Neuvillette was still profoundly confident in his own strength.
Though he had not yet reclaimed the full Authority of the ancient dragons and thus could not be considered a complete Hydro Sovereign, Neuvillette nonetheless wielded power rivaling that of the Seven. As a Dragon Sovereign born of the primordial world, he believed that—aside from the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles—no deity could decisively suppress him.
While he didn't understand why Furina, the Hydro Archon, was panicking or why she refused to demonstrate her own power, Neuvillette believed he could handle whatever situation arose.
That confidence was contagious, briefly steadying Furina's nerves.
But the moment Neuvillette's words finished echoing, a gate of light suddenly manifested in front of Furina. A voice rang out—the voice of a Flugel girl with two pairs of wings at her waist and an irregular geometric halo above her head.
"Wait... you really did crawl through the chat group to hit me?!"
Furina's eyes went wide. She reflexively took a step back, ducking behind Neuvillette.
At that moment, the livestream feature was activated, and the members of the chat group could see the scene unfolding.
[Rin Tohsaka: "So this is the newcomer's world? Looks decent... Aside from being a bit of a brat, the newbie is actually pretty cute!"]
[Erica Blandelli: "And the person next to her is her trump card? Looking at his pupils, he doesn't seem human."]
The group members began to commentate, clearly enjoying the drama. Seeing this, Furina puffed up like a defensive pufferfish and fired back in the chat.
[Furina: "Hah! Try not to be too scared when I tell you—this is the Iudex of Fontaine! He's a terrifying Hydro Dragon Sovereign, and his strength is on par with the gods!"]
[Furina: "If you want to apologize and surrender, now is your last chance!"]
Hearing this, the group members were collectively dumbfounded.
[Rin Tohsaka: "I truly admire your guts, saying something like that to Jibril's face."]
[Rin Tohsaka: "Of course, I'd admire you even more if your legs weren't shaking while you typed that."]
The blue-haired girl clenched her fists in embarrassment.
[Furina: "I-I'm not shaking from fear! It's excitement!"]
While she was busy bickering with the group, Jibril was busy scanning her new surroundings with keen interest.
Neuvillette quickly realized that the intruder was the threat Furina had feared. Though he didn't know the intruder's origins, he proceeded with a formal inquiry as the Ludex.
"My lady, intruding upon the Palais Mermonia without cause is a violation of the Fontaine Administrative Code. If you do not wish to be incarcerated—"
As the Iudex of Fontaine, he knew exactly how to pass judgment. He spoke with a tone meant to exert psychological pressure, releasing the aura of a Hydro Dragon.
However, halfway through his sentence, Neuvillette's voice was forcibly cut off.
Killing intent. A freezing, physical wall of killing intent descended instantly, causing the temperature in the Palais Mermonia—and perhaps all of Fontaine—to plummet.
Neuvillette had assumed the newcomer was merely a Vision wielder or perhaps an Adeptus-like being who had mastered a unique power. He never expected that the moment he released his own pressure, he would be met with such a crushing counter-aura.
No, it wasn't even a counterattack; it was simply the natural "rebound" one experiences when hitting an immovable obstacle.
It wasn't that the opponent hadn't released her aura; it was that her aura existed on a completely different plane, pressing down upon the entire world itself. It was so vast that he had no scale to measure it.
He only realized this because her true pressure descended a second later.
"And what exactly did you want to say, little loach?"
Accompanied by a mocking tone, the girl's gaze, which had been scanning the world, locked onto him.
In the next instant—
BOOM!
Without the slightest ability to resist, Neuvillette was slammed into the floor by a colossal force. The impact left a massive web of cracks across the stone tiles.
"How... is this possible?!"
Neuvillette's face was twisted in sheer horror. She hadn't even lifted a finger. By pure pressure alone, she had stripped him of his ability to resist—she wouldn't even permit him to stand?
How could there be such a staggering disparity? Even a Dragon Sovereign at full power wouldn't be a match for this abyss-like aura. He would be just as he was now: pinned to the dirt.
"Who are you? What are you?!" Neuvillette choked out the question. Not even the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles could suppress him to this degree through pressure alone without using their Authority, right?
At the moment Neuvillette was "one-shotted" by a glance, Furina's jaw dropped.
"What?!"
The legendary Hydro Dragon was pinned by a single look? How was that possible? Didn't everyone say the Dragon Sovereigns were as strong as The Seven?
Her head spinning, Furina suddenly recalled the conversation in the chat group. They had said The Seven were only Rank 3, while the person coming to her world was at least Rank 5. At the time, she thought it was a ridiculous lie. But now...
[Furina: "Wait! Everyone! That 'Rank 5' you mentioned... exactly what level of power is that?"]
The blue-haired girl asked, her voice trembling with desperation. Even if she couldn't change the outcome, she wanted to understand why she was about to die.
Before anyone in the chat could answer, Jibril's voice rang out right in front of her.
"Are you curious, Furina-san? To be honest, Rank 5 isn't all that much. It's just the level of a Planet-Buster!"
"Planet... Buster?!"
Hearing this, both Neuvillette and Furina felt their minds go blank. For a moment, they couldn't even process the meaning of such a simple term.
"Planet-Busting means destroying the world you're standing on. Even the weakest Rank 5 can casually wipe out a planet... Well, the starry sky in this world is fake, so you might find it hard to visualize. Simply put, it's the power to casually erase every bit of land beneath your feet and the entire sub-world along with it."
Jibril spoke of this apocalyptic power in a tone so light it was terrifying. Putting aside her mention of a "Fake Sky," she was saying that if she felt like it, she could erase all of Teyvat.
"So... Miss Jibril has reached Rank 5? The level where she can destroy worlds at will?" Furina stared with wide eyes, no longer daring to treat the chat group as a joke.
"Rank 5? I was, once."
Jibril was actually quite polite to Furina. Despite her mocking tone, she answered every question. Hearing Furina ask about her strength, she tapped her lip playfully.
"You were?" A spark of hope flickered in Furina's eyes. "Does that mean you aren't anymore?"
Even if the opponent had dropped to Rank 4, Neuvillette still wouldn't be a match, but at least it wouldn't feel so utterly hopeless.
But just as she allowed herself that bit of wishful thinking...
"Correct. I am no longer Rank 5," Jibril said with a smile, her eyes sparkling with the playful cruelty of a cat watching a mouse. "Thanks to Master's grace, I have reached Rank 6... the initial stages of the Almighty Domain."
The hope in Furina's eyes froze instantly. Her smile vanished, and her whole body shivered.
Rank 6? Stronger than a Planet-Buster... the "Almighty Domain"?
Though she didn't fully grasp Jibril's terminology, she understood one thing.
It's over.
The light faded from the blue-haired girl's eyes. She collapsed onto the floor, her pale legs turning to jelly.
"Furina, forget it..."
Looking at the broken spirit of the girl, Neuvillette wanted to say something, but he swallowed his words. He didn't know why this current Hydro Archon was so fragile, but given the power demonstrated by the intruder, even if Furina used her Archon Authority, it wouldn't change a thing. Resistance was meaningless.
Faced with a gap in strength as wide as the heavens and the earth, it was better to preserve their lives and negotiate.
After a few seconds of silence, Neuvillette spoke in a tone of profound gravity.
"O Mighty One... I do not know how Lady Furina has offended you. Might you grant us your decree?"
Compared to his previous greeting, Neuvillette's tone was now deeply respectful. Adhering to etiquette was the only path to survival for the weak when standing before the strong.
Faced with this inquiry, Jibril's lips curled into an amused smirk.
"Little loach, didn't you just say that you hold 'all that is high and mighty' in contempt? Why the sudden change of heart in front of a truly powerful being? Could it be that I am not 'high and mighty' enough for you?"
It was a blatant mockery. But as the weaker party, one had to swallow mockery like wine just to stay alive.
"The rules of the weak cannot constrain a powerhouse like yourself," Neuvillette replied calmly. "As of now, you are the one who passes judgment upon this world."
He wasn't lying. Whether this Flugel girl was Rank 5 or Rank 6 didn't matter. What mattered was that she possessed strength that towered over all of Teyvat. Therefore, if the world wanted to survive, it had to follow Jibril's rules.
"Ha!" Jibril let out a satisfied laugh. "At least this little loach is sensible. Fine, I'll postpone the destruction of this world for now!"
Neuvillette let out a long, internal sigh of relief. He had passed the first hurdle.
Knowing the crisis hadn't fully passed, he wanted to ask more but didn't dare. He looked over at the "Hydro Archon," who had been in a daze.
"My thanks for your magnanimity, My Lady! Lady Furina, I do not know what transpired between you and this powerhouse, but I suggest you offer your thanks as well."
Whether out of professional duty, a desire for information, or the safety of the world, Neuvillette had to pull Furina back into the conversation. Fortunately, Furina was sharp enough to snap out of it.
"Thank you, Jibril! Wait—Wait a minute! You were actually considering destroying the world?! And what do you mean by 'postponing'?!"
By the end of her sentence, her eyes were wide again. She had just realized how much of a threat Jibril's words actually carried.
Seeing her acting so scatterbrained, Neuvillette, still pinned to the floor, felt compelled to guide her.
"Lady Furina, for a being who holds the power to end worlds, a 'temporary halt' is already an act of supreme virtue. If we wish for her to abandon the idea entirely, we must show more sincerity. For instance... by apologizing for your previous recklessness."
Neuvillette was desperately hinting, trying to find out where she had offended this "Great God" so they could settle it with an apology.
Furina quickly caught his drift and immediately began to apologize with teary eyes.
"I-I'm sorry! Lady Jibril, I was wrong! I shouldn't have questioned everyone in the chat group! It was my fault, please forgive me!"
If she had known that an online argument would lead to a real-life "boss fight," she would never have been so arrogant.
Faced with the apology, Jibril shrugged.
"There's no need to apologize for that. It's normal for a newcomer to be skeptical, and questioning the other members is practically a tradition. None of that really matters; I was way more arrogant than you when I joined."
"Once you're in the chat group, you're a comrade. We wouldn't get upset over something so petty, let alone come all this way just to cause you trouble."
"Eh?"
Furina froze. This girl is actually... surprisingly reasonable?
Neuvillette was also surprised. He had expected a madwoman who destroyed worlds on a whim; instead, she seemed quite tolerant. Looking back, Jibril had been indifferent to him and the continent, but her attitude toward Furina had actually been decent.
Given Jibril's pressure, if she had truly targeted Furina, the girl would be flattened regardless of her "Archon" status. But Furina wasn't being suppressed; she was only on the floor because she was a coward.
Despite Furina being the one who provoked her, Jibril seemed to have an unspoken recognition of her—as if she were already part of the "sisterhood," and the bullying was merely verbal.
If that was the case, as long as Furina played her cards right, this might not be a disaster after all.
However, if it wasn't because of her attitude, then why did Jibril show up looking so aggressive?
"If it wasn't for that... then why?" Furina asked, completely lost.
"Because you claimed the Chat Group was malfunctioning, of course!" Jibril said bluntly.
"Miss Hatsune is quite petty—ahem, I mean, Miss Hatsune does not permit you to slander her so casually."
"I don't know why you're lying or why you're pretending to be a god, but the Chat Group's rules don't make mistakes. You can be stubborn about anything else, but don't be stubborn when it comes to Miss Hatsune! Or she might stop giving you 'shifts' in the future!"
Jibril's tone was teasing, but her words were sincere—a piece of "senior" advice. In her mind, Furina just needed to apologize and Miku wouldn't hold a grudge; after all, they would all be "sisters sharing a bed" eventually.
However, she didn't expect that upon hearing those words, Furina would jerk her head up. Her pupils shrank, and her eyes filled with an even more intense, desperate fear as she shook her head frantically.
"No! I'm not! I didn't lie! I really am the Hydro Archon!"
That, and only that, was the one thing she would hold onto until her dying breath.