Proof of A Hero Part 1 - The Heart's Shield

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"Why, Noelle!?" Aether asked, as he held an unconscious Ayaka in his arms.

"Why, Aether~? I simply got rid of the competition. Now I, your knight will be the one to protect you, love you... And end you." Noelle explained.

The couple met Noelle outside The Chasm after they accepted a local commission at Liyue Harbor to investigate the location. Hilichurls have been seen going into the depths of the huge mining site only to never return. They met Dain as well, who was unable to see that Noelle is different. This Noelle looks pretty much like her, but with blue roses and black armor. She attacked first by stabbing Ayaka in the back with a claymore similar to the blood tainted greatsword, and what's worse is that it has poison that is slowly killing Ayaka from the inside.

"You should know.... A rose can be poisonous as well... With how bewitching they look."

They were trapped in a strange location, an upside down city where a ritual is being commenced which forcibly tries to end the lives of the hilichurls, Abyss knights, Halfdan, who is Dain's comrade and Dain himself. However something is amiss as Noelle is not affected by the ritual.

"Forgive me, Traveler... I should've known..."

"Don't give up on me, Dain... But why isn't she affected!?"

"Maybe because she isn't her..."

Suddenly all four crystals that are part of the ritual shattered as Adeptus portals appeared from each of them, and slashes of geo energy destroyed them. The ritual gets cancelled as a result.

"Master Dain is correct, Aether. That is not me." Noelle's voice reverberated throughout the city.

"Noelle!? Where are you!?" Aether asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Ah!" Paimon muttered, pointing to a position behind the Noelle impostor.

An adeptus portal suddenly opens behind the impostor, and from within Noelle thrusted her claymore to the back of the impostor, knocking her down. However a few seconds later she jumped back up and looked at the attacker.

"So, you have appeared... The real me..."

The real Noelle didn't reply anything. She held Whiteblind with both hands gripping the hilt, as the impostor simply casts her hand to summon the tainted sword back to her.

Maybe I can still beat her without using my powers... She's basically the same old me, without that power.

The two Noelles then charged towards each other, and struck their gigantic blades against each other. They then channeled their power, that two domes of barriers, one out of the Abyss and one out of geo to form. They instantly shatter, knocking the two of them back.

"Aether, please take Lady Ayaka and Dain away from this location!"

"What about you, Noelle?"

"I will defeat the impostor."

"Got it. Come on, Dain..." Aether said, getting one of Dain's arms to go over his shoulders before walking away.

The two Noelles begin to sidestep around the upside down fountain, looking for a way to attack. Noelle then struck first, slashing the impostor over the cuirass over and over but dealing barely any damage. The impostor then retaliated by slashing her back over and over at the same spot with barely any damage done. Afterwards, they swung their claymores at the same time, this time the force caused them to lose their grips on the hilts, and the two swords were tossed away. Now they fight bare-handed, the of them throwing punches and kicks which were either dodged or blocked. At any moment that their fists connect with each other, Noelle's hits caused a light out of geo to explode on the area that she hit, while the imposter caused a dark blotch.

At one point, the impostor tries to land a punch to Noelle's head but the latter ducked down, turned around and stood up before performing a three-quarter facelock using her right arm, to do a snapmare, the impostor laid down flat on the ground but before Noelle can get any closer the impostor kicked back up and did the same move as Noelle did before, making the latter to lie down on the ground this time, before she raised her right leg, and stomped down on Noelle's chest using her heels.

The impostor pulls Noelle upwards, and threw more punches to the gut before throwing her to the wall that nearly breaks from the force and knocked the air out of Noelle. Noelle slowly stood up, her body trembling, and her vision on her ribbon losing it's light. She sluggishly walked over to the impostor, and threw slow punches at her, which made her laugh.

"Now to end you..."

Suddenly, vines appeared from the impostor's roses, that bind both of Noelle's wrists, and pulled her up before saying her final sentence.

"Do not worry. I will continue to live on happily as you from now on."

Noelle struggles to get herself free from the vines, but not before the impostor's eyes glowed in the dark light of the abyss that shoots two rays of that light to Noelle's heart.

Everything suddenly became cold. Even colder than when she felt back in Dragonspine, as Noelle then slumped down after the vines finally unbind themselves from her wrists. Her vision is now completely dark, and her once life-filled eyes became dull. The impostor laughed, before kicking her to the floor, where she struggled to even lift a finger, before all senses in her body vanished, and everything faded to black as she closed her eyes slowly.

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