Infected by Paimon's lively manner, Furina also temporarily set aside her worries. She carefully took a light blue candy chunk, tasted it, and her eyes lit up slightly:
"Hmm... what a curious flavor, the sweetness comes in layers..."
Lumine also took a piece and put it in her mouth, feeling the overly rich sweetness dissolve on her tongue.
The atmosphere seemed to lighten up.
The three of them began to chat idly.
Paimon vividly described the strange looks and outfits of the S-Class Heroes they had just seen.
Furina curiously asked Lumine about the sights she had seen on her journey.
Lumine also allowed her tensed nerves to relax for once, recounting some of the local customs and traditions from various parts of Teyvat.
Time passed bit by bit.
The atmosphere was harmonious.
However, just as Paimon was gesticulating wildly to mimic a certain Fatui Harbinger being scared witless by King—
"Uh..."
Paimon, who had been speaking excitedly, came to an abrupt halt.
The half-eaten candy in her hand fell to the floor with a 'plop'.
Her small body swayed, her hands suddenly clutched her head, and she curled up, falling straight down from the air!
"Paimon?!!!"
Lumine's face paled in shock, and she lunged forward, catching her before she hit the ground.
"It... hurts..."
Paimon's voice became distorted.
It was no longer her usual crisp and lively childish voice, but was laced with a hollow, overlapping echo.
It was as if countless voices were screaming simultaneously within her body.
Her small white cape and starry decorations moved without wind, emitting ripples of unstable, visible pale energy.
"My head... feels like it's splitting open..."
"Paimon! What's wrong?"
Furina also ran over in a panic, wanting to help, but was gently pushed away by an invisible force.
Lumine tried to pick Paimon up, but a bone-chilling cold that seemed capable of freezing the soul shot through her fingertips straight to her mind, causing her to groan and instinctively pull her hand back.
Paimon suddenly looked up.
Lumine and Furina both gasped simultaneously.
In those large eyes that were always clear, oblivious, and full of appetite...
...there now flickered a cold, ancient, and inhuman light.
In the depths of her pupils, starry skies rotated, and laws were born and extinguished.
"Ah—!!!"
Paimon let out a short, sharp shriek.
A pale light erupted from her tiny body, filling the entire safe house!
Lumine and Furina were blinded by the intense light and could only instinctively raise their hands to shield their eyes.
The light lasted for several seconds and then suddenly contracted inward.
When Lumine barely adjusted to the light and lowered her arm to look—
She was struck as if by lightning, Frozen in place, her pupils dilated to the extreme, and the color instantly drained from her face.
Floating in the air was no longer that silly, gluttonous little white guide.
But a tall woman with a cold, ethereal aura, exuding an infinite sense of majesty and annihilation.
The Ruler of the Sky—Asmodeus.
"Pai... mon...?"
Lumine's lips trembled as she squeezed out those two words.
Her mind was a complete blank, unable to process the information before her.
The little companion who had walked with her through countless journeys, who had cried and laughed with her...
...the greedy, gluttonous, cowardly yet boastful little thing had turned into this!!
This??
This... Lumine couldn't bring herself to curse.
Because she couldn't bear to say a single harsh word to "Paimon."
She closed her eyes in pain, unwilling to face everything before her.
Why... why is it you... why, Paimon... Furina was also scared witless, clutching her mouth tightly, her heterochromatic eyes filled with horror.
"Lumine..."
Paimon—or rather, the existence currently occupying this body.
She looked at Lumine with those cold eyes.
In that gaze, there was apology, complexity, and pain, but not a single shred of killing intent.
"I'm sorry."
She—It—raised a hand.
The space around Lumine and Furina was instantly sliced and folded.
Countless crimson cubes were generated out of thin air, gently but absolutely irresistibly enveloping them.
Furina's cry of alarm was cut off inside the cube.
Lumine did not resist; she stared blankly, and the last thing she saw was "Paimon's" face, which was both familiar and utterly foreign.
"Paimon..."
The crimson cubes rapidly shrunk, turning into two points of faint light that vanished into "Paimon's" hand.
The safe house fell completely silent, leaving only the sound of the ventilation system.
"Paimon" stood in place, looking down at her palm.
She slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again.
The ripples of pain in her eyes were completely smoothed over.
All that remained was the absolute rationality and indifference belonging to the "Ruler of the Sky."
Her figure flickered and, like an erased pencil mark, she disappeared without a trace.
"I can't cry!!"
"I still have things I must do!!!"
...
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