Venti stared wide-eyed at the radiant mirror floating above the ruins.
Moments later, the mirror dissolved into motes of light.
Su Xuan's voice followed, calm as a breeze:
"All done. The corruption in Dvalin's blood has been cleansed."
The Qiankun Mirror Mirror could purify Dvalin in two ways:
By rewinding his state back to before the Abyss ever touched him…
or by stripping away the corruption like peeling away sickness from the soul.
Either method worked.
Su Xuan had chosen the clean, decisive one.
Venti rushed forward, examining Dvalin's back—
the dark clotted scales, the sickening twisted veins—gone.
Completely gone.
Dvalin stretched his massive wings with a low, rumbling sigh.
"It feels… like waking from a nightmare. Like breathing again after drowning."
The tension holding his body vanished.
He was free.
Su Xuan didn't intrude. He simply let dragon and god have their moment.
But not long after, Dvalin lowered his great head and approached Su Xuan.
"My benefactor. I owe you my life."
Su Xuan waved that aside.
"If you must thank someone, thank the Acting Grand Master of Mondstadt—Jean Gunnhildr.
I came because she asked."
Then he turned to Venti:
"Now—your Gnosis. Let me take a look."
Venti paused.
Not in refusal—just stunned.
After what he had witnessed today, refusing would've felt… idiotic.
He wordlessly held out his emerald-green chess-piece Gnosis.
Su Xuan pinched it between two fingers, lifted it to the light—
—then handed it back.
Venti blinked.
"Huh? …You're done looking already?"
"Mm." Su Xuan replied. "I've already understood its construction."
He turned his palm.
And an identical Anemo Gnosis—perfect down to the elemental resonance—materialized in his hand.
Venti: "…"
Dvalin: "…"
Every woman observing through the diary:
"NO WAY. HE ACTUALLY DID IT."
Su Xuan inspected the recreated Gnosis…
and sighed internally.
It was empty.
A Gnosis did not contain divinity.
It merely received divinity—from somewhere far above, connected by thread to a throne unseen.
The power did not come from the Gnosis.
It came through it.
"So the experiment fails. For now."
He crushed the replica into glittering dust like it was chalk.
"Anyway. We're done here. Go on. I need to borrow some ruin guards and run a few more tests."
He gestured dismissively toward Venti and Dvalin.
"Also, I assume you already understand why the Abyss is building Hilichurl camps around Mondstadt's borders.
Handle that."
Venti opened his mouth—then shut it.
He glanced toward the high tower Su Xuan had torn up—and noticed something.
It was standing perfectly upright again.
Restored. As if nothing had ever happened.
A quiet awe settled in Venti's expression.
Not fear.
Not reverence.
Just a simple understanding:
This was not a warrior.
This was someone who could rewrite outcomes.
"He is a hero born from light," Venti whispered, eyes soft.
Su Xuan stared at him.
"You knew my name the entire time, bard."
Venti puffed his cheeks.
"Hehe."
Su Xuan turned to leave—when Venti suddenly thrust the Gnosis back into his hand.
"No, seriously. Keep it."
Su Xuan stopped mid-step.
Venti grinned brightly.
"You'll need to try again, right?
And besides… I was never fond of it."
He shoved it into Su Xuan's palm and flew back toward Mondstadt with Dvalin.
Meanwhile — Mondstadt, Goethe Hotel
Rosalyne paced the floor in her room, hair in disarray, lipstick smudged.
"Why is there STILL no audio?! I can see everything but I can't HEAR anything—are you mocking me?!"
She screamed at the diary's projection like it personally offended her.
Then—
She saw Venti hand his Gnosis to Su Xuan.
She froze.
Like her soul had disconnected from her body.
"He… he just… GAVE it to him??"
Her vision swam.
She grabbed the nearest chair.
It creaked.
It snapped in half.
"The Tsaritsa said— JUST find Barbatos and the Gnosis will be ours!"
OURS!!
She jabbed a shaking finger at the projection.
"You… You little wine-soaked leaf-eating lute-hugging balloon-brain—you're doing this on purpose!!"
She slammed a hand to her forehead.
"This is revenge.
This is absolutely revenge.
He is using Su Xuan to hit me.
He remembers everything.
And he's getting back at me for… for… for…!"
Her voice broke.
"This is personal!!!"
She collapsed onto the bed like a dead moth.
And whispered:
"...Why is it always Mondstadt. Why is it always HIM. Why is it always me."
Advance Chapters available on P@treon
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