The desert sky was black with Lisa's lightning.
"O, Sea of Roses, bloom!" she commanded, her voice no longer the lazy drawl of a librarian, but the sharp, cold cry of a master. "Let the pitch-black lightning devour everything!"
A thousand-meter radius around Etemon instantly became a hellscape of necrotic energy. The Dark Network cables plugged into his body—the source of his confidence—were incinerated on contact.
"Aaargh! It hurts!" Etemon roared, the dark energy now bypassing his defenses. "Why can't this lightning be absorbed?!"
He tried to flee, but the ground, now a sea of flowers, erupted with lightning-infused vines that snared his feet.
This was not a battle. It was an execution.
In the group chat, the live stream was met with stunned silence.
Keqing:She was holding back. All this time, she was holding this much power back.
Jean:Lisa…
Su Han watched, his face grim. He wasn't looking at Etemon. He was looking at Lisa.
With his Transparent World, he could see what the others couldn't. He saw the black lightning ravaging Etemon, but he also saw it coiling back, sizzling against Lisa's own life force. He saw the microscopic cracks forming along her meridians.
"She's not just using her power," Su Han said, his voice low. "It's consuming her."
On the screen, Lisa's body was racked by a tremor. A small trickle of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, turning to steam in the supercharged air. She was at her limit.
With a final, desperate roar, Etemon was annihilated, his data scattering to the wind.
The moment he died, the black lightning vanished. Lisa's power cut out, and her body, no longer supported by the storm, went limp and fell from the sky.
"Sister Lisa!" Gatomon shrieked, leaping and catching her just before she hit the sand.
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the 4-star Multiverse Mission. You have received a mission reward of 100,000 points.]
[Hint: You may choose to return immediately or remain for a short while.]
[Note: The maximum time you can remain is one hour.]
"Hah… hah…" Lisa gasped from Gatomon's arms, her vision blurring. "Quick, the pyramid. The children…"
"They're fine!" Greymon's voice boomed. "Tai's Crest of Courage activated! The little girl's rose-bomb worked! They beat Datamon, but… oh no! Tai and MetalGreymon! They've been sucked into the dark vortex!"
Lisa tried to sit up, her face pale with panic. "What? No, I have to…"
Her body convulsed, and she lost consciousness.
"Return," she whispered, her last command.
She vanished from the Digital World.
The air in the Mondstadt library shimmered. Lisa materialized and collapsed, but Su Han was already there, catching her before she hit the floor. He had been waiting.
The familiar, warm scent of his embrace was the last thing she registered.
"You stubborn, proud woman," Su Han growled, his voice tight with a cold fury he rarely showed.
He laid her gently on her chaise lounge. Her breathing was shallow, her skin deathly pale.
"Don't you dare die on me, Lisa."
He activated his Transparent World, his gaze piercing her skin, past her ribs, to her heart.
He saw it.
The "Witch's Power" wasn't just a core. It was a cancer. A living entity of black lightning, currently dormant, but wrapped so tightly around her heart that a single beat caused it to constrict. The "cure" he had given her before wasn't a cure at all—it was just a temporary cage, and she had just shattered it.
He pressed his palm to her chest, pushing his Purification Power into her.
Sizzle!
The black lightning fought back, lashing out at his purple energy, trying to devour it. Su Han gritted his teeth, the pain searing his own hand.
He could only suppress it. He couldn't remove it. This was a terminal condition.
Lisa's eyes fluttered open, her gaze hazy. She saw his pained expression and managed a weak, tragic smile.
"The difficult missions… can't all be left to Liyue," she whispered, her voice rough. "Mondstadt… we have to prove our own worth. 'No reward without merit'… right?"
She had done this on purpose. To prove a point. To earn Mondstadt's place at the table.
Su Han looked at this brilliant, stubborn, dying woman, and then at the group chat, where the shop had just refreshed. His eyes scanned the new items, past the weapons, past the scrolls, until he saw it.
[Cultivation Method]: Natural Energy Refinement Method (Alias: Senjutsu Training Method)
[Original Price]: 5,000,000 Points
[Discount]: 90% off
[Current Price]: 500,000 Points
"A cultivation method," he murmured. "From the Naruto world. It allows the user to draw in the power of nature... permanently strengthen the cultivator..."
He stared at the description, his mind racing.
A Vision is an external magic organ. It automatically shields all other elements.
Senjutsu is about absorbing ALL natural energies.
The body of a Witch is being consumed by its own, singular power...
A desperate, insane gamble formed in his mind.
"Lisa," he said, his voice urgent. "What if the problem isn't your power? What if the problem is your Vision?"
She looked at him, confused.
"Your Vision," he said, tapping the purple gem at her throat. "It's a crutch. An external organ that forces your body to channel only Electro, but it blocks everything else. This Senjutsu… it's a way to absorb all natural energy. A way to build your own internal core, to find a balance."
He opened the group chat.
Su Han:@everyone, I need all your points. Now. Transfer everything to Ningguang.
Ningguang:What's wrong? Lisa's mission…
Su Han:She's dying. Her own power is killing her. This new Senjutsu in the shop is the only chance we have. It's a gamble, but I have to try it.
Keqing:All points sent.
Beidou:Done. All of it.
Ganyu:Sent. Please, save her.
The points flooded in. Ningguang hit the redeem button.
[Natural Energy Refinement Method has been redeemed!]
[Asset successfully uploaded to Group Files!]
Su Han didn't read the file. He didn't have time. He just needed the core concept.
"Lisa, this is going to hurt," he said. "This art requires you to take in all of nature, but your Vision is in the way. You have to take it off. It's the only way to let the natural energy in and create a new balance."
Lisa's eyes widened, first in fear, then in a sudden, sharp understanding. A genius from the Akademiya, she instantly saw the logic. She saw the epiphany he had just handed her.
"An… an internal core," she whispered, her voice trembling with a terrifying, newfound hope. "To bypass the Vision completely."
"Yes," Su Han said. "But you have to do it."
With a shaky hand, Lisa gripped the Vision at her throat. With a sharp tug, she tore it from her dress.
"AARGGGH!"
She screamed. The black lightning in her chest, no longer suppressed by the Vision's familiar presence, exploded. Su Han pinned her to the bed, pouring his Purification Power into her, not to heal, but just to keep her alive.
"Now, Lisa! Focus!" he roared. "Forget your Vision! Forget the lightning! Feel the world around you! Feel the air, the stone, the life! Pull it in! Absorb it!"
Following his guidance, Lisa, in the midst of her agony, began to cultivate.
She was not just learning a new technique. She was rewriting her own soul.
Gradually, Su Han could see it with his Transparent World. A new, different energy—the green of wind, the gold of earth—was seeping into her body. It wasn't being repelled. It was being drawn in, warring with the black lightning, surrounding it, calming it.
Her body, which had been a raging tempest of a single element, was slowly, painfully, finding a new equilibrium.
She wasn't healed. Not by a long shot. But for the first time in decades, the pained, desperate look on her face began to fade, replaced by one of profound, agonizing, and utter concentration.
She was fighting for her life. And for the first time, she had a real weapon.
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