"Hiss—!"
Dvalin opened his massive jaws and drew in a sharp breath.
He had been flying calmly when a bolt of lightning tore down from the sky, striking him out of nowhere and sending him plummeting—his condition unknown.
"…Was that your rider's doing?"
Dvalin lowered his head, looking toward the silent Barbatos beneath him.
Barbatos's lips twitched awkwardly. For once, the Anemo Archon didn't know how to answer his old friend.
What Lumine had glimpsed above the clouds was, without question, Benarex, the mount of Aerin.
There was no denying how terrifying Benarex was—commanding four different attributes.
But Barbatos understood something fundamental about Teyvat.
Humans required Visions—external conduits—to convert elemental power.
Elemental beings did not.
They possessed an innate affinity and mastery over the elements.
There were even beings who could directly draw upon the ley lines themselves.
Take Azhdaha of Liyue, for instance—his resonance with the ley lines surpassed that of most lifeforms, allowing him to wield multiple elemental powers directly.
Then there was the Abyss Order, heirs to Khaenri'ahn technology, whose power also stemmed from ley-line manipulation.
And yet—
Even knowing all this, it was still incomprehensible.
A single, unadorned bolt of lightning—
no martial technique, no divine art—
and Dvalin, an Anemo Dragon, had been struck down from the sky.
That defied common sense.
In the Plane of Euthymia — Inazuma
Raiden Ei stared ahead in silence.
"That lightning carried no technique," she said softly.
"It was nothing more than a pure descent of thunder… and yet it nearly killed Dvalin."
She exhaled slowly.
As the wielder of the Electro Authority, Ei herself could summon thunder from the heavens.
But such lightning was merely a manifestation of elemental turbulence—
its lethality could never compare to the blade of Musou no Hitotachi, infused with true martial intent.
Inazuma's skies were perpetually veiled in storm clouds, lightning ready to fall at any moment.
Yet even so—
If Dvalin were to cross the sea and enter Inazuma airspace, Ei had no confidence that mere thunderclouds could stop him.
"…If the Fifth Descender were to come to Inazuma," she murmured,
"how far could I truly go in stopping him?"
Mondstadt — That Night
The night sky above Mondstadt glittered with stars.
But in the hearts of its people, storm clouds loomed heavy and dark.
In the future shown by the light screen, the citizens had been preparing to celebrate their first victory.
Stormterror—once the source of the dragon crisis—had regained his sanity under the guidance of the Anemo Archon and reclaimed his role as one of the Four Winds.
Gratitude. Relief. Peace.
And then—
in the blink of an eye—
Dvalin was struck down by lightning hidden within the clouds.
From elation to panic in an instant.
The emotional whiplash was brutal.
Chat Channel
Kaeya:
"Even just watching the future is suffocating. I can't imagine how it would feel to experience this without knowing what's coming."
Arataki Itto:
"That huge dragon got hit by lightning and—man, he was smoking. You think he's… cooked?"
Xiangling:
"Uh… do elemental dragons count as cooked food?"
Keqing:
"What I don't understand is this—why did no one notice Benarex hiding in the clouds? Barbatos was right there."
The channel went silent.
Keqing's question cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Barbatos had been present.
Yet Benarex had flown freely above Mondstadt, unseen—
and struck down the East Wind Dragon right in front of him.
There was only one explanation.
Benarex possessed a power that interfered with Barbatos's perception.
In other words—
Benarex was not weaker than the Anemo Archon.
He might even be stronger.
Snezhnaya — The Tsaritsa's Chambers
In a lavish, frost-laced room, the Cryo Archon clenched her fist.
"Has Barbatos truly deteriorated that much after centuries of slumber?" she muttered.
"Even if he were weaker than Benarex… he shouldn't have been that blind."
With every revelation from the future, the Tsaritsa's composure cracked further.
A Valkyrie born of Stigmata, shattering Visions and escaping Teyvat's ordained fate.
Now a mount that could roam above an Archon's head and strike down a divine dragon—unnoticed.
Her knuckles whitened.
"If this future truly comes to pass," she scoffed bitterly,
"then what's the point of being a god?"
"We might as well ask the Fifth Descender if he's still recruiting mounts—and line up to serve him ourselves."
"Damn it."
Back to the Future — Mondstadt
Dvalin… fell?
The thunder that split the heavens drew every gaze upward.
When the people of Mondstadt looked to the sky, they saw it—
The East Wind Dragon plunging from above.
The joy of victory vanished without a trace.
Confusion. Fear. Silence.
At the bridge outside the city—
"Dvalin!"
The women cried out in unison.
"That's impossible!" Alice snapped.
"Even if lightning struck him, it shouldn't have done anything to his body!"
A dreadful realization surged through her mind.
That lightning wasn't natural.
"Don't tell me—!"
Alice's face drained of color as she rushed forward—
Only to stop dead in her tracks.
A terrifying presence washed over her.
Her skin prickled. Goosebumps rose instantly.
Fear—raw and instinctive—spread through her chest.
Dvalin no longer mattered.
Alice spun around sharply, eyes locked on the far end of the bridge.
A man and a woman were walking toward Mondstadt.
Unhurried. Unstopped.
The others followed her gaze.
Lumine, Paimon, and Amber froze.
"He's…"
Paimon raised a trembling finger, covering her mouth with the other.
"It's really him?" Lumine whispered, stunned.
The man approaching—
the one she had once shared a simple meal with—
Was none other than Aerin.
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