Y/n pov:

The battle went on for so long... and I had a feeling that even if we win now, it wouldn't be over yet.

Both me and Aether fought him. I hoped Scaramouche wouldn't go easy on me, however... he definitely did. Aether was thrown into the ground, the wall, and hit so many times. Meanwhile he simply defended against me.

Scaramouche didn't seem to care about my attacks at all, which was his mistake. Due to my physical strength I did a lot more damage than Aether. Scaramouche made a mistake in not targeting me.

Aether was punched to the ground, and I heard him yell in pain. As the mechanics arm was down, I jumped into the air with my dual blades, and cut down onto the arm.
It made a huge scratch, a much bigger one than the ones Aether left.

The mechanic tried to use a simply electro barrier to push me away, however I broke it down with cryo easily. Cryo beats electro after all.

As his second hand was facing me, I threw one of my knives at its palm, hoping to cut whatever was shooting elemental energy at us.

Unfortunately, it didn't cut it as Scaramouche retracted his arm as he realized my plan.
Recalling my blade, I grabbed it in my hand, holding both of my blades again.

Then I heard Aether being thrown to the ground yet again. Pay attention to me asswipe, even if you bring Aether down there will only be me left. And then you have no other choice than to fight me anyways!

I saw as Scaramouche was about to crush him with his hand and rushed towards him.
I jumped in front of Aether and created the strongest shield I could within less than a second.

I held the shield up as I felt the huge palm pressing down and almost smashing the shield.

Aether stood up next to me and immediately helped holding the hand away.

The pressure of the hand was breaking the ground underneath us. And the floor crumbled.
With a huge lightning, me and Aether lost our footing and fell down.
It caused my shield to break and we were struck a huge amount of energy.

I landed with a thud on the newfound area, avoiding some of the debris as it fell after us.
Aether landed next to me, and a huge piece of debris landed on top of him. Paimon immediately flew down and helped him lift it away.

I helped him stand up as both of us panted, exhausted by the fight.

We looked back towards the mechanic, but our eyes went wide as we saw it being connected to a second part.
There's more?!

Now, he was three times as tall as he was earlier. And probably three times as powerful too.

I locked my jaw and glared at him. I was getting tired of this stupid game of his.

Me and Aether wasted no time and got back into battle. We ran across the arena, which seemed so much larger now. I was about to slice his leg when he teleported away.
I staggered as he was now on the opposite side of the arena again.

Whatever me and Aether did, we barely managed to land a single hit.

Even if I used my enhanced speed, I was barely comparable to the speed of Scaramouche.
Throwing my cryo infused blades with full power only did so much damage, and the blade was starting to break.
And by now, Scaramouche had learned to parry my blade throws.

Aether only had close combat options, so it was harder for him. And Scaramouche's attacks were heavy and damaging.

The mechanic then stopped up, and charged up for heavier attacks. My eyes widened as he started blowing up the arena.

Aether being targeted ran around, barely being able to dodge. I ran towards him and shielded him from the last explosions.
Then I glanced at Aether and... I saw him going straight for it.

He jumped up towards the mechanic which was reaching out towards him. He landed on the arm and ran along it, aiming his attack right at the chest of the machine, where the gnosis was.

I gasped as I saw his sword pierce the cover of the machine, but he was blown backwards soon after.

The strength of the blow had Aether on his knees as he pierced his sword into the ground to stop the force from being blown away any more.

Then Scaramouche started using anemo energy and trapped Aether in a whirlwind.
"Aether!" I yelled and ran towards him and I saw him being lifted up into the air.

Scaramouche was about to punch him with so much force. However, I managed to jump up and push Aether out of the way before any of us were hit. We did land roughly though, he fell out of my arms as we both fell on the ground.

The force of it all had cracked the ground beneath us.

With a small grunt of exhaustion, I stood up and held my blades defensively as Aether laid on the ground behind me. He wasn't able to stand up.

Scaramouche started charging up a huge attack, until he let go of it when Nahida went in front of us both. He slammed his hand upon her, picking her up.

He rose her up to the face of his machine, and it opened up, revealing an unharmed Scaramouche.
He held her as if she was an insect.

"This is supposed to be a battle between gods, yet you choose hide behind a mortal and a immortal."
My eyes widened at his words. He still has no idea I'm a demigod, does he?!

"And now, you're acting like you'd sacrifice yourself for a couple of people. Are you having fun proving a false sense of heroism to yourself, Buer?" He said, charging up energy in his real palm.

He then reached out and pierced her chest with his hand. There was a big light, and both me and Aether looked up at them in worry.

But then... it was revealed that Nahida was completely fine...

My worries faded as I realized what was actually going on here. We weren't losing... far from it... he had underestimated Nahida, which was his second mistake.

"Do you even know how many times you've tried to take my gnosis from me?" She asked him. Everything around us started to glow green.

Scaramouche brought his hand back to his side and looked around confused.

The domain then faded away before reappearing, back at the first stage. With only the first half of his mechanic.

I felt fine again and everyone was completely healed.

"We just concluded the 168th loop." Nahida informed us.
"Did you know that in the effort to create you the people of Sumeru were forced to live through the exact same number of Sabzeruz festivals and samsara cycles?" She asked him.

Scaramouche glared at us all. "The power of dreams... when did you use it on me?" He asked, sounding slightly angry.

Turns out that when we first arrived, the first thing Nahida did was to use it.

That's when I saw the creation I made together with Nahida fly up to Aether.

Scaramouche however chuckled. "You can't even defeat me in a dream... what do you hope to achieve with this little trick?" He asked.

Nahida ignored him and turned towards Aether. "Come. Traveler, just like before. Allow me to awaken the memories in your dreams." She said and held out a knowledge capsule for him.

I put my dual blades away as I realized this was a traveler moment.

Aether gained all the battle experience he learned from all the 168 cycles.

"All that battle experience!" Paimon exclaimed.

"It's more than that. Compile everyone's wisdom in the name of the archon." She started.

"I've sent everything that happened just now to the people of Sumeru in the form of knowledge. I've asked them... to help you find a way to defeat the false god." She finished.

With that...
Flashes of people all over Sumeru appeared, all of them seemed deep in thought, answering to our problem. Some faces I recognized, others I didn't.

"Now, all of Sumerus wisdom is at your disposal." Nahida said.

Aether looked towards me. I backed away and gave him an encouraging nod along with a smile, knowing this would be our win.

Aether stepped forward, the creation at his side, looking up at the false god.

Scaramouche glared at us again, his helmet close as the machine moved again. "Meatless tricks won't save you!" He yelled before gathering a lot of electro energy and breaking the floor once again.

This time, all of us expecting it, we all landed nicely.

Scaramouche gathered more energy and charged it at Aether, with the newfound knowledge, he was able to swiftly dodge it.

Scaramouche seemed angry, angrier than I had ever seen him before. "Hah... are you done with your tricks? Can I finally take this as a real battle between gods?"

I backed away again along with Nahida.
"I'll leave this to you. The First Sage of Buer." She introduced him.
Aether confidently drew his sword and stood his ground, ready to win.

The battle started and everything looked like it did last time, however more in our favor.
Aether and Scaramouche both were much more powerful now.

Me and Nahida's creation was working perfectly. It was attacking his shield.

The battle went great. Aether was able to knock his shield down swiftly, and at last, the mechanic itself started to break when he attacked it.

It went some minutes... but the last blow was finally dealt by Aether.

The mechanic fell to its knees, as it was clearly broken now.
I frowned as I realized how this must feel for Scaramouche. Defeated when you tried to fulfill the only thing you thought you were meant to do.

The cover of the face started shattering and pieces of it started falling.

"Humans... filthy humans!" He shouted, angry. However much he tried to sound angry... I heard a hint of sadness in his voice.

I held a sad look on my face as Nahida floated up to him.
Aether stood still at the ground, watching the scene, just like I was.

Nahida floated in front of him, holding her hand out. The glass that shielded the gnosis shattered easily, and it slowly floated out towards her hand.

As I saw the look in Scaramouche's eyes I felt my heart ache. He looked devastated, horrified at the thought of his gnosis being taken away.

"No!" He shouted, pain in his voice.
"Wait!" He pleaded soon after.

My heart aches at his voice, it had been so long since I last heard him like that.
The day we opened up to each other, the day we became the best of friends, I heard that voice when he cried in my arms.

"Please! Anything but the gnosis!" He begged and started reaching out to it.

The wires he was connected to were holding him back, and so he ripped loose from them.

"That's mine! Don't even try...!" He shouted. Doing his best to reach out for the gnosis, not wanting his 'only purpose' to be taken away from him again.

"I'll never... I'll never go back!" He shouted.
I knew what he meant. He'll never go back to being nothing, having no purpose like he was deemed.

The gnosis rested in Nahidas palm now.

Scaramouche's eyes widened as he realized the wires he was connected to were snapping. His eyes were wide as he fell out of the machine.

His mouth was open as he realized what had just happened. To him, he was nothing. To him, he was just a prototype puppet again. To him, he could've just been dead already.

My eyes met his as he fell, the light faded from his eyes as he looked at me. He looked so empty, so tired. His mouth fell shut. He had given up.

Without thinking, I rushed forward.

Before he met a harsh landing to the ground, I caught him.

I fell to my knees, Scaramouche in my arms.
I couldn't refrain from giving him a hug.
Tears were filling in my eye sockets. And then, I let go of him.

I stood up and walked over to Nahida, Aether and Paimon who were looking at me, a little sympathy in their eyes.

I didn't know what kind of face I was making. Did I look sad, defeated, or empty? That's how I felt...

Then all of their eyes widened. I wondered why so I turned to look behind me.

What I saw made me clench a hand over my heart.

Scaramouche laid on the ground, his arm outstretched. He tried to reach out to something. To me.
I saw his mouth twitch as if he tried to speak.
I watched his lips as he mouthed a few words.
Don't. Go.

I turned my back on Aether and Nahida, and walked right back to him on the floor.

I sat on my knees and pulled him back into my arms and simply held him. I didn't know why, but tears fell from his eyes.

He couldn't move, couldn't speak. Being ripped from those wires was supposed to be tiring enough to completely shut you down, as if you were to fall into a coma.

It's amazing that he's still conscious.

I comforted him, not being ready to move soon.

Nahida used the power of the gnosis to call forth a knowledge capsule. They now had to figure out the mystery of Irminsul. Then, all three of them disappeared.

I didn't mind being left here. My arms only held around the man in my arms.