"That's a Domain." Sai claimed with certainty. He was very intrigued by the sudden development.
Viktor paused on his steps and Beidou asked:
"A Domain? Like the Hypostasis'?"
"No, not like that one. I'm not too sure myself, but this is probably an ancient domain. A relic from the past, maybe from the time of the Archon War… That is not an exit."
"Wow, I'm impressed. How did you know?" Viktor clapped a couple of times and faced the pair again. "It is indeed a domain."
"...What are you planning?" Sai questioned.
"You caught me. Okay, I'll be honest." He raised his hands as if portraying his innocence and continued. "I was tasked with investigating this domain and assessing its danger, but many of the men I sent wouldn't return. After a lot of trial and error, they finally discovered that the element Electro worked much better than the others inside the domain. But I'm almost out of men, so for now I have no choice but to rely on outsiders like you both."
"You want us to enter the domain for you?!" Sai thought that was an insane course of events.
"Ah, I don't want you to work for free, we will reward you handsomely. I just want you to go and kill the boss on the fourth floor and then come back. Of course, you have to return us any treasure you find, but we will compensate for every piece. What do you say? I'll tell you how to start it once you get inside. You just-"
"Hahahah! You want to use us for your mission and rip us off after that? You must have lost it." Beidou wouldn't take no bullshit, and she laughed out loud.
"...I can promise one million mora for each of you if you manage to do it. How does that sound?"
Sai found the amount to be impressive enough, but…
"How can we trust that you won't turn your back on us later?"
"I swear in the name of my lady, La Signora, that I shall reward you fairly after you clear the fourth floor!"
"Swear it on the name of the Tsaritsa!" Sai insisted.
"You! How dare you use Her Majesty's name! Arrrghhh! Forget it, I lost my patience. I shall personally throw you inside."
Viktor sounded really furious this time, with a voice that reminded Sai of the distortions on the voicelines of the Fatui (in-game). The lieutenant summoned a spiked mace, rolled up his sleeves, and walked towards them.
Beidou summoned her greatsword, assumed a fighting posture, and grinned widely.
"Hahaha! That's what I was waiting for! Come at me!"
Sai quickly stepped back and started calculating something.
*Boooom*
Beidou had punched a hole through the wall right besides Sai before the latter could even blink. The whole cave shook from the impact.
"C-captain?"
Viktor stretched a couple more times and kept walking in their direction.
"Ooof! Haha! It seems I underestimated him a little. I'm going to have to go a bit serious this time."
She jumped off from the hole and shook off the dirt on her.
"Wait, hold up. Let's run away, Beidou. The cave might collapse and those guys from before might get here any minute now and-"
"Sai." She looked back at him for an instant. "Just stay there and wait for me. I've been feeling like butchering this guy for a while now. Haah!"
Almost too fast for him to see, Beidou charged and brought down her sword on Viktor, who tried parrying it. He succeeded at first, but the second time launched him through the air much like his opponent before.
"Hahah! Watch and learn, kid!" She shouted as she jumped into Viktor again.
Meanwhile, Sai kept counting the time. It had been about a hundred seconds since the Fatui group had left from behind him.
"Th-that eyepatch… Are you the captain of that shi-"
*Boom!*
Since all their interactions from the first strike until now took about twenty seconds, they had something close to a 60-seconds gap before the other Fatuis got here.
*Clang!*
That is, of course, considering they were walking, and that they had normal human strength.
*Bang!*
Considering reaction time and situation assessment…
*Boom!*
Rounding down some…
*Clatter*
"30… maybe 20 seconds…"
*Bang!*
*Clash!*
"Beidou! If you don't finish this in 15 seconds, the other Fatui will get here!"
*Zam!*
As if she had heard his words, Beidou came flying towards him. Just before she turned him into a bloody pulp with her own body, she thrust her sword onto the ground to decelerate, resulting in a normal fall into Sai.
"Heuk!" Sai grunted.
"My bad. But you have such a weak body, huh?"
"Just… get off me." *Breathes* "Did you hear me? They are almost here!"
"Haahh… but I almost had him…" Beidou complained as she stood up.
And just like on time, the Geo mage had just reached the clearing.
"Lieutenant, sir!"
*Step*
*Step*
*Step*
Viktor slowly walked towards them, but his mace felt visibly heavy for him, and his arm was all bloodied. Compared to the barely panting Beidou, he was in a much worse state.
"Alright, foul thing. Let's get this over with, yeah?" Beidou taunted and retrieved her sword from the ground.
"Mila… She's much stronger than I thought. But we must accomplish our mission. For our Lady, and for Her Majesty the Tsaritsa!" He raised his mace again.
Sai and Beidou watched him in a stupor. The former even felt butterflies in his stomach.
Mila, the Geo mage and second in command, regained her composure and lifted her staff.
Viktor shouted and swang at the wall with all his remaining strength, just as the Geo mage had struck at the ceiling with all her weapon's might:
"WE MUST BURY THEM RIGHT HERE!!!"
"Beidoooou!!!"
*BOOOOOM!!*
*Rumble!*