coming to a boil while a towering waterspout began to take shape.
Suddenly, a series of dark silhouettes appeared along the distant skyline, racing toward the valley at terrifying speed as the earth beneath them began to rumble.
Furina's gaze snapped toward the horizon, her eyes narrowing sharply. "Sumeru..."
The Iniquitous Baptist had evidently succeeded in summoning reinforcements. While this offered a lifeline to Arlecchino, it presented an immediate diplomatic escalation for Fontaine. If Sumeru's military crossed the border without formal notification, the encounter would transition into an international incident.
Neuvillette and Clorinde straightened their posture, watching the southern skies with intense focus.
After a brief pause, Clorinde's eyes widened in genuine astonishment. "Are those... all dragons?"
Furina remained silent, her attention locked onto the airborne column.
Fortunately, the commander leading the Sumeru vanguard understood the diplomatic sensitivity of the border. The approaching host halted precisely along the boundary line, hovering in strict formation without advancing a single pace onto Fontaine's soil.
As Arlecchino looked toward the skies in confusion, the Iniquitous Baptist materialized beside her once more.
"Pull your people back and brace your ranks! Sumeru is opening fire!"
Without waiting for her reply, the Baptist signaled his forces, and the entire detachment of Abyssal mages stepped backward through their portals, instantly vanishing from the field.
Though startled by the abrupt retreat, Arlecchino reacted instantly, ordering her troops to pull into a tight defensive cluster and downing their final vials of Swiftness Potions as they fell back toward the rear.
Lacking higher cognitive reasoning, the massed modified soldiers surged forward in a dense, unified horde to pursue the retreating unit.
Hovering on dragonback above the border, Candace lowered her brass spyglass, a faint, confident smile playing across her lips as she watched the enemy cluster tightly into a single dense kill zone.
Raising her hand high into the air, her voice rang out like a bronze bell. "All units, prepare for coordinated strike!"
A rapid chorus of mechanical clicks echoed across the formation as hundreds of rifle barrels leveled forward, the air filling with the sharp, acrid scent of gunpowder. At the same time, the massive dragons beneath the aerial riders opened their jaws, primordial elemental energy surging within their throats like gathering storm clouds.
Before Furina and her companions could process the reality of Sumeru fielding an entire aerial division of dragons, an overwhelming wave of lethal danger washed across the valley.
Without a second thought, Furina pivoted her divine power, raising a towering barrier of pressurized water to shield her entourage.
An instant later, Candace's command cut through the roaring winds.
"Saturation bombardment! Fire!"
Across the valley floor, the earth erupted into an ocean of thunder and flame.
Chapter 790: 790: 790: Sumeru's Dragon Cavalry to the Rescue
10 min read