Return of The Maid-Knight (A Genshin Impact Fanfiction)

Clash of Two Dancers

Nilou started her move, as Ayaka slowly unsheathed her tachi at the ready. However her moves are akin to that of a slow, yet elegant dance, as she waved her blade, before striking quickly like a scorpion's sting. Ayaka nearly failed to parry off the attack, to which Nilou smiled behind her veil of hydro.

She unleashes a few more slashes, which grew stronger with each swing and starts to tire out Ayaka, who tries to strike back with her cryo infused blade, and with one downward slash she manages to counterattack Nilou, only to witness her float backwards gracefully with the raiment's aid leaving behind a frozen clone, as it turns out that Nilou conjured a hydro clone just in time before the dodge.

The hydro clone then shattered into pieces, as Nilou then used the shattering as cover to unleash her next few slashes.

"So, what happened these last few days is because of your clone?!" Ayaka asked, on account of Aether and Paimon repeating the Sabzeruz festival over and over again, although both Ayaka and Noelle were not affected.

"As I said, yes it is. I wanted to see how long can Aether last... As I thought, possessing the Grand Sage's knowledge of his plans helped me plan ahead."

"You possessed the Grand Sage's knowledge!? How can such feat be done?!"

"Every time I possess someone, like dear Noelle back there, I always make sure to always leave at least a droplet of me within their brains to eavesdrop on whatever they are doing. The Grand Sage fell for it as a result, and I cannot wait to see the looks on his face when he finds out the reality of what I did..."

"Just, how many of you are there!?"

"I've lost count. Both of whom I used to spy, or whom I have consumed."

"Consumed... What do you mean?"

"If I feel like it, I can consume the person I possess from the inside, drowning them and stripping them off their skin and flesh. That one small droplet, if it may wish to, will absorb any surrounding fluids causing that droplet to become a body of water, and when enough, then the consuming phase begins."

"And how many innocents have you--"

"Innocents? Oh, I never consume innocents. But for those nosy Eremites who tried to get rid of me..."

Nilou then performed one sudden slash, which Ayaka blocked, and now their blades are locked against each other, the two wielders struggling to gain the upper hand.

"And what do you plan to do with Aether after he finally wakes up!?"

"I make my move. But you are in the way, and you make it rather difficult for me to talk to him."

Ayaka infuses her blade with cryo, freezing Nilou's hydro infused blade, and kicked her away. She then managed to do a dashing slash which Nilou avoided just in time by summoning another hydro clone which then shatters to pieces. Turning around, Ayaka sees Nilou attempting to thrust her blade to her exposed chest to which Ayaka counters by side stepping and stomped on the blade, giving her a window of opportunity to slash Nilou again.

"You're open!"

And with a thrust to her bare back, Nilou let out a gasp. After a second, Ayaka pulled out her blade, only to see that instead of blood, water sprayed out of the wound.

"What!? Another clone!?"

"Yes. All this time you have been wasting your precious time on that clone." Nilou's voice whispered behind Ayaka.

Ayaka quickly flew away, and regained her posture before dashing back to attack Nilou again. Nilou however parried and dodged her attacks in a dance like manner, and with one slash with a slow wind-up, she managed to successfully land an attack on Ayaka, who then looked down to see that Nilou has scratched her cuirass.

"That was close!"

And in a speed of light, Ayaka around Nilou, and plunged her blade into her back again. However, Nilou's body then breaks down into water again, and another one appears behind Ayaka, attempting to attack from behind. Ayaka turned around, and managed to deflect the sneak attack, but not before Nilou's blade scratched her cuirass again at the same spot.

"What is going on here?! It seems like we're fighting in an endless cycle..."

"There is no use trying to struggle, Shirasagi Himegimi. Now I wonder... How long will you last?" Nilou asked, grinning behind her translucent hydro veil.

'I get it. If I break the cycle... Maybe then I can beat her.'

Ayaka then took out her fan, and opened it obscuring the lower half of her face. Afterwards, she began to make a dance move, seemingly trying to mimic Nilou's attack. Her dance is slow, yet dangerous as Ayaka made quick attacks using her tachi during some of her moves. Nilou managed to parry off some of Ayaka's slashes, and made counterattacks that consists of slow paced heavy slashes which were all parried as well. The both of them began to tire out after a while of the dance-fight. Night soon begins to end, and a new day is starting.

"Kamisato Ryuu: Soumetsu!" With one swing of her fan, Ayaka summons a blizzard.

Nilou grinned, as she then crossed her arms to an X shape, and a barrier of hydro shaped like a lotus bloomed from the ground, which the blizzard fails to pierce, and it only freezes the hydro it hits. Afterwards, Ayaka dashed forwards, and shattered the frozen petal, only to be met with a moon shaped slash made out of hydro which hits Ayaka, sending her knocked out of control, and tumbling to the ground.

"You are indeed a talented dancer. And out of respect, I shall make this quick."

With a small chuckle, Ayaka's vision fades to black.

After what seems to be a year of the time cycles, or that's just Aether and Paimon exaggerating about their state of mind after redoing the Sabzeruz festival over and over again, they finally managed to find out that the Samsara is indeed a dream, and the host is none other than Nilou. After making sure that her worries of being investigated by the Akademiya are gone since the Grand Sage that appears to postpone the festival turns out to be a puppet, Nilou succeeded in performing the dance that Aether and Dunyarzad yearned to see.

After the dance, the dream was over. Both Aether and Paimon woke up, finally relieved over the fact that the problem is over and headed over to see Dunyarzad who has awoken from her sickly slumber, accompanied by Katheryne. However, the duo knew who is using Katheryne as a vessel right now, and chuckled gleefully over their success. They then headed to the city streets again to look for Ayaka and Noelle, and not before...

"Aether!" Noelle called out.

"Oh, you both! I was just looking for you!"

Aether then ran towards them, and unbeknownst to him and Paimon...

Both of them are being possessed.