Morax wasn't surprised after being transported to Kenshin's plane, he was already expecting it.
His face covered by the black cowl forming the battle attire of the Geo Archon didn't reveal any feelings he may have, be it concentration, dismay or happiness.
Kenshin looked at the being he considered his first friend after Ayato and knew that this wasn't going to be easy.
And yet, he knew he needed to win.
Against Barbatos he could accept a loss, but here is different. Due to Barbatos' personality, he was able to distance himself from Mondstadt and take a rest, but Morax's determination was that of a rock, a shield.
His sense of responsibility and duty made him unable to leave Liyue even for a day, so for the 2000 years that passed since that breach in the sky appeared, he hadn't rested for a single day.
Of course, he had some days where he could just wander around the Harbor and listen to the stories his dear friends appeared in, but he was always on duty. Protecting the Harbor so many people died to establish from all threats, guiding the people and creating Mora for the whole world to function.
And Kenshin knew that Morax wouldn't change, not out of his stubbornness but out of a sense of duty. But he couldn't have that, Morax was going to be a father, and despite his intentions to retire, deep down he knew that Morax wouldn't be able to rest, there would always be the thought of 'what if the Harbor needs me'.
So Kenshin decided to start with all from the start. Barbatos told him that Morax was way stronger than him, so Kenshin didn't want to give him the initiative.
He started with the metal spears that had given him an edge against Barbatos at the start, 50 spears bigger than him appeared instantly and shot towards the calm God of Stone.
CLANG CLANG CLANG
But every single one bounced over the yellowish shield that appeared around Morax, his face unchanging.
And another 50 spears made out of high-density rocks shot towards Kenshin twice as fast, the sheer speed making a sharp sound in the air.
BOOM
Kenshin, who learned in his fight against Barbatos how to deal with ranged attacks quickly shot his own projectiles towards the spear, and at the same time, a huge meteor appeared above Morax's head.
It appeared a few hundred meters above him and was bigger than the Jade Chamber.
Kenshin couldn't make an object appear with an initial speed yet, just like he needed to create spears and then launch them, the meteor needed to gain speed even after Kenshin accelerated it as much as he could.
Morax looked upwards with a calm gaze and shot a spear equally as big towards it.
CRRRRCK
Morax's eyes slightly widened as the spear crumbled against the meteor.
"It's a very compact rock" said Kenshin making a maw appear on the floor that instantly trapped Morax.
But with another creak sound, they broke when they collided with the shield.
Morax shot another spear, bigger this time, but the result was the same. Kenshin could make a meteor as compact as he wanted.
CLANG BOOOM CRACK
A swift exchange of volleys and spears made creaking and explosion sound out of the pure magnitude of the attacks.
But it was a stalemate.
Morax's shield didn't even flicker under the ferocious assault, and Kenshin only got grazed by the shrapnel.
"To think I would need to cheat so soon" Kenshin grimaced and made the Plane start eroding Morax's soul, as this was his sure way of slowly wearing out his opponent.
But Morax wasn't affected in the least. Barbatos' soul was extremely wide and spread out so the Plane had more surface for the Plane to corrode, but Morax's soul was not only extremely concentrated, by its own nature it was extremely resistant to corrosion.
Morax was the oldest being in the world, or at least one of the oldest.
The process of Erosion of the Heavenly Principles implanted in this world was extremely effective on him, and yet he was still sane despite being extremely jaded as a product of it.
He was able to share some of his power to slow the Erosion of similarly ancient beings such as Azdaha, this revealed the extreme resistance Morax had towards any kind of eroding or corrosion process.
So Kenshin' Plane couldn't cause any significant damage to him.
Maybe in a few thousand years, or if Kenshin could make his soul experience another qualitative jump, Morax would start panting, but in this duel, it wouldn't make any effect.
CRACKLE
The crackling sound the meteor was making approaching the ground where Morax calmly stood revealed that the impact was imminent, but he didn't seem to care.
With a final push trying to catch Morax unprepared, Kenshin frowned in an effort to make the meteorite gain even more speed.
At the same time, he froze the space around Morax to block his way of escape.
And the huge meteor with some melting areas due to the sheer friction with the air impacted.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
"Cough cough" Kenshin coughed blood when the meteor collided with the floor creating a huge crater that was promptly restored under his instruction.
This Plane was his soul, and any damage to it would have repercussions in his 'body' here. The Plane was huge, so the damage to it was quite reduced when it affected his 'body' as the damage would only affect a part of his Plane, but it still hurt a lot.
CRACK
Kenshin was able to destroy the spear bigger than the Tenshukaku that came to his face just in time, but the fragments of the now broken stone spear kept moving forward, grazing his cheek and drawing first blood.
The cloud of dust dispersed, and Morax appeared with his shield unaffected by the impact that would have razed the Harbor to the ground.
"Fuck..." Kenshin cleaned the blood off his now stinging cheek and frowned seeing that the attack with the most pure destructive power he could use was useless.
Morax jumped making Kenshin feel a new pang of pain when the ground under him was destroyed, and stood in the air looking down at Kenshin with his eyes narrowed in concentration, his slitted eyes shone and the Plane turned yellow for a second.
Kenshin looked at the source of the light in the sky and opened his eyes wide.
The entire sky of the Plane, so big you couldn't even see the horizon, was covered in a yellow light Kenshin wasn't able to identify.
BOOOOM
Another huge spear was destroyed, but Kenshin was able to make a shield in time. He didn't know if his hastily made shields would be able to stop those gargantuan spears, but protecting him against the remaining fragments was easy.
And then Kenshin felt fear.
Because the whole yellow layer covering the sky was nothing more than a portal, and a humongous meteor was slowly appearing.
"AAAHHHH!" Kenshin howled in pain when he felt the brown and yellow meteor approaching.
As big as the Plane was, the meteorite was even bigger, and it was opening its way to him with brute force.
Morax's face didn't show any emotion and with a raised hand he commanded another 10 spears bigger than the Sakura Tree from the Narukami Shrine to attack the screaming Kenshin.
"ARGH!" Kenshin quickly broke them and counter-attacked, but the meteor's descent was making his whole body bleed.
CRACKLE FZZZZ
The meteor Kenshin could only see 10% of was still appearing from the portal and the curvature told him that the meteor wasn't even halfway into his Plane.
He didn't know where this huge rock came from, but what he was sure of was that if Morax used this move outside, not even the Harbor, but the entirety of Liyue would be nothing more than a huge crater.
"Dammit" Kenshin knew that the moment that meteor crashed into the Plane, he would instantly disappear, be it due to his body disintegrating or the damage the Plane would sustain.
So there were only 2 options, beat Morax before it arrived, or destroy the meteor.
But just like the rest of Morax's constructs, they had no core to speak of.
Barbatos' attacks had a focal point around which the wind was being compressed, but Morax's spears and even the meteor were just solid rocks made out of a material Kenshin wasn't sure existed in the outside world any more.
Any tries of freezing space were destined to fail as they carried so much kinetic energy, and the rocks were too dense for him to create a vacuum inside.
They were a single object, and he couldn't mess with it from the inside.
Kenshin mustered all his strength to attack Morax, but the yellow shield around him was making him feel desperation.
Was this the dismay and despair his enemies felt during the Archon War?
Now Kenshin had an inkling of the scariest part of Morax's might.
It wasn't his giant spears, nor the meteorites he had so many times joked about. It was this shield that struck helplessness in his enemies, as they were aware that the shield was unbreakable.
Morax wouldn't fall as long as his shield stood between him and the rest of the world.
And what a shield it was, Kenshin couldn't even try to release an explosion inside it, it was as if Morax wasn't here.
All because of that yellow and frail-looking shield.
So Kenshin quickly dismissed his plan. Forming as many shields that would deflect Morax's spears, he looked at the approaching...planet was a more apt word to describe the incandescent mass of molten rock.
Ignoring the pain of her soul being made to hold an object too big to contain, he closed his eyes and grouped all the dirt, soil, rocks and air he could.
Everything to make a spear that would pierce through the now stony sky.
FZZZZZZZZZ
The first thing to be compressed was wind, the one Kenshin cared about it the less. Then came some loose soil, then pebbles, and finally the ground itself started to deform, being attracted by Kenshin's ability.
Morax saw how the arrow-headed spear started forming and chose to attack him while the owner of this Plane was distracted.
This wasn't a spar, but a battle where all fighters would give their all to win. That was Kenshin's requirement, and what he agreed to.
Other people were different, but every promise and agreement that came out of the God of Geo was a Contract in itself. That's how he decided to live his life, and that's how he will live until his death finally arrives.
FIUUUUUUUUUUUUU
The spear the size of a house passed next to Kenshin's ear with a sharp sound, but thanks to the purpose the shields that sought to deflect and not neutralize held strong.
CRRRRRKK
With a creaking sound, the whole ground stater being torn off and sucked into the core of the spear, that little by little started gaining form.
Only the arrowhead was the size of the whole Narukami Shrine, and it was growing bigger.
The ground around Kenshin showed deep ravines product of the soil and dirt being sucked into the spear but Kenshin, ignoring the copious amount of blood coming out of his mouth, had a grim expression.
FFSHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The meteorite kept approaching, and despite being a few hundred meters above the floor, it still wasn't even half in. More than half of the meteorite was on the other side of the portal.
Kenshin opened his eyes merely because of habit, but seeing his humongous spear and the meteorite, he knew it was not going to succeed.
"I need more" he said with gritted teeth, and started draining everything he could from his surroundings, hoping that this 'everything' would be enough to destroy the meteor, because that's the only thing that would work.
Not delaying more deflecting, only total destruction was a valid result.
And suddenly 'something' more was added to the spear, something that made Morax widen his eyes in surprise.
Kenshin had already manipulated soul energy before, but it was too tiring to form constructs using his own energy, as it would be depleted quite fast.
But now, he had no other choice. The energy of the Plane around him started pooling up, and Kenshin closed his eyes to focus on gathering even more
He couldn't see the colour, but Morax saw how everything the spear was made of started being triturated under the compression of the energy, giving the huge construct a purple tone that shone like a gem, with golden veins in it.
Even he felt somewhat apprehensive to be on the receiving end of that, and knew that things would end soon because as scary as the spear was, it wouldn't be enough.
And the meteor was relentlessly approaching.
Kenshin gritted his teeth realizing the same, and tried to get more out of the already empty Plane.
There was nothing to gather anymore, but Kenshin, with his eyes closed, insisted. Every single bit of everything would help.
He absorbed, and absorbed, and absorbed.
The Plane was empty now, but he kept doing it.
And..... a door opened.
Out of sheer strength, Kenshin was trying to suck energy within the already empty Plane, the Plane itself tried to recover its energy using the only way it had.
Morax showed for the first time a scared expression when the huge tree, whose treetop hid most of the meteor, started shining.
The purple and golden leaves swayed in the wind and connected to the space beyond.
A safe passage that wouldn't draw the attention of the being, one that would make only energy and not souls breach the gap within dimensions.
And the Plane was flooded with energy again, so much that even Morax was able to feel that the Plane was...full.
Kenshin felt the unexpected influx but focused on making his spear grow as strong as possible.
Now the spear didn't have any trace of rock or dirt, only a glassy-looking purple spear with a golden venation stood above him.
Only the sizzling sound of the meteor sounded in the otherwise silent Plane. The spear, despite its gargantuan size, stood still rotating slowly but otherwise mute.
The tree kept supplying energy to the Plane, and Kenshin kept accumulating it, making the spear stronger by the second.
Until the meteor stood a hundred meters in the air, that was the moment Kenshin opened his eyes.
"GO!" with a shout, the spear the size of the whole Harbor instantly disappeared.
BANG!
With a sound akin to that of an explosion, the spear collided with the meteor.
Neither broke nor gave up, but the meteor stopped, making Morax frown.
He was aware of the might this attack, the strongest he could muster, had. And while he knew how strong Kenshin was here seeing for himself how a human not even 20 stop what was the accumulated might of a 6000+ year Archon, it made him realize that Kenshin's might wouldn't have equal in this world in another 100 years.
"AAAAAH!" Kenshin shouted in pain after the meteor moved slightly to the side, breaking one of the 'walls' he didn't know his Plane had.
The meteor was still pushing, and Kenshin had to exert all the strength he could muster to just keep the spear pushing the still not-completely-out meteor.
Meteor versus spear.
Size versus quality.
Rock versus energy.
The meteorite's sheer size and dense rock collided against the spear whose quality had never been seen previously in this world called Teyvat.
"I need more!" Kenshin concentrated even more and sent all the energy the Plane had to the spear.
The more energy he sent, the more intense the golden venation of the spear shine was.
And Kenshin didn't stop, he sent more and more energy to the growing spear that didn't increase in size, but it got somehow denser.
Morax finally knew the winner of this clash.
Because Kenshin was opening the tap. He could only send a tiny stream of energy towards the spear, but the more time it passed, the bigger the stream was until a raging river was being continuously sent.
TRRR CRACK
With a drilling sound and a little crack, the spear whose golden parts were glowing with a dazzling shine, started breaking the outer layer of the meteor.
It wasn't a huge crack, only a few meters deep, but the result had been decided.
The tree's leaves kept shining, and Kenshin felt his ability to manipulate the energy grow stronger by the second with each new wave of energy he made the spear absorb.
So in the midst of this exponentially stronger Kenshin, the spear kept penetrating the meteor.
CRACK! CRACK!!
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" with a shout and a final push, Kenshin finally sent the spear upwards.
Breaking the meteorite.
"Fucking piece of r-" Kenshin opened his eyes wide and looked down.
Only to see the butt of Morax's spear in his torso.
"You fought well" Morax admitted. The moment Kenshin was busy making his final effort, he quickly rushed towards him and hit him with the butt end of his spear.
Morax had to admit that Kenshin's strength would have made him able to arrive at the final stages of the Archon War. As a human, that was the highest compliment he could give to his strength.
FFFFSSS BOOOOOM
Kenshin swallowed back the vomit ascending through his throat and sent a conic blast of energy towards the unsuspecting Morax, who was expecting Kenshin to fall.
"...." Morax was sent a few meters back bouncing on the ground a few times, not understanding why his shield only blocked a part of the damage. His cowl was destroyed, and his features were revealed. His eyes were shining in a yellowish light, and slitted pupils quickly focused on Kenshin.
But Kenshin fell to the ground, feeling that Morax's hit had been too strong.
"....." Morax looked at the downed Kenshin, knowing that he wouldn't be able to move.
"I couldn't win" Kenshin gritted his teeth in an effort to contain his pain.
"You couldn't" Morax simply said. "But you were able to destroy my cowl, the attire of war of Morax, the Geo Archon".
"Not...enough" muttered Kenshin, slowly standing up. "You need....to lose....here".
"Why so insistent in winning against the Archon of Liyue?" inquired Morax with a serene expression.
"You are going to be a father" Kenshin said, recovering a bit of his breath. "Your child deserves all your attention".
Morax felt touched by Kenshin's care but sighed. He had proven to be stronger than Kenshin, and that meant that if Liyue was in danger, he would need to intervene.
"And because you need to lose here" Kenshin's smile made Morax's eyes narrow. "I'm going to cheat".
With a wave of darkness that engulfed everything in a second, Morax and Kenshin stood in the outside world again.
CRACK
And they were in again in less than a fraction of a second, in the presence of the tree whose leaves were still shining brightly.
"What are you trying to do?" Morax's face was a mask of impassibility.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
With a soft hum, the whole ground trembled.
"I told you" Kenshin's wide smile told Morax that something was up. "I'm going to cheat".
TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
The ground was almost suffering an earthquake, but Kenshin didn't seem to be affected by it.
"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With a roar, a colossal being shot from the ground, its form reaching 30 meters tall. The howl made all the dust in the air disappear from its proximity, and Kenshin had to make a shield to avoid getting blown from the shockwave of said roar.
A majestic dragon made of pure golden rock with glowing horns and a tail that resembled a tree stood in the middle of the Plane.