Time flowed relentlessly onward. No further echoes of battle reached the perimeter of the battlefield.
For the Three Gods, Morax, and the other deities who had been guarding the Dark Sea, this silence conveyed a clear message: the battle was over.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
Shadowy figures surged toward the battlefield's epicenter at blinding speed.
The devastation wrought by Lumine and Temporal Husk's battle sent shivers down their spines. The entire Dark Sea had been shattered beyond repair, rendering it uninhabitable. Even the resident Gods had fled to the outside world.
Though many Gods were undoubtedly scattered across Teyvat's Seven Nations, the situation had yet to spiral out of control.
Before rushing to this final Judgment, the Gods of each nation had made preliminary arrangements. Moreover, given the magnitude of the commotion, the fleeing Gods were likely focused solely on survival and would understand what they needed to do.
Otherwise, the combined wrath of the Gods, the Three Gods, and their allies would prove impossible to quell.
At the heart of the battlefield, Lumine sat atop molten lava. Though the lava burned fiercely, its heat barely registered for her in her current state.
She gazed up at the starry sky, only turning her head when she sensed the arrival of Morax and the others.
A streak of blood lingered at the corner of Lumine's mouth, and her face and body were covered in a dense network of fine wounds. She looked utterly exhausted.
Yet her aura remained undiminished. Even now, she could confront and defeat the Three Gods in battle.
But at this moment, Lumine was willing but powerless.
The sliver of power granted by the Goddess had enabled her to defeat the Temporal Husk. Though formidable now, her gaze remained fixed on the clashing purple-black and pink lights colliding fiercely in the sky.
A profound sense of helplessness washed over her.
Her battle with the Temporal Husk had already shattered the Dark Sea. How much more devastating would the clash between the Goddess and the Abyss be?
If they hadn't taken their fight to the stars, Teyvat itself might have crumbled under a single strike!
"Traveler, are you alright?"
Rukkhadevata floated before Lumine, her voice filled with tender concern.
Lumine slowly shook her head.
"I killed it, but... the final outcome depends on what happens up there, on the Goddess..."
Barbatos: "We all owe you our gratitude, Traveler. If not for you, Teyvat would have..."
"Traveler."
The Tsaritsa approached Lumine. Among all the gods present, aside from the Dendro Dragon Sovereign of Sumeru and the three Archons, she and Lumine had the least interaction.
Lumine was in poor condition, but at this moment, she desperately needed to know something else.
A trace of barely concealed anxiety flickered in the Tsaritsa's icy blue eyes. Her usually cold voice carried a subtle hint of urgency:
"Angie... where is she now? Is she safe?"
At these words, Neuvillette, standing behind the Tsaritsa, stepped forward.
"Traveler, and Miss Fidelle..."
The two questions pierced Lumine's forced composure like icy needles.
Her already pale face, drained from exhaustion, now lost its last vestige of color.
She lowered her head, avoiding the probing gazes of the Cryo Archon and Neuvillette, and bit down hard on her lower lip, nearly drawing blood.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze.
Barbatos had already grasped the answer, Morax's expression grew even heavier, and Rukkhadevata let out a silent sigh.
Silence was the most cruel response.
The Tsaritsa and Neuvillette's hearts sank little by little, as if they understood something.
The Tsaritsa: "Has she... already departed?"
Lumine raised a trembling hand. With a flash of light, a scene carefully preserved in the Serenitea Pot's most secluded corner materialized before the gods through telepathy—
Two coffins sculpted from pure pink crystal, crystalline and translucent, radiated a soft, mournful glow.
In the left coffin, Angie's mangled remains barely retained a human form. The gruesome tears and bite marks on her body were horrifying. Even in death, her brow remained tightly furrowed.
One glance was all it took for the Tsaritsa to recognize the immense suffering Angie had endured before her death.
The Tsaritsa's face drained of color. She staggered back half a step, an icy chill surging uncontrollably from her body before she swiftly suppressed it.
Her eyes, which had witnessed a millennium of wind and frost, remained locked on Angie's twisted brow and ravaged body, as if trying to etch this brutal image into her soul.
In the right coffin, Fidelle's headless corpse lay still. A gaping wound tore through her chest, and without her head, her final expression remained unknowable.
Neuvillette's upright figure trembled slightly.
The staff in his hand, a symbol of justice and authority, cracked with a snap under his crushing grip.
Before leaving Fontaine, he had promised to bring Fidelle back "safe and sound."
Now, this headless body and hollow chest were a cruel mockery of his vow.
He closed his eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. When he opened them again, his deep dragon eyes were filled with profound sorrow.
The crushing weight of this broken vow, the anguish of his friend's sacrifice, pierced him with a suffocating pain far more intense than any enemy's attack.
"...I'm sorry," Lumine's voice was hoarse, each word squeezed from her throat.
"To open the gateway to the Goddess's Slumbering Place, Fidelle willingly sacrificed herself. To awaken the Goddess's slumbering essence, someone had to bear and purify the Abyss's primordial corruption... After guiding us to the Goddess's Slumbering Place, Angie... she chose to sacrifice herself as well."
"I... I couldn't..."
Lumine couldn't finish, overwhelmed by guilt and grief that choked her.
The Tsaritsa stared blankly at the figure within the crystal coffin, then slowly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of the chaotic air around her. When she reopened them, her gaze had regained its icy composure, though beneath that icy composure, a profound sorrow lingered.
"There's no need to apologize, Traveler," the Tsaritsa's voice had regained its calm, yet it was now deeper and more somber than before.
"You've done enough. It's just... this was her choice, her glory. She burned herself out for the sake of Teyvat's survival. Zapolyarny Palace will forever remember her name."
Though the Tsaritsa spoke these words, thinking of her Harbingers, she felt a pang of sorrow in her heart.
Neuvillette remained silent...
The gods present shared this sentiment.
For they too had once lost, and they knew this feeling...
A hand rested on Lumine's shoulder. Through tear-blurred vision, Lumine looked up. "Brother..."
Aether's eyes also brimmed with tears, but he forced a weak smile. "Sister, don't be too sad..."
The assembled crowd was large and diverse, comprising Aether, who opposed the Heavenly Principles; three Shades of the Heavenly Principles; the gods of Teyvat; the Elemental Dragon Sovereign; and the Harbingers of the Fatui...
Under normal circumstances, such a gathering would have been impossible, and even if it were to occur, it would never be so quiet.
But... due to the Abyss's looming threat, everyone maintained a strained silence, creating an eerie... atmosphere...