"Archon-class?"
Beidou, Shenhe, and Kokomi all snapped their gazes to Su Xuan.
"Don't look at me like that," he said, easy as ever. "The Fatui's top three Harbingers hit Archon-tier."
None of them thought he was joking—so all three stared back at the light-screen, suddenly worried for Rosalyne.
"Strong or weak, an Archon is still an Archon," Beidou muttered, jaw tight. "She can't beat that."
"Right. Capitano, the First, can solo Natlan's Mavuika. The Second, Dottore, won't be far behind," Su said. "Ever hear of the dragon Usa?"
Beidou frowned. "The one that terrorized Mond a few years back? Traders talked about it. Then it just… vanished."
Su Xuan smiled thinly. "Your guess is right. Dottore killed Usa. One strike."
That wiped the color from their faces. A dragon that had made Mond bleed—erased with a single blow?
"This is bad. Rosalyne can't win," Kokomi whispered, fingers worrying at her sleeves. She'd learned the hard way that absolute power makes strategy meaningless. A mortal does not outduel a god.
Ruins of the Delusion Factory, Yashiori.
Rosalyne's killing stroke halted—Dottore stepped out with hands folded behind his back. One look, and she knew: not a segment, but the true body—the one with Archon-tier bite.
Her scalp prickled. A cold bead traced her cheek.
Fate's 'protection' for the Balladeer? She gritted her teeth. Figures he'd appear right when I'm about to cut the brat down.
"As I thought," Dottore said mildly. "The 'man' you mentioned—the one in Liyue who froze an horizon's worth of ocean with a single cut… him, yes?"
Rosalyne's eyes narrowed.
"My segments are everywhere," Dottore went on, amused. "No one gathers data better than I do."
Mad scholar, bottomless hunger. His clones scoured Teyvat while his mind assembled the mosaic.
"Spare me that look. You boarded the Crux right after that Jade Chamber meeting. Everyone orbited a black-haired man—even the Descender's own sister." He tilted his head. "I wondered why one like her would stop traveling just to… attend him. After this, I can admit it: he seems to grant powers as easily as he wields them."
Lumine scratched her cheek where she watched the feed. "…'attend' isn't wrong," she muttered. Employee No. 001, after all.
Dottore glanced at the shattered doll on the floor and sighed. "You have improved," he told Rosalyne, and crouched to repair Scaramouche. "But damaging my experimental subject is rude."
"Dottore!" the Balladeer rasped. "Who is he?"
"I don't know what he is," Dottore said. "But in Liyue he froze an ocean—and shattered it a heartbeat later. This ice you used smells like him." Truthfully, he'd been watching from the shadows a long while, only stepping in once he confirmed Rosalyne was alone.
"His terror isn't just the size of his fist," Dottore mused, eyes glittering. "It's that he can bestow power, and that he knows things he shouldn't." His gaze cut to Rosalyne. "From your tone, you know our plan."
He finished mending the doll. Scaramouche stood, folded his arms—and wore arrogance like armor again.
"Aah, so that's it." He smirked. "No wonder you got stronger. So—you betrayed the Tsaritsa and crawled to some other 'god'?"
Rosalyne blinked—then nearly laughed. Bold, calling me turncoat. Says the puppet who ditched his 'mother' for a foster in Sumeru. Kunikuzushi, Scaramouche, 'The Hat'—a three-surname dog if ever there was one.
But this wasn't the time to trade barbs. With Dottore here, the field had tilted. Even at full peak she couldn't fell him—much less now.
If I die here… will Su use the Qiankun Mirror to bring me back? The thought struck, embarrassing and strangely comforting. She'd been… very cooperative. Surely that counted for something? He did tell me to 'keep being myself,' even if I'm a bit arrogant… That shouldn't lower my score… right?
Scaramouche caught the flicker in her expression. "She knows our purpose. We can't let her live. Dottore—kill her."
"No," Dottore cut in. "She carries his secret. I want to open her mind and read it."
At that, Rosalyne's anxiety evaporated. She threw her head back and laughed.
"Hahahaha… A swarm of ants, and you think you can peep at his truth? Funniest thing I've heard in centuries. Planning to laugh me to death and take my job, Doctor?"
Dottore stared. Was she… relieved? He'd felt her tension a moment ago. Now she mocked him like she'd found shelter under a mountain.
"Interesting," he smiled, eyes going cold. "All the more reason to dissect you. Scholars must chase the unknown."
Rosalyne's gaze chilled. She almost pivoted to weaponize Tatarasuna's truth—to set the two at each other's throats—but after tonight's beating, the Balladeer wouldn't buy her word. The line was blocked.
Then the best move is… die. If she killed herself before Dottore bound her, even he couldn't scrape secrets from a dead mind.
She braced to bite through her tongue—
—and her diary flared.
At the same instant, the Balladeer screamed.
"AAAAAA—!"
He clutched his head and rolled, face contorting, a puppet seized by invisible fire.
"Scaramouche!?" Dottore jerked, pupils pin-sharp. His sensors read nothing—no elemental flux, no intruder, no segment's alarm.
"Scaramouche!?" he called again. "Did I miscalibrate your repairs?"
"Dottore! Dottore! Dottore!" the Balladeer gasped between snarls—not pain, but hate—like a beast naming its prey.
Dottore leaned in to check—
The doll's eyes snapped open. Lightning bloomed point-blank.
"Die, Dottore!"
Dottore: "?"
Rosalyne: "?"
KA-CRACK!
The Doctor ate a faceful of thunder as the Balladeer turned on him, attacking with rabid fury.
"Eh?" Rosalyne blinked. "…oh."
The diary's panel pulsed. She looked down and began to read.
[Well now. Surprised—or exactly as expected? Of course Dottore has sniffed around me. Him showing up here… hardly shocking.]
[Pity—my long-legged Rosalyne must have nearly fainted.]
Rosalyne twitched. 'Long-legged' and nothing else? Still—three lines, and she knew: Su had eyes on her the whole time. Warmth bloomed in her chest. Her spine straightened.
If he's watching… this dogfight is already over.
Everyone else finally exhaled. So he was backing her—just not in person.
But how did the Balladeer flip like that? None of them had seen a trigger.
[Why did 'Thunder Cannon' suddenly go rabid at Dottore?]
[That would be one of my toys.]
[Just now I sensed him with telekinesis and sent him a dose of Tsukuyomi.]
"Tsukuyomi?" the women echoed.
[A mental-type attack—call it illusion craft. It drags the target's mind into a Tsukuyomi world where I control time, place, mass—everything. In that world the target endures as much pain as I please.]
[So yes—one heartbeat he looked normal. But in the zero-point-zero-zero-zero-whatever seconds before his next reaction, he lived through days, months—even years in my world.]
A slow hiss circled the room. Fighters like Raiden Ei, Mavuika, Skirk—women used to honest steel—stiffened. Mind work is the most frightening; you can't see it coming, and if you're weaker, you've no defense.
But this… asynchronous time inside the illusion? One breath here; a lifetime there. By the time you blink, your spirit is ruined.
"His moves," Beidou murmured, "are all unanswerable…"
[And yes—here's the playback: what he saw inside.]
The light-screen rippled. An image began to unfurl—Scaramouche's private hell.
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/lucarioTL