Lin Mo's stunned reaction was exactly what Yae Miko expected.
But she didn't answer right away.
Instead, she rose from her seat again and slowly walked behind him.
Her cold hands settled onto his shoulders.
Lin Mo tensed instantly. "W–What are you doing?!"
"Lord Sasayuri~"
"Come with me to Inazuma, and I'll tell you about Chiyo and Kazari. How about that?" Yae Miko's voice was soft, her cool fingertips gently kneading his shoulders.
And to be fair…
Her massage technique was flawless.
Still, Lin Mo couldn't help grumbling, "Come on, Miko. How can you bargain over something like this?"
Chiyo and Kazari were crucial to Inazuma—crucial to Ei. He didn't need her to remind him of that.
"You're scolding me~"
That pitiful tone at his ear made his head throb.
"You know what they mean to me—and to Ei," he insisted. "This isn't something you joke about."
Yae Miko's violet eyes dimmed with a faint grievance.
Her hands pressed slightly harder on his shoulders.
"…I dreamed of Chiyo," she murmured, gazing out the window toward the sea.
"Not long ago, I dreamed of her returning from beyond the dark seas. She looked badly wounded."
"She didn't go back to Narukami Island."
"She went to the mist-covered Tsurumi Island instead—as if to heal."
"If my guess is right… once she recovers, she'll appear again."
"That's why I want you to come to Inazuma as soon as possible."
"You didn't tell Ei about this?" Lin Mo asked, puzzled.
"I didn't." Miko shook her head. "Chiyo's mind surely isn't clear right now."
"I think she's afraid that returning home will trouble Ei… make her feel guilty.
So I didn't make the decision for her."
Lin Mo fell silent.
He wasn't present during the era when Chiyo lost control; he didn't know exactly what happened.
But rumors said she'd drowned in a pitch-black madness, losing her reason completely.
A thought surfaced in his mind.
He asked slowly, "Miko… doesn't the power that drove Chiyo berserk seem familiar to you?"
"You mean… the Abyss Order?"
Miko also made the connection, though she frowned in confusion.
"But the Abyss Order didn't exist back then, did it?"
The dragon plague in Mondstadt,
Osial's frenzy—
all had the Abyss's fingerprints.
Lin Mo shook his head.
"Not the Abyss Order."
"This power comes from the deepest layer of the Abyss—its purest corruption."
"There's another group besides the Order who can wield it."
"—Khaenri'ah."
"That reminds me…"
Miko's expression shifted as his words jogged her memory.
"Chiyo was called 'Tiger Chiyo' in later generations."
"Because during the war with Khaenri'ah, she was swallowed whole by a monstrous construct… but tore it open from the inside and survived."
"That was how she earned the name 'Chiyo the Tiger-Biter,' the strongest of the oni to Inazuma's people."
"But that same battle tainted her with the Abyss's corruption. Over time, she lost her sanity."
By now, they had almost entirely confirmed the cause of her fall.
After all—
when it came to the manipulation of Abyssal power,
Khaenri'ah far surpassed the Abyss Order.
The corruption festering at the bottom of the Abyss was terrifying beyond reason.
Osial's polluted form was proof of that.
That overwhelming, unnatural power was precisely why the nation without gods—Khaenri'ah—had nearly destroyed Inazuma five hundred years ago, despite it being guarded by two Archons, a yokai immortal, and the oni king.
That war claimed Raiden Makoto's life.
Kazari returned to the land as a wandering soul.
Chiyo lost herself completely.
Had Ei and the shrine maidens not fought with everything they had…
Inazuma might truly have been erased from history.
Even five centuries later, Inazuma's wildlife remained unnaturally fierce, remnants of lingering contamination.
Even the Sacred Sakura had once suffered corruption.
Thinking of Chiyo enduring that same agony,
even the usually carefree Yae Miko grew solemn.
"You said before… you're a pureblood alchemist of Khaenri'ah."
"Is there any way to restore Chiyo?" she asked quietly.
"No."
Lin Mo shook his head.
"Abyssal corruption is irreversible.
That's exactly why the heavens feared Khaenri'ah so deeply that they destroyed it."
"They could create powerful lifeforms endlessly with alchemy…"
"And then use that corruption to burn their life force, driving them into madness to unleash impossible strength."
"They could even infect their enemies—turn them into mindless monsters."
"Just like… Chiyo."
"But wait—what about the East Wind Dragon…?"
Miko's soft question made Lin Mo freeze.
"…You're right!"
He slapped his thigh.
There was one exception in this world—
one being who could purify Abyssal corruption.
A traveler from beyond this world.
Ying.
"I know how to save Chiyo!"
His eyes lit up.
He grabbed Miko's hand and hurried out of the private room.
"H-Hey! Where are we going?!" she yelped, bewildered, as he dragged her along.
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T/N:
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