chapter 25 - impossible battle

(Credits: STE7619 on twitter)

The plan was actually so simple, I felt kind of ashamed that I wasn't the one who came up with it.

The hole I discovered above the cave wasn't big enough to climb through, but it was good for entering a small object. Diluc's first idea was the camera, but I had an another device with me that my mom invented and that I thought is a better choice. It wasn't fully ready yet, but it served our purpose. The device didn't have a name yet. It was two small, round shaped things. In a certain range, you can speak to someone who is further away from you. My mom called it a walkie-talkie, but she wasn't content with the name, so she told me to not use it.

Once the sun fully set, and we had a quick dinner, we ascended from our hiding spot carefully. Before we reached our spot, Diluc grabbed my hand softly.

"Tessa..." he was staring deeply in my eyes, he looked serious.

"What is it?" I smiled at him softly.

"I've... made up my mind" he breathed out.

"About what?"

"About us" he said. My heartbeat fastened at this statement.

Eventually, I just gave him a soft smile. "It can wait until the end of the mission"

"But..." he opposed. "If anything would go wrong, I wanted you to know..."

I covered his mouth with my hand.

"Then do anything to avoid being caught" I chuckled. "If it is bad news, then I don't want any distraction... and if it is good news... well, then I would gladly hear it after this mission"

He nodded. "Okay, I understand" he said, then he shifted his focus on the task before us. We approached the hole, then I grabbed the device and started wrapping my dendro tendrils around it.

I started ascending it to the hole when a voice called for us.

"What your rats are doing around here?" We turned around, facing four fatui behind us. We didn't even notice them...

They started cornering us, forcing us to back off and jumping down right in front of the cave, where the guards were.

Now we were surrounded by seven Fatui. Two skirmishers, an agent, two gunners and two vanguards.

Not good.

We can't avoid fighting after all. I summoned my catalyst, while Diluc's claymore appeared in his hand.

"The three small guys are mine. You take the big ones" I told Diluc and he answered with a small nod.

The Fatui didn't wait for us to start the fight, they started attacking right away. They went by the same logic we had, the skirmishers and the agent chose me as their opponent.

I quickly summoned dendro tendrils and sent them to the direction of the skirmishers. I wrapped the tendrils around them, this way they lost balance. I pulled the tendrils so they fell, but I couldn't catch a breath: the agent was suddenly in front of me, throwing his knifes at my direction. I dodged his attack by simply jumping back, but he didn't give up. I sent a dendro attack to his direction, I hit his shoulder.

"Don't underestimate the bitch" he shouted in the direction of the skirmishers who already started getting up from the ground. One of them shoot their weapon in my direction. The bullet brushed my shoulder, just slightly, I didn't even feel any pain because of the adrenaline.

I summoned the tendrils again, now in the direction of the agent while I was trying hard to avoid the bullets from the skirmishers. Sadly, my tendrils didn't damage the enemy too much, but it was easier to pull them in one area where I could use my most powerful attack.

I wrapped the tendrils around the agent tightly, but he immediately cut them with his knives. It was frustrating. I glanced quickly at Diluc, he did pretty well, but his opponents were still standing still. I ran towards him, and turned around to keep my eyes on my opponents. Our backs touched with Diluc as I was quickly telling him my plan, while continuously keeping my opponents occupied with my attacks.

"Try to lure all of them into one area, let's see... in a circle, with around a 8-10 meter radius. When I say so, release your falcon, okay?" I quickly said, and when he breathed out a quick yes, I ran in the direction of the skirmishers. I successfully avoided all the bullets, then I wrapped the tendrils around their arms and quickly pulled them. I saw Diluc bringing his opponents closer to me as well.

Once all the Fatui were in the certain area I desired I quickly stopped and concentrated on my most powerful attack.

I clapped my palms then shouted "Tree of knowledge, aid my fight!"

A big tree infused with pure dendro powers appeared in front of me, its leaves started falling to the ground. I didn't have full control of the attack yet, I needed all my focus to control the sharp leaves to hit the enemies, and I couldn't sustain the tree for too long.

"Diluc, now!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. He released his pyro falcon as I asked it from him. The combination of our powerful pyro and dendro attacks immediately knocked out all seven Fatui around us.

We stood there, panting. We both only had minor injuries, nothing a small bandage can't solve. The tiredness, however was a bigger issue.

"We should retreat" he said and I nodded. But as we turned around to leave, a dozen of other Fatui ran out of the cave surrounding us.

"You gotta be kidding me" I chuckled darkly. There's no way we would be able to take them as well. Well, we were about to try it anyway.

We took our fighting stance, but the Fatui didn't move, like they were waiting for something.

A heavy rain started falling from the sky, like a mournful backdrop to our impossible situation. Through the sound of rain, I heard palms clapping together in a slow rhythm.

From the cave, a woman appeared, the torches at the entrance lit her figure. She had long, gray hair with a single black lock in front. Her eyes looked threatening in the dark, it was grey and red, glowing menacingly. She was relatively tall, surely taller than me, and she wore a big, white coat.

"You put on a nice show, that's for sure" she chuckled darkly. "But everyone has their own limits of entertaining the bystanders. They will get bored eventually"

"Who are you?" asked Diluc threateningly.

"That is none of your concern for now" she stated calmly, then she pulled out her weapon.

We intended to defend ourselves, but I lost my consciousness before I could even realize what happened...

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Author's note

Well uhm sorry if you don't like this chapter or the previous ones in this small mission arc.

The idea actually sounded a lot better in my head, but when I started writing it, the good ideas suddenly kept avoiding me, and I feel like I can't really connect the dots.

But I love action too & stuff and I wanted to practice writing it, well... I have a long way to learn.

I am still trying my best though to make it interesting but I am sorry if it doesn't meet the expectations :( It won't be too long I swear!!

See you in next chapter xx