Following the connection, his consciousness returned to his original body.
Lin En slowly opened his eyes.
"You're okay, right? Um… finished talking?"
As always, Aikefei was the first to check on him—but this time there was a trace of urgency in her voice.
The exchange with a macro-level will hasn't taken long. Consciousness-level communication was efficient, and such beings didn't beat around the bush.
The situation on deck hadn't changed much.
She had mostly been watching the spectacle.
But remembering Lin En's earlier warning, she had carefully observed the ship's condition—
And she had indeed noticed something wrong.
Even if Lin En had resolved his bad-luck issue, the ship itself had already crossed the point of no return.
The malice driving the sea beast had faded as the universe's rejection mechanism lost its target.
But the wounds inflicted by ballistae and weaponry remained.
The beast was still attacking.
Which only accelerated the ship's deterioration.
Lin En understood her meaning immediately.
"Relax. It's all handled."
Aikefei let out a breath of relief.
"Then… should we just slip away from the back?"
"I checked our position earlier. We're far from Fontaine, but fairly close to Port Ormos in Sumeru. I can freeze a path across the sea—we should be able to make it."
From a practical standpoint, it was an excellent plan.
Let the doomed ship and its criminal crew stall the sea beast.
The two of them could quietly escape over ice, without even needing to swim.
But Lin En now had a better solution.
He gently pressed her shoulder.
"No need. Watch this."
Aikefei blinked.
For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating—
From the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of flame at Lin En's gaze.
It carried an oddly familiar heat.
Like the Sacred Flame of Natlan.
…Fire?
Before she could question it—
Flames erupted from Lin En's body.
Blazing.
Scorching.
Heat distorted the air and ignited nearby flammable objects—
Including parts of the deck beneath their feet.
Aikefei instinctively summoned Cryo to shield herself—
Only to realize something astonishing.
The flames, the heat, even the burning deck—
All avoided her position deliberately.
As if they possessed awareness.
Her eyes widened.
She focused on Lin En.
He was gathering the surrounding flames, compressing them—
Gradually shaping more than a dozen pale fire orbs the size of infant fists.
Even just floating quietly in his palm—
Her instincts screamed:
Extreme danger.
Yet Lin En still wasn't satisfied.
The orbs continued to condense.
Their color shifted.
More importantly—
They weren't being compressed by force.
It was as though loyal subjects had received a command from their sovereign—
And willingly collapsed inward.
Finally—
Each orb shrank into a crystalline speck the size of a grain of rice.
Transparent.
Gem-like.
Solidified phlogiston?
No… slightly different…
I'll study it later.
Lin En raised his gaze toward the battlefield.
With a light flick of his finger—
The tiny "gems" launched.
They cut across the night sky without a whisper of wind—
Arriving instantly.
And detonated.
Flames swallowed everything—
The colossal sea beast.
The crew manning the weapons.
Nothing was reduced to ash in a single blink—
But every life was extinguished.
Without exception.
"Good."
Lin En nodded in satisfaction.
He didn't consider himself a righteous crusader.
But for those involved in trafficking Les—
Dying without fanfare, leaving broken corpses to sink beneath the waves—
That felt appropriate.
What?
Give them dramatic final words?
Grant them a glorious, comprehensible end?
Nonsense.
Including Vacher.
He hadn't acted earlier only because under the curse of bad luck, intervening could have backfired.
Failing to eradicate evil completely invites endless consequences.
And worse—
The universe's rejection mechanism might have escalated matters further.
Now?
Different story.
Lin En mentally noted he had just arranged an ending for Vacher roughly equivalent to canon—
Only faster.
Much faster.
He hoped the man would "appreciate" the efficiency.
"You got a Vision?!"
Aikefei hurried over, eyes sparkling, face full of delight.
Given her experience and Teyvat's common beliefs—
What else could that display have been?
Lin En smiled.
"Not a Vision… though it's related, in a way. Just… a bit taxing."
As he spoke, the flames dissipated.
The authority that had commanded them was quietly returned through the link to his world-incarnation, where it would be carried.
Though calling it 'taxing' isn't quite right…
He examined his condition.
Pressure might be more accurate.
This ability was an unexpected bonus from reaching consensus with Teyvat.
Recalling the process—
Lin En clicked his tongue.
Teyvat, my friend… you're generous.
Once I've grown stronger, I'll definitely help you smack Phanes around a bit.
As for how hard?
Depends on the character model.