Capítulo 30: Villain Simulator, Ch 30
"I believe I made a smart decision," Childe stretched lazily and smiled. "After all, I don't want to end up dead by your hand."
Lucas, eager to save Scaramouche, had no intention of wasting time. Combining Inazuma's famed blade with the essence of the Favonius Swordmanship he had learned from his old friend "Rostam," what should have been a difficult battle against overwhelming odds turned into a one-sided slaughter by Lucas.
At that moment, the five Fatui Harbingers finally realized the terrifying truth—this silver-haired man, often holed up in his lab like a mad scientist, possessed perhaps the purest and most powerful strength among all eleven Harbingers.
Of the four Harbingers who fought, three were dead, and one was critically injured. Though Childe had betrayed, he barely had a chance to participate in the fight. Even the strongest among them, Columbina, couldn't withstand Lucas's onslaught.
The most ironic part was that Lucas wasn't even using the power of the Vision or the Delusion—he had defeated them all with nothing but swordsmanship.
The only one left alive was Capitano, who had been severely injured at the start.
After pulling his blade from Columbina's chest, Lucas glanced at Childe and asked, "So, are you going to fight me now?"
"Honestly, I'm tempted," Childe grinned. "But right now, saving Scaramouche is more important for you, isn't it? Let's save our fight for another time."
Lucas gave Childe a complicated look and, after a brief "Thank you," disappeared into the distance, racing toward the Tsaritsa's palace.
As soon as Lucas left, Childe's smile faded, and beads of cold sweat rolled down his forehead. He could barely keep himself standing—Lucas's killing intent had almost caused his legs to give out.
"Turns out, I'm the biggest coward after all. I'm sorry, Tsaritsa…" Childe muttered, trembling as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I still have family… my younger siblings. I can't… die here."
"Coward…" Capitano, lying on the ground with his blood already frozen by the ice and snow, glared viciously at Childe. "Tsaritsa… she will never forgive you."
"If she finds out about this, she certainly won't," Childe sneered. "But how will she ever know?"
Capitano seemed to catch on to Childe's implication, and with a look of shock, he asked, "What… what are you planning?"
"Don't worry. I'll report to the Tsaritsa that Capitano, the Tenth Harbinger of the Fatui, fought bravely against the Doctor but ultimately succumbed to his injuries," Childe said calmly as he approached Capitano, standing over him. "Four dead and one injured—we were no match for the Doctor. But the one who's injured… isn't going to be you."
"You—"
Before Capitano could finish his sentence, Childe's spear had already pierced through his skull.
"I wonder… will my rank move up after you die?" Childe mused aloud, stabbing Capitano's corpse a few more times for good measure. After ensuring that all the other Harbingers were dead, he picked up a short knife and stabbed himself multiple times in the body.
Childe was infamous for his brutal and ruthless combat style—he was just as harsh on himself as he was on his enemies. As blood poured from his wounds, he finally collapsed, lying motionless on the ground. Staring at the distant ice palace shrouded in crimson clouds, he let out a bitter laugh. "Please… don't die, Tsaritsa."
Yes, at that moment, his concern was not whether Lucas would survive, but for the Tsaritsa's safety.
Indeed, as one of the Seven Archons, the Tsaritsa's power was overwhelmingly strong.
But the Doctor… was like an unfathomable abyss, and no one knew how many trump cards he still had hidden.
...
Inside the Palace of Snezhnaya
This grand palace, akin to Inazuma's Tenshukaku or Mondstadt's Favonius Cathedral, was the most prestigious building in the nation.
To the people of Snezhnaya, simply stepping inside was considered the highest honor.
For Lucas, the Third Harbinger of the Fatui, this palace was a familiar place. He was one of the few allowed to enter while bearing weapons.
But now, this former hero of Snezhnaya entered as a traitor.
Two rows of heavily armed Fatui soldiers stood at attention along the palace hall, but none made a move to stop him as he walked deeper into the palace.
At the center of the hall stood a large glass container filled with an unknown green liquid. Floating inside, unconscious, was Scaramouche.
The Tsaritsa stood before the glass, her back to Lucas, and spoke calmly, "So you've finally arrived. As expected, they couldn't delay you for long. It seems we'll need to recruit new Harbingers once this is over."
"You knew they weren't my match…" Lucas said, his face expressionless. "But you still sent them to stop me."
"You see, Pierro is the soul of the Fatui, Pulcinella is the body, and you… you are the brain. As long as the three of you remain, the Fatui will function. The others are merely replaceable parts," the Tsaritsa said without emotion. "I must admit, you've been a useful piece on my chessboard. But I don't need pieces that refuse to follow orders."
"I've been a piece my whole life, but from today onward, I'll be the one moving the pieces," Lucas said, stepping forward. "The Gnosis has fused with Scaramouche. You won't be able to extract it."
"The Gnosis cannot be destroyed. This acid will completely dissolve her body," the Tsaritsa said, placing her hand on the glass as if gently caressing Scaramouche's face. "You're all my beloved pieces, but in chess, victory requires sacrifices. Even I can be sacrificed."
"It seems negotiations won't work," Lucas muttered, trying to remain calm, but he couldn't help feeling anxious as he watched Scaramouche submerged in acid. "Let's make another deal."
Lucas knew Scaramouche's newly acquired body was resilient—she could last about three more minutes in the acid.
"A deal?" the Tsaritsa sneered. "What could you offer me? Don't tell me it's that undead army. Don't worry, I've already frozen them all. Mondstadt's tragedy won't repeat itself in Snezhnaya."
The Tsaritsa had always been wary of Lucas, and after the disaster in Mondstadt, she had ensured strict control over the undead army. There was no chance Lucas had prepared any hidden forces within the city.
"My bargaining chip…" Lucas said slowly, "is the lives of three-fifths of Snezhnaya's population."
"Are you joking?" The Tsaritsa narrowed her eyes. "Even if you had the power, do you think I'd let you slaughter my people?"
"I didn't want to resort to this," Lucas sighed, a hint of regret in his voice. He snapped his fingers.
With a crisp "snap," over half of the Fatui soldiers in the palace suddenly began convulsing in agony. Their bodies twisted in unnatural ways, and their left eyes filled with blood.
A moment later, with a sickening *pop*, their eyeballs burst in their sockets, and from the empty eye sockets, a grotesque red flower bloomed, its petals shimmering like blood.
Under some unknown command, the infected soldiers began attacking the others. The once silent palace was soon filled with the sounds of screaming and agony.
Even the usually composed Tsaritsa was taken aback. "What… what did you do?"
"All these years, I've been visiting the ruins of Khaenri'ah, not to find old machines but to search for the body of the previous Dendro Archon who died during the war," Lucas said coldly. "I found part of her—the tip of a finger. Of course, even I couldn't use that fragment to revive a god. But I could let her… be reborn inside me."
"You're mad!" the Tsaritsa whispered in shock. "You're desecrating the gods!"
"Does it matter?" Lucas's face twisted as vines began to grow from his skin, bursting out like veins.
"I've already desecrated enough things."
500 years ago, during the Khaenri'ah War, all seven of the Archons participated, and both the Dendro Archon and Electro Archon perished.
The body of Raiden Baal was taken back by her sister, Raiden Ei (Beelzebul), while the body of the Dendro Archon was too damaged, and only a portion was recovered.
After a long and arduous search, Lucas finally obtained a part of the Dendro Archon's remains.
At first, Lucas's experiments showed no progress. His research focused on "death," while the power of the Dendro Archon symbolized "life." These two elements seemed entirely incompatible and could not be fused.
After many failures, Lucas decided to take a risky approach—he implanted the remaining Dendro Archon's genes into his own body.
This process was extremely dangerous. Such immense power was beyond human control and could cause severe damage to his body. However, Lucas had an exceptionally strong regenerative factor that could offset some of the damage. After much deliberation, he decided to embed the Dendro Archon's genes into his body.
As expected, this caused him excruciating pain, and parts of his body even turned into plants. However, his powerful regeneration allowed him to survive and gain partial control over the Dendro Archon's powers.
It was widely known that a Vision served as an external organ that allowed a person to manipulate elemental power. Only those with Visions could use elemental abilities. However, gods were not bound by these limitations. What Lucas obtained was the purest, most original Dendro power.
"I used the Dendro Archon's power, combined with my own techniques, to develop a type of 'spore,'" Lucas said as he opened his hand, revealing a few tiny green specks floating in his palm. "These spores can silently enter the human body and remain dormant. Once I give the command, they will immediately absorb the host's nutrients, bloom into corpse flowers, and parasitize the host… just like what's happening to those soldiers."
The parasitized soldiers were feasting on the corpses of their comrades, while the corpse flowers, nourished by the flesh and blood, glowed with an eerie crimson light.
The Tsaritsa frowned slightly. "How many people have you infected with these spores?"
"Everyone. All the citizens of Snezhnaya," Lucas replied calmly. "Though about 40% of people have a natural immunity to the spores, so unfortunately, only about 60% will be parasitized."
If anyone else had said this, the Tsaritsa might have dismissed it as the ravings of a madman. But coming from the Doctor, it was highly likely that all of it was true.
"Both Pulcinella and Pierro are currently not in Snezhnaya. If this 'plague' were to break out…" Lucas's expression remained cold. "Your Majesty, you should know what that would mean."
"You've gone this far already?" For the first time, a rare expression of surprise crossed the Tsaritsa's face. She murmured, "Still, my mind is made up. The Snezhnayans who must be sacrificed for this will surely understand—it is all for the sake of the final victory."
Without hesitation, the Tsaritsa pressed the button on the dissolving machine. The acidic liquid in the glass container began to bubble, and inside, Scaramouche's face twisted in pain.
Had he miscalculated?
Lucas hadn't expected the Tsaritsa to be so determined, willing to sacrifice more than half of her people just to obtain the Gnosis.
In fact, he had indeed scattered spores throughout Snezhnaya. However, there was a limitation—the farther the spores were from him, the slower they activated.
At this moment, he had already triggered the hidden spores, but it would take at least ten minutes for them to fully spread.
"Since negotiations have broken down…" Lucas sighed. "It seems I have no choice but to… challenge a god with a mortal body."
"Hmph, even the previous Dendro Archon at their peak wouldn't be my match," the Tsaritsa scoffed. "You, who have only stolen a fraction of their power, what can you do?"
The Tsaritsa understood that the Doctor possessed strength far beyond his appearance. But so what? Mortal power had limits, and between mortals and gods, there existed an insurmountable gulf.
Raising her hands, the Tsaritsa summoned a brilliant transparent ice bow. The arrow that had earlier frozen the Dragon Ursa had been shot from this very bow.
This time, however, the arrow was much smaller. Lucas suspected that this attack needed to be charged to reach its full power.
Naturally, he wouldn't give the Tsaritsa that chance. Even though he could easily defeat three or four Harbingers, he knew that fighting a god was not something to be taken lightly.
With the sword Oni-Cutter in hand, Lucas dashed toward the Tsaritsa, his movements so swift they were almost ghost-like.
The Tsaritsa sneered and instantly fired dozens of ice arrows. It seemed this technique could freely switch between power and speed.
Slice! Slash! Stab!
Lucas swung his blade, cutting down each arrow that came his way. However, every arrow he destroyed exploded into icy mist that clung to his body. By the time he reached the Tsaritsa, his entire body was coated in frost.
In the blink of an eye, Lucas was already right in front of the Tsaritsa. But just as he was about to strike, his blade froze in mid-air, as if suspended. His entire body had been encased in ice, transformed into a lifelike ice sculpture.
"Foolish," Tsaritsa declared, her expression stern as she gazed at the frozen figure before her. "Soft, fragile saplings cannot hope to overcome the eternal, unyielding ice."
As the Archon of Ice, Tsaritsa had mastered the power of the ice element to its absolute peak. She could freeze nearly anything—except time itself.
Crack!
But then, a crack appeared in the ice. From that crack emerged a deep green sprout.
More and more cracks spread across the ice, until it shattered and fell away in pieces. Watching this unfold, the Tsaritsa instinctively took a step back, her voice trembling with disbelief. "What… what are you?"
Half of Lucas's body had been completely overtaken by plants, and in some places, blood-red flowers—like the ones blooming from the parasitized soldiers—had sprouted.
His left arm had twisted into a grotesque mass, becoming a host for these blood flowers, both terrifying and strangely beautiful.
"'What' am I?" Lucas raised his monstrous arm and swung it toward the Tsaritsa's face. "I'm your father!"
Anyone who has played a game knows what happens when a mage is attacked at close range.
Though the Seven Archons represent the pinnacle of power in Teyvat, their strength and skills vary. For example, the Geo Archon, Morax, is a well-rounded fighter, capable of both devastating ranged and close combat.
The Tsaritsa, while unmatched in her mastery of the ice element, had little combat experience. Stunned by Lucas's transformation, she momentarily forgot to defend herself. Before she could react, she felt a sharp pain in her face as her body was sent flying.
This wasn't just a slap. The vines that had grown from Lucas's arm acted like a whip, leaving deep gashes across the Tsaritsa's flawless face.
Of course, it wasn't because the Tsaritsa lacked power—under the influence of Lucas's talent, [Old But Vigorous], he had nearly 500 years of accumulated strength. The physical force behind his blow was beyond comprehension.
Any lesser being would have had their skull shattered.
"You… you dare strike me!" Even the normally composed Tsaritsa lost her cool. "To commit such an act of defiance, I will never forgive you!"
"Blah, blah, blah! You always talk a lot of shit," Lucas shouted, his patience long gone. "I've tolerated you long enough!"
"You… you…" The Tsaritsa, unaccustomed to being insulted in such a way, found herself speechless. Her pale face flushed red with humiliation.
"'You' what? Shut up!" Without giving her a chance to recover, Lucas raised his twisted arm, now growing and swelling even larger. "Just shut up already!"
With that, the monstrous vines pinned the Tsaritsa against a stone pillar, quickly wrapping around and binding her body.
At this point, Lucas's arm was no longer recognizable as a limb. It resembled something out of Akira, a grotesque, swollen mass of plants and vines.
This was the power of the Dendro Archon's genes, manifesting through Lucas's immense physical strength, even overwhelming the Tsaritsa.
"Let… let me go…" The Tsaritsa struggled against the vines, but she couldn't break free. "Release me… mmmph!"
A vine, snake-like, slithered around her face and sealed her mouth, cutting off her protests mid-sentence.
"Mmmph… mmph…" The Tsaritsa's body writhed as drool escaped the corners of her mouth. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.
Despite this bizarre scene, Lucas couldn't help but feel something strange. After all, his monstrous arm was still a part of his body, and he could clearly feel everything it touched.
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Author's Note: Its hashirama cells all over again 😭
Anyways sorry for late chap cuz I fell asleep but less goo!
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