The moment Stormterror vanished into the clouds, the clifftop went quiet.
The wind was still there — tugging at cloaks, making Cecilia flowers bow — but nobody was looking at the sky anymore.
Everyone was looking at Kairo's gun.
It wasn't a Mondstadt crossbow, not a Liyue repeating launcher, not a Snezhnayan prototype.
It was a long, elegant, absolutely-not-of-this-world war rifle — barrel lean and deadly, black-white-gold lines running along it like cold lightning, a bayonet edge throwing off a faint bluish sheen. The frame had a hint of old flintlock silhouette, but the finish and energy ports screamed high-end tech and Path-level craftsmanship.
One casual shot.
One Abyss Mage — gone.
Jean was still half-braced behind her Anemo shield, eyes narrowed. As Acting Grand Master she'd seen heirloom blades, Knights-issue catalyst staves, even a few things the Church swore were "relics from the Archon War."
Nothing like this.
Diluc's gaze was even heavier. He'd seen Fatui agents smuggle in firearms before — crude things, noisy and unreliable. Compared to what Kairo was holding, those were children's toys. This wasn't made in Teyvat.
And, also… where did he even pull that from?
It was not a sidearm. That rifle was big.
Paimon hovered practically on the barrel. "Kairo! You were hiding this the whole time?! What kind of secret weapon is this?!"
Kairo spun the rifle once — the bayonet traced a clean, blue arc in the air — then shouldered it like it was nothing. "A gun."
"I know it's a gun!" Paimon puffed her cheeks. "What kind of gun?! That was a one-shot-Abyss-Mage gun!"
Kairo tapped his chin, eyes perfectly calm. "Then… say it's forged from special materials. Fragments of a god, for example."
Paimon's eyes went round. Jean's, too.
"Like the Skyward Lyre," Jean murmured, thinking it through. "Only… oriented for offense."
Perfect. Let them think that.
Kairo didn't bother to correct her.
Jean exhaled, face returning to business. "Whatever它— whatever it is, thank you. But Stormterror's problem isn't gone yet. Venti— please protect yourself."
"Hehe… you didn't only just now figure it out, right, Jean?" Venti laughed, green eyes half-mooned. "But thanks for calling me 'Venti' anyway."
Diluc glanced at the lyre in Venti's arms. "Can it still be played? Or can we fix it again with the dragon tears?"
"Mm…" Venti looked down. The lyre was dull, frost still kissed its frame. He winced. "Broken this badly… probably not this time."
"So the Abyss Mage is dead, but the root problem still exists." Diluc folded his arms. "As long as we don't clear the source of the corruption, Stormterror won't stop suffering."
"The source is the Abyss, right?" Paimon scratched her head. "But Kairo just blew that one up! Isn't that enough?"
"The real source is the curse stuck to Dvalin," Kairo said, frowning slightly. "If we peel that off, it's over. I was too focused on deleting the mage just now and didn't stop the dragon."
He really had been testing the gun. And the gun had delivered.
Venti shook his head. "You did fine. Dvalin was in full rage. If you'd forced him down here without the lyre, he would have ripped up Starsnatch Cliff. Mondstadt would've cried for a decade. Even for me, a rampaging Dvalin is… painful to handle right now."
Kairo raised a brow. "Even for you?"
Paimon blinked. "Wait, but you're the Anemo Archon. Why are we doing the dragon-rescue for you?"
Venti spun his lyre-string with one finger. "Because the 'Seven' you all talk about — the real title is 'Seven Rulers of the Mortal World.' We each rule one-seventh. Ruling builds power. But I don't like ruling. And Mondstadt doesn't like being ruled."
He spread both hands, grinning. "So guess whose divine power is the lowest right now?"
Paimon: "…"
Lumine: "…"
Diluc: "…"
Jean pressed her lips together so she wouldn't laugh.
"This is nothing to be proud of…" Lumine muttered. "Truly the god of freedom."
"Flattered, flattered." Venti tilted his hat.
Diluc cut in. "Then let's drop god-talk and go back to the actual problem. If we need mortal force, you can at least tell us where to strike."
"We go to Stormterror's Lair," Venti said at once. "After he woke up, Dvalin picked an ancient ruin as his nest. Like the storm barrier that covered Mondstadt, the Lair has a special wind ward. But just now, when that Abyss Mage showed up, I read the rhythm in the magic it used. Ugly, like a Hilichurl choir, but enough. With that rhythm, we can crack the barrier."
He looked at Kairo's rifle and smiled. "Or… we can just have our mystery friend blast it open."
Diluc frowned. "So we really are going to fight him directly. To be blunt, without you, the Knights can't win a straight aerial fight."
Jean didn't avoid it. "If that's the only way, then I'll be the first one in."
"It's not that hopeless." Venti waved. "Our real trump card is the Traveler."
Everyone looked at Lumine.
"Me?" Lumine pointed to herself. "Because I hit hard?"
Kairo shook his head. "Because you purified the dragon tears. The filth in those tears is the same filth on Dvalin. Only you can cleanse it."
"Oh." Lumine's eyes lit up. "That's fine then. I'll clean it. Let's go."
Jean turned to Kairo and — very formally — bowed. "Then I must trouble you as well, Kairo."
The second she did, a panel flickered into Kairo's vision.
[Because of your help, Bronya recalled the blurry parts of her childhood. But that memory made her doubt her mother — she thinks Cocolia may have been wrong. Facing Bronya's hesitation, you chose to add fuel to the fire and light her rebellion.]
[Reward obtained: Bronya's Path of Preservation branch skill — "Combat Redeploy."
Effect: On use, immediately dispel 1 negative status from a chosen target, make that target act at once, and increase the target's damage by 33% / 66% for that action.]
Power rolled into him again, neat, ordered, no violence in it — exactly like Bronya herself.
Kairo squinted, savoring it. "Nice."
He already had Clara's talent — Because We're Family — sitting in his body like a passive barrier: incoming damage -20%, attackers get auto counter-marked, and (something he hadn't said out loud before) a 35% passive chance to cleanse 1 debuff whenever he was hit.
Against Fatui with Delusions, it had already saved him.
But 35% was not 100%.
Bronya's skill, though?
Targeted. 100%. Immediate move. Free damage buff.
If he slapped this on himself, he could force a cleanse any time.
And if he slapped it on someone else…
Kairo's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Could this… strip Stormterror's curse?
A curse is definitely a negative state.
So: see dragon → cast Combat Redeploy → curse gone. If not gone → cast again. Throw in Sampo's blind to buy time. Done.
He was still turning that over when the panel flashed again.
[You pushed Bronya to stop being naïve about Cocolia.]
[Svarog opened the furnace and shared all Stellaron intel. The Trailblazer compared it with what you'd said before… and it was exactly the same. They were stunned.]
[You explained that once Bronya goes to meet Cocolia, Cocolia will definitely try to let the Stellaron sync with her. The best move is to seal it before she arrives.]
[Bronya believed you, but she still wanted to talk to her mother. You couldn't stop her, so you let her go, and asked her to stall Cocolia.]
[You told the team to head for the Stellaron right now, while Cocolia was busy.]
[They decided to split. But even with your intel, the Trailblazer's group didn't know the exact path to the Stellaron. So the Trailblazer invited you to come along. Faced with the Trailblazer's invitation, you choose…]
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