The air grew thick as molten metal. Every step I took toward the heart of the seal resonated with a dull tremor, as if the mountain itself groaned beneath the weight of a forgotten memory. I, Dan Heng, moved forward in silence, my gaze fixed on the darkened horizon. Beside me, Morax—not the consultant of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, but the God of Rock and Contracts—walked with a solemnity that chilled the blood.
Then, the earth roared.
Golden fissures ignited beneath our feet. An ancient bellow erupted from the depths, shaking the land as though Teyvat itself was answering a long-lost call.
The sky over Liyue darkened. This was no mere storm, but a suffocating gloom, heavy with the sorrow of millennia. And from the bowels of the earth, Azhdaha emerged.
His colossal body was riddled with black cracks that seeped a corrupt vapor. His hollow eyes burned with mindless fury, and each of his steps shattered stone like glass.
Morax descended in a swirl of amber light, a stone spear in hand, his expression grave… yet shadowed by something like nostalgia.
"You've returned, old friend…" he said, his voice deep as a funeral bell.
But before he could act, I stepped between them. The white and cerulean folds of my Vidyadhara heritage fluttering in the wind, I raised a hand toward the Archon.
"Morax. Don't interfere. This battle… is mine."
(Archons aren't the best suited for fighting—just ask the people of Watatsumi Island what happened when Raiden Ei clashed with Orobashi.)
The God of Contracts studied me in silence. Only Azhdaha's roar filled the air.
"Azhdaha is no longer the one I once knew. His corruption is beyond remedy."
"I know." I turned my gaze to the colossal dragon and said, "That's why I'm not here to destroy him… I'm here to save him."
Behind me, the Gate of Babylon materialized, its golden doors rotating like constellations. Morax watched me for a long moment… then finally nodded.
"I will protect Liyue. Do what you must."
With a sweep of his spear, he raised a golden dome over the mountains—a shield enveloping every village in the vicinity.
And then, the battle began.
The Enkidu chains from the Gate of Babylon shot forth like celestial serpents, coiling around Azhdaha's limbs and anchoring themselves into the earth. Using telekinesis akin to Tatsumaki's, I slammed the beast into the ground with enough force to split the cavern apart.
(I knew it… His strength is like Hercules in his Berserker state. If not for my telekinesis, he'd probably break free in no time.)
As Azhdaha struggled to free himself, I was already hovering in the air, my draconic energy swirling like flames.
"Azhdaha!" I shouted. "Remember! You were this land's guardian, not its destroyer!"
"Sacred Dissipation"
I summoned Aqua's power to purge the erosion from his body, but it seemed too deeply rooted.
(At this rate, only an empty husk will remain…)
So, I invoked the power of Mio Takamiya. Time around Azhdaha twisted. The cracks in his body receded.
And in that moment, clarity returned to his eyes.
"Morax… Why… did you abandon me?" he whispered, his voice almost human.
Morax tightened his grip on his spear. He didn't answer.
But I did.
"He never did. He kept you in every stone, in every contract, in every promise Liyue holds dear."
And as tears of stone fell from Azhdaha's face, I knew—for at least a fleeting moment—we had reached him.
The black fissures scarring Azhdaha's body began to close, slowly healing. Fragments of corruption sloughed off his skin like withered scales. The sacred water had purified his essence, and Mio Takamiya's power had restored what the erosion had stolen.
I landed softly, the tip of my spear planted in the earth. I took a deep breath, feeling the draconic fire still pulsing in my veins. Before me, the ancient dragon inhaled… and for the first time in centuries, his roar was not of rage, but of clarity.
His golden eyes, now free from the haze of corruption, settled on me.
"You… are not of this world." His voice rumbled like an echo in the deepest caverns. "And yet… you have made me remember."
Then, his gaze shifted to Morax, who stood motionless upon a cliff, his golden silhouette outlined against the shadows.
"Morax…" Azhdaha murmured, and this time, there was no anger in his tone—only the weight of ancient respect.
The Archon descended, his spear now still at his back. The shield protecting Liyue still held, but in that moment, he was not a god… just an old friend burdened with guilt.
"Forgive me."
His words were barely a whisper, fractured by millennia of remorse. The silence that followed was so thick it seemed to halt time itself.
Azhdaha studied him for a long moment… then bowed his head. His horns grazed the ground in a gesture of reverence.
"It was not your fault." The dragon's voice was serene, like stone smoothed by the ages. "The corruption was inevitable. My fury… was the price of our longevity."
His eyes, now clear, returned to me.
"But he… has returned what time stole from me."
I said nothing. There was no need. Morax, the weight of centuries etched in his gaze, broke the silence:
"What will you do now?"
Azhdaha lifted his gaze to the mountains, as if searching them for an answer. A deep sigh, like the rumble of a distant quake, escaped his chest.
"I am no longer Liyue's guardian. My claws have brought as much pain as protection…"
I nodded. Not with pride, but with quiet understanding.
"You are free. The corruption no longer binds you."
The dragon closed his eyes. For a moment, his body seemed to merge with the stone, as if the earth itself embraced him one last time.
Then, Azhdaha retreated back into his cave.
Before fully disappearing, he turned to Morax one last time:
"Remember this, old friend… you were never a merciless god. You were a brother. Even when we lost our way."
Morax watched until his form faded into the stone. Only then did he draw a deep breath… and smile. A small smile, heavy with centuries of grief—and at last, peace.
"Thank you… for giving him the ending I could not."
I simply nodded. There was no triumph in my eyes. Only understanding.
The sky over Liyue began to clear, and with it, the weight of an era dissolved into the wind.
✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦
Author's Note:
This chapter gave me so much trouble! I initially had a different concept, but when I was nearly finished, I remembered Azhdaha is an earth dragon - meaning all those aerial battle scenes I wrote made no sense and had to be scrapped.
I wrote Zhongli fully embracing his Morax persona to match the seriousness of the situation. The real headache came when trying to design the battle mechanics. Most of his abilities are instant-kill moves, but I needed a purification approach instead. That's when inspiration struck - remembering how Enkidu's chains kept breaking in Fate, combined with Tatsumaki's telekinesis from One Punch Man. It just clicked, especially since Geo characters like Noelle and Itto are all about raw physical power.