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Genshin Impact World.
"A Fatui Harbinger actively attacked you?"
Hearing Rios recount the events, Mavuika furrowed her brows, her expression becoming solemn.
"He definitely wanted to steal the Gnosis, just like he did to the bard back then." Paimon said with her arms crossed after listening, her tone very certain.
Back then, not long after they left the church, they were ambushed by the Lady, and then Venti's Gnosis was taken.
Unexpectedly, in Natlan, almost the same plot nearly played out again.
"The Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya could indeed do such a thing." Mavuika nodded slightly.
The ambitions of the Fatui were already known to all.
Even ordinary folk knew that the Fatui lacked the courage to act against the gods of other nations.
"I don't think he came for the Tsaritsa's will." Rios chuckled lightly, his gaze turning to the red-haired woman who was deep in thought. "He might be targeting that plan you're preparing."
"My plan?" Mavuika's pupils contracted slightly, her expression freezing.
"Mavuika's plan?" Paimon opened her mouth in surprise. "That means..."
"Paimon, shh!" Lumine raised a finger to her lips, making a silencing gesture. "This can't be spoken out loud."
"R-right!" Paimon quickly covered her mouth with both hands.
But there were others who couldn't help but express confusion.
"How would a Fatui Harbinger know about Mavuika's plan?" Kinich crossed his arms, lowering his head in contemplation. "That doesn't add up. He wasn't there at the time."
As one of the already awakened heroes, Kinich possessed part of the memories from that hero 500 years ago.
In those memories, he hadn't found any recollection of Mavuika's plan leaking to a Fatui Harbinger.
"Huh, what are you all talking about?"
Mualani blinked her red beautiful eyes, looking at everyone with a bewildered expression. "Even Paimon knows about Mavuika's plan, but I haven't even heard of it. What exactly is going on?"
"This is a secret that can't be told." Rios said with a smile.
"Oh come on, just tell me. It's killing me to be the only one left out." Mualani slightly furrowed her delicate brows.
Before, only Rios had been keeping it from her. Now, a whole group was keeping it from her.
Even the silly little Paimon knew about this so-called plan, while she didn't—that was too much of a blow.
"Lord Pyro Archon, bad news!"
At that moment, several Natlan warriors burst in.
"What happened?" Seeing the hurried arrivals, Rios realized something bad might have occurred.
"If it's about Lord Pyro Archon being attacked by the Fatui, then you don't need to worry." Paimon waved her small fist, her tone cheerful. "The Fatui have already been beaten off by Lord Pyro Archon."
"It's not that." The arriving warrior shook his head, then said with a tense expression, "Just now, Abyss monsters suddenly launched an attack on the winners of the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame on the Sacred Night. Both Iansan and Kaiulani were targeted."
"Iansan successfully repelled the Abyss monsters and didn't suffer much injury to her body."
"But Kaiulani..."
The warrior lowered his head, his voice growing low and heavy, his expression turning sorrowful.
"What happened to Aunt Kaiulani?"
Noticing the other's off mood, Mualani immediately asked anxiously.
She and Kaiulani were both from the People of the Springs, so she naturally knew her and had a good relationship with her.
Hearing that Kaiulani had been attacked by monsters, her first thought was concern for her safety.
"Kaiulani sacrificed herself..." The warrior's tone was sorrowful and heavy. "She used her life to protect her teammates without an Ancient Name, but she herself died under the claws of the Abyss monster."
"How could that..."
Hearing the news of her companion's death, the girl's face turned dazed, full of disbelief.
The others' expressions also grew heavy upon hearing it.
"From the timing, this was exactly when I was fighting the 'Captain.'" Rios murmured lowly, his voice cold. "They chose a good moment."
The Abyss was truly clever, knowing that Mavuika, Mualani, and the others were gathered together, so they specifically targeted those who had left the Stadium of the Sacred Flame.
And they even picked the time when Rios was fighting the Captain, when he couldn't attend to the outside situation.
"Lord Pyro Archon, with the current situation, can we still use the Ode of Resurrection to save Kaiulani?"
After the warrior finished speaking, almost everyone present looked over with hopeful gazes.
They didn't know that with the Night Kingdom's current state, even using the Ode of Resurrection wouldn't be able to revive Kaiulani.
However, Rios could personally make a trip to the Night Kingdom and drag Kaiulani out.
But... Rios had other plans.
"Quickly call back the people who haven't gone far and gather them in the Stadium of the Sacred Flame. Prepare to chant the Ode of Resurrection."
"I have urgent matters to handle. From now on, everything follows Mavuika's arrangements."
After handing off the work to Mavuika, blazing flames suddenly surged around Rios, and he vanished from everyone's sight in the next moment.
Even the currently strongest Mavuika, Kinich, Traveler, and others couldn't clearly see Rios's departing movements.
"Everyone, let's do as Lord Pyro Archon said."
Although Mavuika didn't know what Rios was going to do, since he had entrusted her with the heavy responsibility, she had to fulfill her duties.
"Yes!"
The remaining people were accustomed to Mavuika's leadership and quickly began gathering the people of Natlan to head back to the Stadium of the Sacred Flame once more.
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Meanwhile.
Night Kingdom.
Rios found Kaiulani, who was currently being surrounded and attacked by Beast Realm Hounds.
Without any hesitation, he directly fired off several arrows, and the monsters instantly turned to flying ash, dissipating in the Night Kingdom.
"Rios, why are you here?"
Seeing Rios, Kaiulani felt a bit surprised. "Has the Ode of Resurrection already been chanted?"
Although she hadn't participated in the Night Warden Wars many times, she had taken part in many chantings of the Ode of Resurrection.
Logically speaking, it shouldn't be that fast.
"Not yet." Rios shook his head and explained, "The Night Kingdom's situation is very bad. The power of the Ode of Resurrection can no longer bring you back."
"Ah, this..." A flash of disappointment crossed Kaiulani's eyes. "So that means I can't be revived?"
Her disappointment lasted only an instant before she adjusted her mood, raising the corners of her mouth in a relieved smile. "Well, that's fine too. Just think of it as fighting a Night Warden War."
"By that logic, you, who can't be revived, fought a failed Night Warden War." Rios raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm dead, and you can't say something nice?" Kaiulani glared at him in annoyance.
"I wouldn't joke with the dead." Rios smiled. "Actually, I can take you out without the Ode of Resurrection."
"Really?" A spark of hope flashed in Kaiulani's eyes.
Though dying to save teammates was honorable in the eyes of Natlan people.
But being alive to enjoy the honor was always better than being dead.
"Of course it's real, but not now. You'll have to wait a while before I pull you out." Rios said seriously. "This involves the plan set by the Pyro Archon 500 years ago to save Natlan. I'll explain it to you in detail later."
"The Pyro Archon from 500 years ago?" Kaiulani was somewhat surprised, not expecting herself to be so influential as to affect the Pyro Archon's plan from 500 years ago.
"Before I explain, I have a question I want to ask." Rios changed the subject, asking curiously, "After being equipped with new weapons, both you and your companions' powers were greatly strengthened. There shouldn't have been any casualties."
If the Abyss sent a large number of monsters, Rios would definitely notice, so the monsters attacking Kaiulani and the others were only a few.
Logically, with their upgraded firepower, they should have easily suppressed the Abyss monsters.
"Sigh, this matter is really embarrassing to talk about." Kaiulani said with a bitter smile. "After the individual matches ended, we knew there wouldn't be any more Night Warden Wars, and we were quite depressed, so we... had a good drink to drown our sorrows."
"We drank so much we could barely walk straight, and we were thinking of getting back to the tribe before dark. But that's when the Abyss monsters appeared."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth, knowing such an experience was really inglorious.
If she and her companions hadn't gotten drunk, they would have used their upgraded gear to turn the Abyss monsters into sieves long ago—how could one of them have been taken out?
Drinking leads to mistakes.