The moment the Dull Blade pierced the Rifthound's skull, pale green Anemo surged madly along the blade, washing away the Abyss black mist inside the monster's body like a tidal wave.
Lumine panted heavily, her chest heaving violently. The stray hairs on her forehead were soaked with sweat, plastered against her pale cheeks.
Not far away, the last glaring Abyssal Wolf was struck by the blade of wind she hurled. It fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then stopped moving entirely.
Monster drops were scattered across the ground, but Lumine didn't even spare them a glance. Before she even had time to wipe the sweat from her face, she raised her Dull Blade and chased in the direction Lydia and the others had fled.
"No, I have to go check on them quickly." Lumine's heart pounded wildly, a strong sense of unease lingering in her mind.
Passing through the dense forest, Lumine's footsteps gradually slowed, her brows knitting into a tight knot.
On the way here, she could still see the figures of squirrels darting about and hear the chirping of birds, but now the forest was terrifyingly dead silent.
A faint, ominous aura permeated the air.
"Something's wrong... it's too quiet." Lumine gripped the Dull Blade tightly, her pace unconsciously quickening.
Not long after she started running, Lumine suddenly raised her head, her line of sight drawn high into the air.
Paimon was spinning around in a panic.
Lumine had just been about to wave hello, but her gaze was firmly locked onto the scene below, her heart instantly leaping to her throat.
The Stonehide Lawachurl was like an out-of-control chariot, its Geo armor gleaming with a piercing light as it slammed fiercely toward Lydia.
To save her, Bennett pushed Lydia out of the way, but couldn't dodge in time himself. He flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against a tree trunk with a dull "thud."
The boy slid down the trunk to the ground. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, staining his jacket red and making Lumine's heart clench at the sight.
What suffocated her even more was that the Stonehide Lawachurl didn't stop. Instead, it swung its heavy fists wrapped in the Geo element, every step making the ground tremble as it charged toward the fallen Bennett.
The force of those fists was enough to shatter bones!
"No!" Lumine instinctively tried to rush over, but the distance between them meant she wouldn't make it in time.
She even closed her eyes, not daring to watch what would happen next.
Right at that moment, a gentle surge of Anemo suddenly drifted over from ahead, brushing softly against her cheek.
This power actually resonated miraculously with the Anemo within her own body, prompting her to subconsciously open her eyes.
The sight before her left Lumine completely frozen in place, forgetting even to breathe.
Lydia stood in front of Bennett. Her originally dull Vision now emitted a soft white light. The Festering Desire in her hand was entwined with wisps of black mist, which intertwined with the light from the Vision, slowly flowing along the blade.
Struck by this power, the Hilichurls surrounding them didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were instantly torn apart, dissipating into white light.
Even the sturdy Geo element armor on the massive Stonehide Lawachurl cracked with a snap, spiderweb-like fissures spreading across it.
The next second, the rock armor shattered completely. Flying pieces of debris fell to the ground, revealing the Stonehide Lawachurl's body beneath.
The Stonehide Lawachurl let out a terrified roar and tried to retreat, but Lydia stepped forward, accurately piercing its chest with the Festering Desire.
The black and white light from the blade surged into the monster's body simultaneously. The Stonehide Lawachurl's body began to dissipate at a visible rate, ultimately leaving behind only a few faintly glowing drops that fell to the ground.
Lumine stood in place, unresponsive for a long time.
"Lydia..." Lumine murmured softly, her voice carrying a tremble she didn't even notice.
After standing stunned for a few seconds, she shook her head.
Now was not the time to be shocked.
She had to hurry to their side!
-
"Lydia! Are you okay?!"
"I thought we were done for, you have no idea how scared I was..." Paimon flew down from above, landing beside Lydia and grabbing the hem of her clothes with her small hands.
Lydia turned around. The glow of her Vision gradually dimmed, the Anemo symbol within it radiating a faint halo of light.
Her face was still a bit pale, her forehead covered in sweat and dust, yet she revealed a bright smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"Lydia, that move just now was so cool!" Bennett slowly stood up by leaning against a tree trunk. With one hand clutching his chest and a trace of blood still on the corner of his mouth, he smiled exceptionally happily. "I thought I was a goner for sure, thank goodness you were here."
Shortly after they spoke, Lumine arrived beside them.
She walked over quickly, first checking Bennett's chest to confirm there were no fractured bones, and then looked at Lydia.
After confirming it was just simple exhaustion, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness it's nothing serious."
"But Lydia, your Vision..."
Lydia looked down at the Vision on her waist, her eyes full of confusion as her fingertips gently touched the warm casing.
"I don't know what happened either. When I saw Bennett in danger just now, I panicked. Then a surge of power welled up, and it felt like... my body became lighter."
Lumine nodded thoughtfully. Quietly condensing a wisp of Anemo at her fingertips, she tentatively reached toward Lydia's Vision.
She could clearly sense that the power contained both the gentleness of Anemo and a faint trace of Abyssal aura.
However, this ominous feeling was firmly suppressed by the power of the Vision, showing no signs of losing control for the time being.
"Let's head back to Mondstadt first." Not knowing exactly what was going on, Lumine could only withdraw her hand. "It's too dangerous here, and the Abyss has already appeared near Springvale. We must tell Jean about this as soon as possible so they can heighten their guard."
-
On Earth, the livestream interface was already flooded with bullet comments.
A soft white light lit up on the game screen, emanating from Lydia's waist like a star suddenly shining in the dark night. It made the frantically scrolling chat pause for half a second.
The next second, the chat completely exploded.
"Holy shit! Is that a Vision? Am I seeing things?! Lydia's Vision lit up?!"
"Desperate Awakening? Wait, no, aren't those her parents' Visions? How can Lydia use them?"
The chat was filled with countless exclamations of "Holy shit" and "Awesome," alongside players frantically spamming custom "Primogem Mama" emotes.
The streamer, "Teyvat Hoarder Rat," was a stickler for details.
He used a special tool to pause the game, zoomed in on the footage, and pointed at the pattern on Lydia's Vision.
"The mark inside the Vision is Anemo! Lydia mentioned earlier that she had used the other Vision during adversity, and now... she can use both Visions?"
"Well played, devs! Even though we don't know why Lydia can use someone else's Vision, based on the current plot, Lydia will definitely be able to retrieve the other Vision later and become a Dual Vision holder!"
"Didn't people always say before that Lydia couldn't be added to the gacha without a Vision? Why aren't those haters still barking now? Did you get slapped in the face? Keep barking!"
"I'm telling you, I, Hoarder Rat, dare to guarantee that if she's not in the gacha, not only is the developer's brain full of shit, but I'll eat this keyboard right on the spot!"
"..."
Hoarder Rat was endlessly spouting off, and the chat was constantly refreshing.
"The devs! Gave Lydia a golden finger! They're finally acting human!"
"Even though I feel really bad for Bennett getting knocked flying, we really have to thank him this time! Otherwise, we wouldn't have seen such a cool side of Lydia!"
"Fucking dog devs, today they dare to use Bennett's bad luck as a 'highlight catalyst', later they'll dare to straight up kill characters!"
"Makes sense! Crusading against the devs is our duty!"