Cursed

Chapter 41: Keqing's Weakness

The day of the main tournament had arrived. An arena filled with mostly citizens of Fontaine eagerly waited with excitement. A defensive barrier that was cast by Zhongli covered the audience, and the Archon's along with Neuvillette soon took their seats in an area above everyone else.

The first battle was between Ayaka and Keqing, Bennet and Kitayuu made sure that they were able to get a good view of the fight to try to spot any weaknesses or flaws that Keqing might be hiding. Other contestants in the round of 16 were in a changing room, but soon they also went to sit down with the rest.

As Keqing was going down the stairs to the arena grounds, she felt a strong presence near her. After looking up, she saw Raiden making his way up the stairs staring down right into her soul. His face emotionless, but mind full of conflict.

Keqing decided to ignore him and started walking through the dark hallway leading to the main battle arena. As soon as she walked out the crowd cheered as the two contestants made their way facing each other in the arena. Neuvillette made his way by floating down slowly before standing between the both of them. "Same rules as before, go all out. If something looks like it is about to go wrong, I will stop the fight."

Both girls nodded at him before he floated back up to where he would be spectating. Once he was back, he lifted his cane up and tapped it on the floor twice, "Let the battle begin!"

Ayaka immediately jumped back and took a deep breath. Keqing didn't move an inch, and remained standing in the same position with both arms at her side. Once Ayaka landed further away, she blew into the area in front and a thick frosty mist quickly covered the arena, lowering the temperature drastically.

As soon as the battle started Kitayuu closed his eyes. Bennet nudged him, "Hey! Aren't you going to help me look for weaknesses"

Kitayuu slapped his hand off, "Wait, let me focus for a moment"

It was difficult to see inside the area as it was fully covered with a thick mist. Keqing still stood there motionless, but Ayaka was nowhere to be seen. Keqing felt a swift movement behind her, but did not react. All that could be heard was the sound of something freezing, and when everyone least expected it, a small ice spike came out of the ground right in front of Keqing. With her quick reaction time, she took a step back, but she was caught off guard when the foot she used slipped on the surface behind. It turned out, Ayaka had made an ice trail whilst travelling through the ground which explained the movement that Keqing felt before. Keqing fell back as she slipped and Ayaka finally revealed herself up front. A snowball had formed in one of her palms. However, before she knew it, Keqing was now behind her as if she had just teleported. Ayaka tried to quickly turn around and aim, but Keqing swatted the snowball out and it ended up hitting the ground which instantly froze it solid. Keqing then placed her palm on Ayaka and blasted her back with an electric pulse.

As soon as this happened, Kitayuu's ear twitched. Bennet looked at him strangely, but did not interrupt as he was now deep in focus with his eyelids now closing tighter and a bit of sweat coming from the side of his face. Ayaka quickly got back up, but Keqing was already right in front of her again with an electro infused punch. Ayaka had no choice, but to roll to the side before the fist could connect and she quickly disappeared into the ground again. Unfortunately for her, Keqing predicted this move and hit the ground again, sending electro energy through the area which caught Ayaka and electrocuted her out. Keqing shot a lightning spore trying to snipe Ayaka whilst she was midair after popping out of the ground. Ayaka countered with her own cryo spore and once Keqing got in close again, Ayaka stomped on the ground hard and a circular area around her started freezing rapidly. Keqing managed to halt before going in, but it seemed like her foot was caught by the ice. Ayaka used this opening to attack from the side, but Keqing ducked and blasted her away with another electro pulse.

"I got it!"

Kitayuu opened his eyes, a big smile on his face.

"Tell me, what?"

"Keqing does have a weakness after all"

Bennet opened his mouth in shock, not believing what he just heard, "I'm all ears"

Kitayuu; "it's not that easy to spot, which is why I had to put all my focus into it. Whilst I was training with Hu Tao, one exercise we did was dealing with surprise attacks. Hu Tao would hide in the fog and randomly attack me out of nowhere when I least expected it. At one point, I was on alert for two hours waiting for an attack. I had to keep my guard up and try to sense her energy just in the nick of time if I wanted to block. She mentioned that no one, even the most elite fighters were unable to conceal their energy 100% of the time especially if they were in battle. So what I did was I focused entirely on Keqing and tried to sense any fluctuations. I noticed that everytime she uses an energy attack, there is a surge in her energy that reveals how much she has. Hu Tao also mentioned that a lot of people struggle with this and if you focus hard enough you will know exactly how much they have."

Bennet tilted his head in confusion, "I do not understand a single word you said, how is this supposed to help me?"

Kitayuu moaned in frustration, "it's not rocket science you idiot, what I'm saying is I was able to figure out how much energy Keqing has! If I am correct, her reserves are a lot lower than average, meaning if you force an endurance match with her, she will struggle!"

Bennet; "Now that I understand! So all I have to do is draw the battle out"

Kitayuu nodded, "Easier said than done, I think Keqing is well aware of this weakness which is why she is one of the best in our class at concealing her energy and fights in a way that limits the amount of mistakes she makes."

The battle was over. With an attack so fast it was not visible to the eye. Ayaka fell to her knees and passed out.

Bennet and Kitayuu only just noticed how quickly the battle ended. Keqing stood there unscathed and returned to the locker room without a moment to waste.

Bennet; "Well, it's my turn now, I guess it's better to worry about Keqing later."

He stood up from his seat and headed downstairs. Gepard, who was meant to fight Bennet, did the same. For a moment, there was a sense of doubt in Kitayuu as there was no guarantee Bennet was able to defeat Gepard. All he could do was watch.

Whist being deep in thought, Kitayuu felt someone take a seat next to him where Bennet was previously, "You have proven yourself helpful to me"

Kitayuu; "What did I do-" He paused for a moment after lifting his head up to see who was sitting next to him.

Raiden who had a smirk on his face stared right down at the arena watching Keqing go back inside, "Oh don't act oblivious"

He raised his arm and put it right around Kitayuu's neck and leaned closer to his ear, "Keqing has a weakness doesn't she?"

Kitayuu's eyes widened in shock, "You bastard"

Raiden chuckled at his reaction, "No need to hide"

Raiden's grip tightened on Kitayuu and pulled him closer to the point Kitayuu could feel his breath on his ear, "I heard everything"

After whispering in his ear, Raiden let go and stood up again, returning to his original seat. Kitayuu tried not to think much about it, but instead put his focus on Bennet who was now entering the arena along with Gepard, 'It doesn't matter whether or not he knows about Keqing weakness, because once Bennet finds the perfect counter. Raiden will be fighting him instead, but that's if I don't beat him myself first'

He clenched his fist as he thought about it. Meanwhile Bennet and Gepard were standing just a few feet away from each other. Each on of them determined to win this match.

"Let the battle begin!"