Chapter Text
The moment Oliver went limp, Venti surged toward him — but the dark creature shot an arm out, and the bard locked in place like he'd hit a wall.
"Arrrg!" Venti grunted, straining against the invisible hold with everything he had, but no matter how hard he pushed, his body refused to move. The only thing he could have done was speak. "Get away from Oliver!" he snapped.
The dark creature slowly turned around, peering at Venti. The other two Archons dove at the entity, but they, too, froze in their tracks.
"I have already lost in a place you wouldn't understand exists," the dark creature said, the shadowy flames rolling off its body flaring higher. "The entirety of the Fictional Universe will pay back for everything."
The Archons couldn't move; they were entirely paralyzed. They didn't understand this creature—it was entirely unpredictable. One moment, it felt as though they could overpower it, and the next, it pulled something otherworldly, seizing up their bodies and locking them down completely.
The world around them crackled with that sickening red hue, the sky continuing to glitch and stutter. All three Archons were silently racking their minds, individually trying to come up with a plan to best this monster.
But then, Oliver's body slowly pushed upward from the ground.
Venti's eyes widened slightly. He still couldn't break free from the dark creature's telekinetic grasp. He didn't dare call out Oliver's name, terrified that the creature would instantly strike his boyfriend down.
Then, Oliver did something entirely unexpected.
He held his sword high, sweeping it viciously to the side, and a massive gale of wind tore through the area.
"AHHH!" nearly all of them, including the dark creature, yelled out.
The howling wind slammed against the creature. "What is this?!" it yelled, struggling to keep its footing, but the sheer strength of the gale managed to blast it down into the dirt.
The second it fell over, its paralyzing grasp vanished. The three elemental gods dropped heavily to the grass.
Oliver swished his sword to the side and stood perfectly still, his head slowly turning to lock onto the downed creature.
"O-Ollie!" Venti scrambled to his feet, rushing toward him. "Oliver! What are you doing?! I knew you said you could use a sword, but you — you just —"
Oliver made a sharp downward motion with the blade, piercing it directly into the earth. A blazing blast of fire came raining down from the sky, slamming directly on top of the dark creature.
The Archons gasped, their eyes fixed on the impact zone, but as the smoke cleared, it barely left a scratch. The dark flames still roared from the entity's form. It slowly stood up, crackling with dark energy as it glared at the human.
"What did you do..." it hissed. "You were not this powerful before..." It slashed a wave of dark energy straight at Oliver.
Venti gasped and lunged forward to protect him, but before he could, the human brought his sword up to his face and slashed through the dark matter, sending the energy hurling right back at the creature.
The monster managed to dodge out of the way, its expression unreadable. "You have powers close to a Holder..." it said in a low, dangerous tone. "What is that avatar you're using?"
"Get out of this world," Zhongli suddenly commanded. He summoned a massive rock formation and slammed it down on top of the creature. The giant mound of amber and stone crashed into the grass, cratering the ground.
But the creature still wasn't defeated.
"We need help," Venti said. The Anemo Archon put his fingers to his mouth and blew a sharp, piercing whistle that echoed across the nearly destroyed landscape of Windrise.
"Venti, what are you doing?" Zhongli asked, readying another geo formation.
Nahida continued to zap the dark creature with her magic, but nothing she threw at it seemed to faze the entity as it slowly hovered up into the air.
Oliver tightened his grip on his sword, watching the dark creature rise.
Venti sucked on his teeth. "Come on, answer my call..." he hissed quietly to himself.
"Venti, what's the goal here?" Zhongli asked again.
Then a massive shadow swept across the red hue of Windrise.
The Archons didn't have to say anything else.
Davlin slammed down from the sky, knocking the dark creature out of the air. It tried to recover, but the blue dragon let out a deafening screech, sending a physical shockwave rippling through the land.
The dark creature kept its footing, barely moving an inch.
But then, Dvalin lunged closer, clamping his massive jaws onto the dark entity. The dragon thrashed it around violently before hurling it across the field. It slammed hard into the earth, tumbling aggressively before colliding with the giant oak tree.
The ancient tree shook with tremendous force. High above, the branch holding Venti's hammock snapped and plummeted. The heavy wood crashed down onto the creature, pinning it, as the hammock draped awkwardly over its head.
Venti let out a dramatic sound of defeat. "Noo, my hammock!" he grunted, growing even more annoyed when he saw the creature rising once again.
"Nothing is going to kill this thing," Zhongli said. He raised his hand. "The best we can do is keep it contained as much as we can." The Geo Archon summoned another amber formation beside the creature and rammed it horizontally into its body, launching it through the air.
As it flew, Zhongli summoned another rock for it to crash into, bouncing it backward. Before it could recover, he dropped a third formation from directly above, slamming the creature brutally back into the dirt.
Nahida summoned a barrage of thick, glowing leafy vines, wrapping them tightly around the rock and anchoring them deep into the earth. "Will the other Archons show up?" Nahida asked. "Will—"
Before she could finish, the creature violently burst upward out of the rock formation, rocketing up into the red sky. Nahida's vines were useless against the force, and with everything happening so suddenly, she didn't have time to let go. "Ahh!"
Standing beside her, Zhongli swiftly grabbed her leg, pulling her back down and safely depositing her onto the grass.
"T-Thanks!" Nahida panted, dusting herself off.
The creature loomed high in the sky, its dark, flaming body stark against the glitching red atmosphere it had created. Then, with terrifying speed, it dropped back down to the ground.
"Which one of you is the Holder?" its dark voice boomed, scanning the group.
Venti gasped softly, suddenly remembering that he might have been the Holder—whatever that meant, according to that strange device.
That subtle gasp was all the dark creature needed. What happened next was nearly unavoidable. Venti locked in place the second the creature raised its hand. But this wasn't like the telekinetic hold from before; this time, Venti started to glitch. The Wind Archon felt a sudden, strange, pain rip up and down his body.
"Barbatos!" Nahida screamed. She tried to intervene, but she couldn't. None of them could. Zhongli tried to summon more rocks, Oliver tried to slash with his sword, but they were entirely frozen again.
Because when Venti started to glitch, so did everything around him. The sound was unbearable — like the universe itself was being torn open at the seams.
The dark creature said nothing, just standing there intimidatingly as the dark flames whipped around its body.
Amidst the chaos, none of them noticed that something else was coming to help. Something that usually never intervened. But this threat was bigger than anything they had ever faced; as the entire universe was at stake.
The dark creature noticed it first. It looked up at the sky and saw a massive floating island slowly descending toward the ground. It was one large, central landmass surrounded by smaller orbiting chunks of earth, bigger than Mondstadt itself.
The central island featured a tall, imposing structure with a glowing area at its peak.
The creature narrowed its eyes. Whatever this was, it was completely unaffected by its powers.
Suddenly, a blinding golden beam shot down from the glowing peak of the building, striking the creature directly. "ARRRGGG!" the entity roared in agony, its hold on the world shattering instantly.
Venti dropped to his knees, weak and barely able to move. All of his friends collapsed to the grass around him as the glitching stopped.
The dark creature was bathed in the blinding golden light, struggling to stand but failing under the pressure. "What is this... stop this!" it yelled, thrashing wildly. "I'm not going to be bested by something as insignificant as this! You're not even real! None of this is!"
Zhongli was the first to his feet. He whipped his head around, looking up at the sky in sheer disbelief. The Geo Archon didn't speak, but his shock was palpable. He moved quickly to Venti, trying to pull the Anemo Archon to safety.
Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the blinding light ceased. The floating island backed away into the clouds and vanished entirely.
Holding Venti, Zhongli let out a frustrated grunt. "Why would they leave? It's still not dead!"
But it was severely weakened. The dark creature forced itself up, but now it was the one glitching. "No..." it hissed. "What type of world is this..." It grumbled, trying to muster its energy to fight, but its strength was gone. "I will not... be..."
Venti was still out cold. Zhongli kept him upright. "The dark creature is weakened." He looked at Nahida. "Hold him —"
Nahida tried to take him, but the larger Archon's dropped onto her. "OOF!"
Oliver quickly rushed over, lifting Venti securely off of Nahida.
"Thanks..." she breathed.
Zhongli raised his hand, and another jagged amber structure materialized in the air. But before he could swipe his arm down to launch it, a strange, shimmering sound echoed beside him. He froze, looking over his shoulder. Nahida and Oliver followed his gaze.
A glowing blue portal had torn open near them, swirling brightly against the corrupted red hue of the world. Above the opening, glitchy text floated in mid-air, spelling out: Sub-7.
Something... no, someone stepped out of it. Human? Monster? It had the silhouette of a person, but jagged blue crystals jutted out from their skin at all angles. Their face was entirely obscured, half-covered by a dark, obsidian-like rock material. Flashes of pale skin peeked through the crystals, hinting that there might be a human underneath it all. A blue cape swished behind them, and in their hands, they held a long, yellow crystalline weapon embedded with blue shards, ending in a shape that resembled the teeth of a key and the tip of the weapon.
Zhongli gasped, instantly ushering the group back. "Step back!" he commanded.
Oliver tightened his grip on Venti, gently dragging his unconscious boyfriend backward. But the new creature wasn't looking at them.
It was marching straight toward the dark entity.
The dark creature was still glitching, barely able to move, but it caught a glimpse of the crystalline figure. "No..." it panicked, thrashing in clear distress. "How did you find this dimension..." It tried to flee but couldn't move fast enough. "Get away from me!"
The crystal being aimed its key-like weapon at the dark creature, ensnared it with some unseen force, and with a single, fluid pull, tossed the entity straight into the blue portal. The caped figure slowly walked over to the rift, their grip tight on the weapon.
The Archons just stared in absolute disbelief.
The figure stopped right at the edge of the portal. Their blue cape, which had a large yellow number '1' stitched onto the back, fluttered in the faint breeze that was left in the world. They looked over their shoulder, glancing between the Archons before locking their gaze onto the unconscious Anemo Archon.
Zhongli stood firmly on guard, and so did Nahida. Oliver glanced between the gods, then shifted into a protective fighting stance with his sword.
The caped creature raised its weapon. The Archons and the human braced themselves.
"Heal," the caped creature said softly. The voice sounded distinctly like a young man's.
A glowing green flower suddenly materialized above the group. It bloomed open, and glowing green petals showered down over them.
Venti gasped awake, suddenly clutching his chest.
"Venti!" Oliver gasped, dropping his stance and holding him tight.
Zhongli blinked, staring hard at the caped man.
The crystal creature offered a single nod, looked back toward the portal, and leaped inside.
The moment the portal snapped shut, the universe righted itself. The sickening red hue vanished, replaced by the familiar, welcoming warmth of Mondstadt. All of Teyvat was back to normal. The birds began to sing again, and the unbearable glitching was entirely gone.
The three Archons looked at each other in stunned silence.
"Is everyone alright?" Zhongli asked finally.
Venti blinked, slowly pushing himself to his feet. "I... I think so."
"Hey, be careful—" Oliver said quickly, keeping a steadying hand on his boyfriend.
"Whoo!" Venti exhaled, shaking his head and ruffling the magnificent wings behind him. "Wow! That was a battle."
"That was almost near to impossible," Zhongli muttered, looking back up at the clear sky. "So terrible that... they got involved."
"Huh?" Venti blinked, flashing his wings. "Wait — who got involved? What did I miss?"
"Celestia," Zhongli said. "The entire landscape of theirs actually floated down here to weaken our threat,"
Venti blinked, looking at Zhongli with a thoroughly perplexed expression. "Seriously? They don't... normally do that."
"That's what I'm saying," Zhongli agreed. "Whatever that creature was, it was worse than any threat we've ever come across. Worse than the Abyss."
"And what was that crystal person?" Nahida asked.
Venti blinked again. "I'm sorry, the what now?"
"You were knocked out," Zhongli explained, which promoted Oliver to nod in agreement.
"Yeah," Oliver added, looking at Venti worriedly. "It did something to you, and it... nearly damaged everything..." Oliver wrapped his arms around Venti, pulling him into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."
Venti let out a soft sigh, melting into the embrace and hugging Oliver back. "Yeah," he said softly. "I feel... pretty good, actually."
Zhongli nodded slowly. "So do I. That last one — it healed us somehow."
Oliver pulled back from the hug, but a sudden flush of red crept up his neck as he fully realized that his boyfriend was still in his majestic, winged Archon form—the one he was always talking about. Oliver swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to Venti's bare midriff before flicking back up to meet Venti's eyes.
Venti, of course, was already smirking at him.
Zhongli stood nearby, silently observing the exchange.
"Venti," Zhongli spoke up, breaking the moment. "Are you close with this one?"
Venti looked over. "What? Jelly, Mr. Rock Man?"
Zhongli let out a flat grunt. "I'm simply asking," he said. "Because if he is, he's seen what you are now."
"Eh, he's been known!" Venti chuckled waving a hand dismissively. "Anyways, this victory calls for a celebration! To Diluc's, for his amazing dandelion wine!!!" The bard declared proudly, spinning on his heel and marching off toward the city.
Zhongli sighed. "Of course," he shook his head, watching Venti walk off. "With your archon clothes still on you?"
Venti froze mid-step. "Oh! Oops—" He snapped his fingers, and in a flurry of anemo magic, transformed back into his familiar bard attire. "There we go!" He adjusted his green hat, making sure the Cecilia flower was tucked perfectly inside. "Okay! To the tavern!"
"Why are you calling him Venti?" Nahida asked as she fell into step beside Zhongli. "I thought the Anemo Archon was called Barbatos?"
"Uh oh," Zhongli muttered. "Venti." He called out to his fellow Archon as his own glowing attire faded back into his standard mortal suit. "You might want to tell Nahida about your entire thing, or else she's going to ruin your secret in your own nation."
"Oh! Yeah, just call me Venti!" Venti beamed over his shoulder. Then, lowering his voice into a much more serious, pleading tone, he added, "Seriously..."
Nahida blinked in surprise, but then nodded with a bright, small smile. "Okay! ...Uh, Venti!"