At this moment, inside Tsurumi Island in Inazuma.
"Help! Why is it these four living fathers again?!"
The Abyss Mage's shriek pierced the dawn, and before the flames condensing from its staff could fully form, Zane lunged forward and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, sealing its fate.
"Off you go!"
Zane swung his arm in a full circle, and the Abyss Mage arced through the air in a perfect parabola, finally plunging headfirst into the ground with a "boom," its two thin legs flailing like wilted bean sprouts.
The entire monster camp instantly erupted.
"Yaya!"
The Blazing Axe Mitachurls dropped their shields and ran, only to be strung together like human candied hawthorn by Jesse's Anemo polearm.
"Gurgle!"
The Hydro Samachurl's staff was so scared it turned into a fountain, launching itself into the sky.
The most miserable was the Hilichurl Chieftain; just as it assumed a charging stance, Elliot performed a sliding tackle to get behind it: "Chunibyo Ultimate Skill: Thousand Years of Death!"
"Aoooh ah ah ah ah ah!"
The five-meter-tall Hilichurl Chieftain clutched its backside and leaped three feet high, shaking down the Whopperflowers from the trees.
Matt chuckled guilelessly, casually picking up a Hilichurl to use as a baseball bat: "Home run ~"
"Ooooh aooh aooh aooh!"
The Hilichurl, used as a weapon, arced gracefully through the air, precisely hitting the Cryo Abyssal Mage trying to escape.
The monsters' miserable states were bizarre and varied:
A Electro Hilichurl Shooter was pinned to a tree by its own arrow, its mask askew at a comical 45-degree angle.
A Wooden Shield Mitachurl's shield was sat on by Matt, turning it into an abstract art piece.
A Dendro Samachurl and its vines were tied into a bow-knot gift box.
Ten minutes later, the quartet left the battlefield, feeling refreshed.
The wind blew through the silent camp:
The Abyss Mage stuck in the ground twitched its legs;
The Blazing Axe Mitachurls strung together swayed in the wind;
The Hilichurl Chieftain's backside still had Elliot's special "Hydro element commemorative javelin" stuck in it...
The thick fog of Tsurumi Island coiled around everyone like a living entity, reducing visibility to less than three meters.
Water droplets condensed on Jesse's mask, and he waved his hand irritably: "Wolf King, this fog is a bit too annoying, give us a hand."
"Understood."
The silver-white mechanical wolfman materialized from the air beside them, its right arm guard sliding open to reveal a vibrant green three-leaf clover—the iconic fog-clearing tool from Plants vs. Zombies.
"Wait, wait!"
Paimon's eyes widened.
"Why is there something like this?!"
The Wolf King's electronic eyes flickered: "Interdimensional tactical equipment, serial number PVZ-003."
The three-leaf clover was tossed into the air, its leaves beginning to spin wildly.
In an instant, a violent airflow swept across Tsurumi Island with destructive force, tearing the fog into shreds.
The gloom that had lingered for a thousand years was blown away without a trace in ten seconds.
"Mission accomplished."
The three-leaf clover dissipated into points of light, and the Wolf King re-entered stealth mode.
Tsurumi Island, once again revealed to the light of day, showed its true appearance: moss-covered crumbling stone walls, decaying wooden boats half-buried in the sand, and those... ubiquitous eerie Thunderbird statues.
"Ruu should be near the ceremonial site."
Lumine gripped the sword in her hand, the purple feathers on the ground guiding their direction.
As everyone advanced along the path, Zane suddenly stopped.
Beneath his modified mask, he detected residual energy traces on the ground—faint child's footprints visible within the charred lightning patterns.
"Ignorant villagers..."
Elliot kicked aside a stone slab carved with sacrificial rituals.
"Praying for divine protection, yet offering the purest child to the altar."
Matt's eyes swept over the damaged murals: "The Thunderbird Kapatcir... it never wanted human sacrifice."
At the center of the altar, a translucent boy's figure was humming an ancient song.
Hearing footsteps, Ruu turned around, his eyes filled with a thousand years of loneliness.
"Are you... here for the ceremony?"
Ruu's transparent body trembled slightly, and his crimson eyes reflected the serious faces of the group.
"No..."
Jesse shook his head, Anemo element condensing into a small Thunderbird shape in his palm.
"We are here for you and Kapatcir."
Matt's massive hand gently brushed over the altar, and the ancient runes carved with bloody rituals peeled away: "She never demanded offerings."
"Looking for me?"
Ruu tilted his head in confusion, a gesture that made him look even more like an ordinary child.
He stood on the damp soil, countless feathers accumulated from cycles of reincarnation scattered at his feet.
Zane knelt down, his gaze level with the boy.
A stream of data flashed across his mask, projecting scenes from thousands of years ago into the air—
In the image, young Ruu was singing in the forest, the Thunderbird's massive silhouette enveloping him, the lightning dancing between its wings as gentle as a dance.
"Look, this is what she wanted."
Zane pointed at the holographic image.
"Your song, your smile, and not..."
The image switched to the final sacrifice.
The villagers' distorted faces, the boy's tongue being pulled out and bones extracted, the pain of bleeding to death, and the Thunderbird's sudden enraged shriek in the sky.
"She didn't understand what humans were doing at all."
Elliot's Hydro blade sliced through the afterimages of the nearby villagers, which vanished after emitting silent screams.
"She only knew that she saw your bones... that you died because of them..."
Ruu's body trembled violently, and countless memory fragments suddenly flooded his mind.
The nightmare repeated for millennia, Kapatcir's mournful cry in each reincarnation, the thunderous storms he had misunderstood... "So... those thunders..."
The boy's voice was broken.
"She was crying."
Lumine said softly, holding a glowing Thunderbird feather in her hand.
"Every lightning bolt was her asking 'why'."
Ruu knelt on the ground, transparent tears falling onto the altar.
Millennia of obsession collapsed at this moment—it turned out that the "perfect" sacrifice he desperately wanted was a ridiculous mistake from the very beginning; it turned out that the gentle deity who shielded him from wind and rain never intended to harm him in the slightest.
"Kapatcir..."
The boy looked up at the overcast sky, where a giant winged shadow was gathering.
"I'm sorry... I only understood now..."
Thunder rumbled in the clouds, but no longer carried anger.
The falling raindrops were warm like tears.
Paimon looked up at the suddenly falling raindrops, blinking in confusion: "Strange, how could Tsurumi Island..."
"Guess where the Wolf King went."
Elliot suddenly interrupted her, tiny electric arcs dancing around his body.
"Wolf King? Did he..."
Paimon suddenly covered her mouth, her small hand pointing to the churning clouds in the sky.
Elliot nodded, for once shedding his cynical expression: "The Thunderbird died at Seirai Island, but her soul is still trapped in anger... the Wolf King went to bring her home."
The rain intensified, but no longer carried the usual chill.
Every raindrop shimmered with a faint electric glow, warm like tears on the skin.
"This is..."
Ruu reached out, catching the falling raindrops.
The water droplets transformed into tiny Thunderbird shapes in his palm, then dissipated into scattered points of light.
A long cry suddenly echoed from the sky, not the resentful roar of a thunderstorm, but a trembling call spanning a thousand years.
The heavy clouds were torn open by some immense power, and a twenty-meter silver-white Gundam stood in the air, cradling a giant bird condensed from pure Electro element.
Kapatcir's wings were incomplete, but the tyrannical purple lightning in her eyes had transformed into gentle flowing light.
"Ruu..."
The deity's voice was like broken strings, yet it made the boy burst into tears instantly.
The Wolf King slowly descended, gently placing the Thunderbird's soul on the altar.
The mechanical voice calmly reported: "Mission completed. Detected target soul integrity 22%. Recommend immediate stabilization."
Zane immediately opened the medical kit, Jesse's Anemo element began to weave a repair barrier, and Matt pulled out a spray bottle filled with strange liquid: "Special soul adhesive..."
But before they could act, Ruu had already rushed forward.
The boy's transparent body merged with the Thunderbird's spirit, and the ancient song from a thousand years ago finally resounded again:
"La la la ~ la ~ la la ~"
A shocking scene unfolded—with the song, the Thunderbird's incomplete wings began to regenerate, and the scars burned by anger gradually healed.
Rainwater gathered on the ground into glowing streams, and withered Thunder Sakura branches sprouted new buds.
Paimon suddenly found her tears flowing uncontrollably: "So this was... the true sacrifice..."
Lumine quietly gripped the feather in her hand, watching Ruu and Kapatcir enveloped by a rising pillar of light.
Countless Tsurumi Island souls trapped in reincarnation appeared, transforming into specks of starlight in the rain.
On the distant beach, the purified Thunderbird statues all turned towards the altar, and tears slid from the stone carvings' eyes.
The Wolf King's sensors showed that the cycle of curses, which had lasted for millennia, was finally lifted at this moment...
The thick fog of Tsurumi Island coiled around everyone like a living entity, reducing visibility to less than three meters.