The path toward Brightcrown wound upward through rolling stone and tall grass, the city sounds faded behind them, replaced by wind and distant birdsong.
Noxira walked between Lumine and Jean now, this time not behind. They both noticed it, looked at each other and smiled slightly, they didn't comment on it or question it and simply let it happen. Paimon hovered lower than usual, glancing at Noxira every few seconds.
>>So! Brightcrown Mountain! This is where we'll call Dvalin again, right? With the Lyre that's not broken anymore"<<
Paimon tried to sound upbeat and Venti chuckled slightly, he knew that everyone thinks that the Lyre is repaired.
Noxira smiled faintly at that but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes but Lumine noticed immediately.
>>How are you feeling?"<<
Lumine asked, quietly enough that it didn't feel like an interrogation, first Noxira hesitated but answered anyway.
>>"Better than before and Worse than I should be."<<
Jean slowed her steps and speaks a bit with worry.
>>"Describe it please"<<
Noxira stays silent and searched for the words before she answered.
>>It's like... the closer we get, the louder the air becomes. Not sound more pressure... As if I don't belong here or the world doesn't want me here."<<
Venti stopped walking and for once, he didn't smile.
>>"Brightcrown is old...Older than Mondstadt as it stands today, the winds linger there longer than they should..."<<
Said Venti carefully while Paimon crossed her arms.
>>"Paimon officially does not like that sentence!"<<
Lumine reached out and gently brushing her fingers against Noxira's Fingers and grabs her sleeve grounding her steady.
>>"If it gets too much, please tell us Immediately... I don't want that somethings happen to you"<<
Noxira nodded and smiled a bit.
>>"I will... I promise."<<
Both then hold next to each other and go together.
Brightcrown Mountain opened wide before them.
Unlike the narrow cliff from before, this place felt exposed sky above, valley below, wind rushing freely in every direction. Noxira stopped after some time this time, she didn't try to hide it her breath hitched slightly and she said.
>>"It's... everywhere, the wind isn't moving past me Lumine..."<<
She whispered and Lumine grips her sleeve a little tighter.
Jean immediately stepped closer when she notices it.
>>"What is it doing? Noxira is everything okay ?"<<
Noxira swallowed hard and said uncertain.
>>"Is it Circling."<<
Paimon drifted nearer and is officially confused.
>>"Circling like... curious? Or circling like... bad?"<<
Noxira closed her eyes and take a moment, tried to understand and feel it. Noxira understand it but she also heard something, some and said something but she didn't understand it.
>>"Is it Waiting..."<<
Lumine took her hand firm for grounding her and looked at her in worry.
>>"You're not alone, I'm here for you, we are here for you and we stay with and you with us."<<
Venti approached with the other the peak of the tower and he alone approached the center of the plateau, Lyre held carefully against his chest.
>>"Alright, let's not keep the skies waiting."
Venti hold the lyre tvightly and played the first note rang out softer than before, but clearer and the wind responded instantly, the clouds shifted and the grass nearby bent low and the air hummed in recognition.
Noxira gasped her knees nearly buckled, and Jean caught her just in time.
>>"Noxira! What happen ?"<<
Noxira can't answer her vision fractured, the Sky torn open, the Wings beating in agony and a hand reaching toward her while the Light splitting into patterns and then a voice. Closer now.
>>"You're not stable yet.Don't anchor.Don't answer"<<
Noxira whispered aloud, not realizing she'd spoken.
>>"I'm... trying..."<<
Lumine froze and frowns uncomprehendingly.
>>"Noxira. Who are you talking to?"<<
The Lyre's strings vibrated violently, then the sky darkened and the Wind screamed downward as Dvalin burst through the clouds, wings stretched wide, his roar shaking the mountain itself.
This time he did not retreat and he circled first once, then twice, the Corruption flared visibly along his scales. Venti tried to talk to him but Venti staggered.
>>"H.. he's resisting!"<<
Noxira screamed suddenly not in pain but in overload, then she collapsed fully and clutching her chest as the wind crushed inward instead of outward.
>>"It's too much he's not running he will stay and fight..."<<
Jean drew her sword.
>>"Lumine, we can't let this continue!"<<
Lumine dropped beside Noxira, shielding her with her own body as the wind tore around them.
>>" Noxira stay with me and look at me!"<<
Noxira's eyes were unfocused, glowing faintly with Anemo resonance.
>>"He's hurting... and it's pulling at me like I'm the answer he's not supposed to have..."<<
Dvalin roared again and interrupt her and the battle began and Noxira was caught directly in the storm.
The first clash of wind struck down and missed close as if it were a warning. Dvalin's roar rolled across Brightcrown Mountain, no longer distant, no longer passing It pressed downward and crushing the air and stone alike as the corrupted Anemo energy spiraled violently around his wings.
The sky darkened, clouds spiraling inward instead of dispersing, Jean planted her feet, sword drawn.
>>" We need to get into Formation!"<<
Lumine tightened her grip around Noxira, instinctively shielding her, with her body as the wind screamed past them. Pebbles lifted from the ground, spinning wildly before shattering against the stone.
Noxira gasped, the pressure no longer circled her it began to collapsed inward.
>>"It's... It's pulling... not pushing anymore..."
Noxrias voice broke and she has difficulty breathing, her Anemo resonance flared faintly beneath her skin, light tracing fractured patterns along her arms. It isn't power, this is instability like glass under tension.
Paimon sees this and screamed as she was nearly thrown back.
>>"This is bad! This is really, really bad! Lumine what should we do !? Noxira "Isn't feeling well!"<<
Above them Dvalin circled once more lower this time. The corruption along his scales pulsed violently, responding to Venti's presence and something else, Something close. Venti staggered as he tried to steady him, fingers trembling on his bow He feels compelled to shoot.
>>"He's not listening... No he can't listen, we need to break this Crystal on his head."<<
Another roar shattered the air and Jean leapt forward, blade glowing with Anemo as she deflected a descending current of compressed wind. Stone cracked where it struck, the mountain itself groaning in protest.
>>"Lumine! We need to push back. Now!"<<
Lumine nodded, but she didn't move immediately become her eyes were locked on Noxira, Noxira's breathing had gone uneven and shallow. Her gaze unfocused as if she were looking through the world rather than at it.
>>"He's still here... I'm here... That shouldn't be it can't be..."<<
Noxrias fingers clawed weakly at Lumine's sleeve.
>>"I can feel the pattern breaking again..."<<
A sudden gust tore downward, stronger than the rest Lumine reacted on instinct, pulling Noxira fully against her as the wind slammed into them both. Jean barely caught herself, sword embedded in stone to keep from being thrown back.
Venti cried out as he was attacked after he shoot and arrow to the crystal and the corruption reacted violently. The impact of his descent shattered stone, sending a shockwave rippling across the plateau and Jean was thrown back, skidding across broken rock before slamming to one knee and Lumine hit the ground hard, shielding Noxira with her body and the Pain lanced through her side but she didn't let go.
Noxira screamed but not from injury from connection.
>>"You tearing it apart! You're tearing the crystal apart!"<<
Her voice echoed unnaturally, carried by the wind itself and for a split second, everything froze. Dvalin hesitated mid-motion and his massive form shuddered, wings faltering as if struck by something unseen. Venti stared and understood.
>>"He heard that."<<
The hesitation didn't last and the corruption surged violently, reacting like a wounded animal a blast of Anemo energy erupted outward, uncontrolled and devastating and Jean was thrown clear, crashing into a stone outcrop and collapsing after she fighted side on side with Venti.
Paimon screamed Lumine's name while Noxira went completely still, the Anemo light around her flared once sharply and then shattered, like glass breaking from inward. Her body convulsed once before going limp in Lumine's arms.
>>"NOXIRA!"<<
Lumine's shout was lost beneath the storm.
Dvalin roared again, but this time it wasn't defiance it was pain. With a powerful beat of his wings, he tore himself away from the plateau, disappearing into the roiling clouds for now and the storm followed him and silence crashed down afterward, broken only by the whistle of fading wind and the sound of Lumine's uneven breathing.
She pressed her forehead against Noxira's and whispered
>>"Stay with me...please... stay with me, wake up..."<<
Noxira didn't respond and her skin was cold, too cold and Jean forced herself upright despite the pain, stumbling toward them.
>>"What happen is she... okay... Or... Stable...?"<<
Venti knelt beside them, expression unreadable older than it had ever been.
>>"She didn't lose consciousness...She lost anchoring."<<
Paimon hovered shakily.
>>"Is that bad? Is that dangerous for her ?"<<
Venti didn't answer immediately, he choosed his words carefully and when he did, his voice was quiet.
>>"...Yes unfortunately yes..."<<
Lumine tightened her grip and hold Noxira close.
>>"Then we fix it."<<
Venti looked at Noxira and then Lumine and nodded once.
>>"Then we bring her back before the wind decides for her."<<
Jean straightened despite the pain and her resolve hardening.
>>We return to Mondstadt and this immediately."<<
Lumine didn't argue and she lifted Noxira carefully, as if afraid the slightest wrong movement would scatter her entirely.
But But just as the group was about to leave to take care of Noxira and make a new plan, there was a crash behind them, and Dvalin was behind them and Split the air open.
Stone exploded outward as Dvalin crashed back onto the plateau, claws gouging deep into the rock. His wings slammed down twice and sending shockwaves of wind tearing across the ground. The corruption on his head burned brighter than before, pulsing like a living wound and Lumine turned instantly and laid Noxira down carefully, gently, as if afraid the wind itself might take her if she moved too fast and Jean was already stepping forward, placing herself between Noxira and the dragon without hesitation Lumine is mad just like Jean and she commands.
>> "Venti air support. Lumine, with me!"<<
Venti didn't joke this time and obey immediately and he drew his bow in one smooth motion, Anemo gathering around the arrowhead until the air itself screamed in tension.
>> "Alright, let's clip some wings. Metaphorically"<<
The arrow flew and It split into a spiral of compressed wind mid-flight, slamming into Dvalin's crystal on the head and forcing him to recoil. The dragon roared, the sound shaking Brightcrown Mountain to its core, and retaliated instantly a barrage of razor-sharp wind blades tore downward.
Jean moved first and she run forward and she thrusts her sword forward, triggering an anemo burst, releasing a burst of Anemo that twisted the incoming currents aside and command Lumine.
>> "Lumine, now!"<<
Lumine surged forward, Anemo flaring around her blade as she leapt onto a rising current of wind. She used it like a step, then another, launching herself upward toward Dvalins crystal on the head.
The dragon thrashed, wings beating violently, but Lumine didn't slow and she struck, her blade connected with corrupted crystal embedded near his scales the light flared violently, and Dvalin screamed not only in rage, but also a bit agony.
But Venti fired again immediately he aimed again for the crystal on Dvalin's head his arrows curved through the sky, embedding themselves into the air itself, forming unstable Anemo anchors that disrupted Dvalin's flight. The winds around the dragon began to stutter, turning erratic.
>> "He's losing balance, Jean!"<<
Jean didn't hesitate, she ran straight into the storm and every step felt like walking against a wall, but she pushed forward, sword blazing with focused Anemo energy and when Dvalin slammed one claw down toward her, she jumped using the very wind meant to crush her as momentum.
Her blade struck deep into the corrupted crystal and the impact sent a shockwave rippling outward.
Dvalin roars back, wings flailing, corruption cracking visibly along his scales like fractured glass but still on his head and the storm above them began to unravel, clouds tearing apart instead of closing in.
But at the edge of the battlefield Noxira screamed, not loudly but Weakly, Noxira isn't awake but the Anemo light around her body pulsed once, violently, then collapsed inward again, her fingers twitched, clawing at empty air, breath hitching as if the wind itself were slipping through her.
Lumine noticed it immediately and she turned mid-fight to Noxira, panic flaring in her chest.
>> "Noxira! Please hold on"<<
Jean shouted at Lumine without looking, she knew she has to say something.
>> "Finish it! She won't survive another surge!"<<
Venti supported Lumine and helped her to jump, towards Jean. Lumine came to Jean with Venti's help and his Anemo Energy, and she plunged her sword into the Crystal next to Jean with all her might and the crystal shattered. Not explosively but cleanly and don't injured anyone.
Dvalin screamed one last time as the corruption fractured and peeled away like ash in the wind, his wings faltered, strength finally giving out, and with a powerful, wounded beat, he tore himself free from the battlefield. His massive body feel to the ground and he recovered from the stress and exhaustion.
Silence rushed in and Jean dropped to one knee, sword planted in the stone to keep herself upright. Venti lowered his bow slowly, breathing hard and Lumine was already running towards Noxira and she dropped beside Noxira, hands shaking as she checked for breath, for warmth anything.
Noxira was still alive but barely, the Anemo resonance around her had gone dangerously quiet, like a flame starved of air. Venti knelt beside them and his face pale.
>> "Hmm... She's connected to something she shouldn't be."<<
Jean forced herself upright and pain etched into her expression.
>> "Then we don't have time, we move now. Back to Mondstadt and let Lisa look at her with Barbara."<<
Lumine gathered Noxira into her arms, holding her close as if her own heartbeat could anchor her.
>> "Then we move, now. We have no time to lose."<<
Above them, the skies cleared bright, calm, indifferent and for the first time, the wind did not hesitate around Noxira. This time It withdrew.