Twalin being angry, Venti could understand.
But Twalin being angry and… scared?
That was wrong.
Venti's gaze slid, very naturally, to the person standing a little behind the group — Kairo.
Is it because of that shot on Starsnatch Cliff…?
That single round that blew the Cryo Abyss Mage apart had carried a force even the Anemo Archon couldn't quite read. If Twalin had felt that power in the resonance of the wind, then…
Yeah. A dragon could be afraid of that.
"ROOOAAAHHH—!"
The sky-realm trembled.
Twalin spread his wings and dove again. Wind howled like knives; the floating platforms shook as if they were about to be minced.
A second later, the dragon's jaws opened — a spinning Anemo core condensed in his throat, growing, compressing, until it became a roiling wind shell several meters wide, frayed at the edges with countless wind blades.
It dropped toward them like a falling storm.
"Careful!" Venti's expression tightened.
He slammed his hand down.
Anemo rushed up from below, forming a steady wind field under everyone's feet so they wouldn't be knocked off the floating stone and plunged into the screaming vortex below. At the same time, a layer of gentle but firm wind wrapped around the party, softening the impact of Twalin's storm.
Paimon still spun in the air. "How are we supposed to fight like this?! One wrong step and we fall forever!"
"Don't worry," Venti said, eyes still on the dragon. "Everyone, look — on his body. See those two glowing spots?"
They all looked.
Sure enough, between Twalin's scales there were two patches of violet light, like poisoned wounds oozing corruption. Even across the storm, the aura coming off them was… wrong. Heavy. Tainted.
"That's not a normal wound," Venti said, voice low. "That's Abyssal curse-blood. The Abyss Order concentrated their corruption there — that's how they twisted his mind."
Jean instantly understood. "So to save Twalin, we clear those cursed clots first."
"Exactly. Otherwise he'll never break free."
"I'll go," Lumine said without hesitation.
Venti nodded. "I'll give you wind. Get close and purify."
A swirl of Anemo lifted her — but Twalin had already locked back onto them.
"ROOOAAHHH—!!"
His pupils shrank. That familiar aura, the one that had just erased an Abyss Mage from the sky, was here again. Rage surged — and under it, that hard-to-hide fear.
Wings slammed.
The entire secret realm went wild.
Platforms tipped. Currents went chaotic. Down below, the endless wind-funnel boiled; up above, new wind vortices spawned in midair, cutting across every possible approach path.
"It's his ultimate gale — closing the stage!" Venti called. "He wants to blow the field apart!"
Without Venti there, that would have been it — everyone would've been peeled off the stones and shredded by Anemo.
Jean gritted her teeth, expanding her own wind field to keep people within reach. Even so, compared to Twalin going all out, she felt like a single skiff on a storm sea.
So this is the true power of Stormterror… no wonder Mondstadt couldn't suppress him alone…
Diluc leapt to a steadier slab of stone, Pyro flaring across his claymore to resist the eroding wind. "Tch… this is getting troublesome."
Wind blades screamed toward them, again and again — and then, right when the entire battlefield had become pure chaos…
Something rippled.
It wasn't Anemo. It wasn't Pyro. It wasn't Geo, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo.
It was… clean.
Like an invisible ring bursting outward, a layer of power washed over Twalin's body.
His eyes — those bloodhot, Abyss-tainted eyes — flickered.
Rage… vanished.
Just没了.
His wings, mid-beat, paused.
The storm lost half its bite.
Everyone stared.
"W–wait… Twalin… stopped?" Paimon's mouth hung open. "He was just trying to kill us!"
Jean blinked hard. A heartbeat ago she'd been bracing to counter a full-dragon barrage. Now the dragon was… floating there, confused.
Diluc's pupils shrank. "That was… not Venti."
Every gaze turned the same way.
To Kairo.
Kairo himself looked a bit odd, too — like he'd just tested something and the result had surprised even him.
"I cleared his anger," he said, very matter-of-fact. "It was treated as a negative state."
What he had just thrown was Bronya's Path-skill branch — "Combat Redeploy."
Use it → immediately dispels one negative effect on a chosen target → and makes them act right away, with boosted damage.
He'd thought it would grab the curse-blood first.
Instead… it had ripped out emotion.
So even emotions get flagged as debuffs?
Then sadness, panic, despair — all of that can be stripped, too?
This skill is insane.
"Hold on—!" Lumine, who had been sneaking closer on wind support, suddenly gasped. "His wound — it's actually… fading?"
Kairo didn't waste the test window.
Another flick of the hand.
Another Combat Redeploy.
A second circle of invisible power wrapped Twalin like a cleansing array.
This time everyone saw it: the violet curse coagulated on Twalin's back peeled away like smoke in sunlight, erased by a power that didn't even need to touch him.
Purple → pale → gone.
"Wha— whaaat?!" Paimon's eyes almost fell out. "Kairo, you can purify from range too?! Then why did we make Lumine do all the crystal-washing earlier?!"
Jean, Venti, and Diluc saw it clearly.
This wasn't just calming a beast.
This was direct removal of Abyssal corruption.
Without lyres.
Without dragon tears.
Without contact.
Venti's eyes narrowed, serious now. "That's… not just purification. You removed the emotion first. Even Anemo cleansing can't do it that fast."
Kairo tried not to look too smug. Bronya's Path skill + Clara's family-talent + his previous debuff-resist… all stacking.
Bronya's skill was 100%.
Clara's passive was only 35%.
Together? He could force his way through most status locks.
If rage counts as negative… then curse-blood definitely counts.
He raised his hand a third time.
Another wave.
This time even the deepest purple streak on Twalin's neck — the one that had been pulsing with Abyss rhythm — evaporated.
The storm realm went silent.
The wind still blew, but not with hatred.
The pressure on their bodies eased like someone had opened a window.
Up above, the huge dragon just… hovered, blinking, clearly trying to figure out why his body suddenly didn't hurt.
Lumine landed beside his neck and reached out.
Smooth scales.
No violet scabs.
No Abyss remnants.
"…I… came here for nothing?" she muttered, a little lost. "I was ready to smash those things…"
Paimon was still spluttering. "That's it?! We were getting ready for a Big Boss Dragon Raid — and you just… clicked him three times?!"
Jean finally let out a slow breath. "No injuries. No city damage. No casualties." Her eyes softened, complicated. "If we'd had this power at the beginning… Mondstadt wouldn't have had to endure this long."
Diluc looked at Kairo a long moment. This is far beyond alchemy. Far beyond Vision techniques. This is… a system power, isn't it?
Venti, though shocked, was also… impressed.
He stepped forward across the floating stone, wind supporting him, and lifted a hand toward the now-clear-eyed dragon.
"Twalin," he said, voice no longer the careless bard's, but the gentle Archon's, "welcome back."
The dragon's pupils trembled.
For a long second it hesitated — anger gone, pain gone, curse gone, only memories left.
Then that great head lowered.
"…Barbatos…"
A low, hoarse voice, carrying centuries of companionship and misunderstanding.
The dragon who had once guarded Mondstadt… bowed to his god again.
Wind rolled.
The secret sky folded.
And in the next instant, they were back above Stormterror's Lair.
Night over Mondstadt was finally clear.
The violent stormclouds scattered, stars spilled out, moonlight washed the ancient ruin. Twalin spread his wings — this time not as a maddened monster, but as one of the Four Winds.
He carried Venti, Jean, Diluc, Lumine, Paimon, Klee, and Kairo, circling over the city's northern ruins, like he was telling the whole of Mondstadt:
I've returned.
On his back, Venti patted the dragon's head, eyes a little warm.
"Twalin," he said quietly, "it's been a long time since we flew like this."
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