"Hmph." The Abyss Knight let out a contemptuous sneer, the cold breath exhaled from beneath his dragon-headed helmet causing the light source in his palm to dim slightly. "I have already obtained what I wanted. This useless vessel, I'll return to you."
With a casual toss, Yunqin's body flew toward Zhongli like a kite with a broken string, drawing a pale arc in the air.
Zhongli's heart skipped a beat as he almost teleported into her falling trajectory, steadily catching her limp body.
The skin his fingertips touched was ice-cold, and even her breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible. Zhongli's golden eyes were filled with unprecedented panic, and even his voice trembled: "Yunqin! Hold on!"
Seeing this, Venti gritted his teeth, his eyes turning pure gold once again, and Anemo energy surged wildly at his fingertips.
Time around everything began to slow down, but the Abyss Knight slowly extended a finger and gently shook it.
"Oh my~ Using the power of time so casually will cause a karmic effect, Barbatos."
Venti's movements froze in place, the Anemo energy around him instantly halting. Everything in the surroundings stood still: the sea ceased its ripples, the sunlight solidified in mid-air, and even the fluttering hem of Zhongli's clothes as he held Yunqin became a frozen frame.
Yet the Abyss Knight seemed completely unaffected, still standing there with composure, crimson light shimmering from the gaps in his dragon-headed helmet.
The golden light source in his palm tried to break free, but it was firmly bound by a powerful attraction, eventually being slowly absorbed into his body.
The Abyss Knight turned his head to look at the frozen Venti, his voice carrying an all-seeing indifference: "Didn't expect this, did you? The one and only 'success' you went to such lengths to change the past for, yet you still couldn't save this little girl."
"Changing the past is a good method," he paused, crimson light leaking from the gaps in his armor, "but just how many ways are there for 'them' to die? Only you know that best, don't you?"
Cold sweat beaded on Venti's forehead, his golden eyes filled with shock and fear.
The opponent actually knew about his countless returns to the past!
The secrets he had hidden deep in his heart were now exposed before the Abyss as if he had been stripped naked.
"His revival is unstoppable." The Abyss Knight's figure began to turn transparent, gradually melding into the black mist behind him. "The doom of Teyvat will surely arrive. Enjoy these final moments, 'Gods'."
Just as his figure was about to vanish completely, a longsword shimmering with a dark purple light suddenly pierced through his chest!
The blade of the Festering Desire Sword sank deep into the armor, the runes on the sword still flickering faintly.
The Abyss Knight paused in astonishment, looking down at the longsword in his chest.
He slowly raised his hand, pulling the sword from his chest and tossing it to the ground in front of Venti.
The blade struck the ground with a clear clank, and his voice carried a trace of undisguised disdain: "An outdated toy."
As his words fell, the Abyss Knight's figure vanished completely into the black mist, leaving behind the sea that resumed its flow, the weakly breathing Yunqin in Zhongli's arms...
And Lu Nanqing, completely stunned in front of her screen.
Lu Nanqing's melon seed shells lay scattered all over the floor, and she still held half a seed uncracked in her mouth.
The live stream chat had already exploded into a chaotic mess, with screens filled with "Holy shit", "Another knife to the heart", and "Are you guys bullshitting me again" scrolling by.
-
The Abyss Knight's figure vanished completely into the black mist, leaving not even a single wisp of aura to be traced.
Venti frantically channeled his Anemo, pushing the emerald-green element to its absolute limit. The edges of his wings, strained by the excessive power, shed fine particles of light, flickering like dying fireflies.
A violent gale swept across the sea, churning up waves several feet high. Every gust of wind carried his divine power, meticulously probing every ripple in the air.
Yet, where the wind passed, only the churning sea remained. No matter how deeply he infused his divine power into every current, he found not a single trace of the Abyss Knight.
"Damn it!" Venti struck the empty air with his fist, his eyes, gradually fading from gold back to their original color, filled with fury and helplessness.
The Anemo fluctuated wildly with his emotions, causing the surrounding air to tremble and emit a shrill sound as it whipped against his divine attire.
"Once again! Once again, I can only watch as someone close to me suffers!"
Venti's voice trembled uncontrollably, his voice even cracking at the end. It carried both a boundless hatred for the Abyss Knight and a bone-deep self-reproach.
He remembered Lydia turning into ice shards. Back then, he had been just like this, exerting all his strength yet achieving nothing, able only to watch as life slipped through his fingers.
Now Yunqin had suffered such a heavy blow. The image of her chest being pierced repeatedly flashed in his mind, like a dull knife carving into his heart over and over again.
"Why... Why am I always one step too late?" Venti covered his face with his hand, his fingers trembling through the gaps. "How is it that a God... cannot even keep the one he wants to protect...?"
He recalled what he had told Yunqin before, "Don't give up, little girl, your story isn't over yet." Now, those words felt like a harsh slap across his face.
Indeed, he urged others not to give up, yet he was the one who failed time and time again at the critical moment.
He could play songs to protect Liyue, but when power was truly needed, he couldn't even stop a single Abyss Knight.
"What does the Abyss truly want?" Venti murmured to himself, his eyes filled with confusion and pain.
His wings hung limp, their emerald light dimming like wings soaked in rain.
He watched Yunqin in Zhongli's arms, her breath faint, her weak hand raised. The self-reproach in his heart intensified.
If only he had been faster just now, if only he had noticed the black mist's abnormality sooner...
Perhaps Yunqin would not have ended up like this.
"I'm sorry... Yunqin..." Venti's voice was low, like a whisper. The wind carried his apology across the sea, but it would never reach the girl's ears.
He didn't even dare to approach, only able to stand there as he watched Zhongli tightly hold Yunqin's hand, watching the faint smile on the girl's lips, the pain in his heart overwhelming him like a tide.
Beside them, Osial and Beisht finally snapped out of their shock.
They had just broken free from the Abyssal erosion, and their god power flowed sluggishly through their bodies, making even their perception much duller than usual.
When they clearly saw the figure in Zhongli's arms, her breath faint, even her pupils losing their luster, the pent-up rage instantly broke through the dam of their reason!
Osial slammed the sea surface hard, sending up spouts of angry water, and the crushed stones from the seabed were swept into the air, only to crash down heavily.
He could clearly smell the faint scent of his own bloodline emanating from Yunqin, a scent that was gradually vanishing as her divine power dissipated.
This was the daughter he had waited for in the deep sea for a thousand years, the only one he and Beisht cared about after breaking the seal, yet he couldn't even provide the most basic protection!