The walk through Whispering Woods started peacefully enough. Birds chirped. Leaves rustled. Paimon provided running commentary on everything they passed.
"Oh! And that's a Sweet Flower! You can use those for cooking! And that's a Mint plant! Also for cooking! Paimon knows all about cooking ingredients even though Paimon doesn't cook!"
"Fascinating," Haru said, though he was actually finding it useful. This world's flora seemed identical to the game's.
"Paimon thinks you're being sarcastic."
"I'm not."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Huh. Most people get tired of Paimon's explanations."
"I'm not most people."
Lumine glanced at him curiously but didn't comment.
That's when the arrow struck the tree right next to Haru's head.
Everyone froze.
"Okay, that wasn't Paimon," Paimon said helpfully.
A figure in red and brown dropped from the trees ahead of them. Amber landed in a crouch, bow already drawn with another arrow nocked. Her goggles caught the sunlight as she straightened.
"Hold it right there!" she called out, arrow aimed directly at the group. "Civilians aren't supposed to be in this area!"
Lumine raised her hands peacefully. "We're just travelers passing through."
"Travelers?" Amber's grip on her bow tightened as her eyes swept over them. "What kind of travelers? And what's with the..." She gestured vaguely at Haru with her arrow. "The dramatic entrance guy?"
"Dramatic entrance?" Haru raised an eyebrow.
"Don't play dumb. The whole forest felt that impact earlier. Trees are still shaking." Amber kept her bow trained on him. "So either you're connected to whatever fell from the sky, or you're the unluckiest person in Teyvat."
Paimon floated forward helpfully. "Oh, he was definitely connected! He was inside the thing that fell!"
"Paimon," Lumine hissed.
"What? It's not like it's a secret!"
Amber's eyes widened. "You were inside the meteorite?"
"It wasn't a meteorite," Haru said calmly.
"Then what was it?"
"Transportation."
"That's the worst explanation Paimon's ever heard," Paimon announced. "And Paimon once heard someone explain that birds are actually tiny dragons in disguise."
Amber slowly lowered her bow, though she kept the arrow nocked. "Okay, look. I'm Amber, Outrider for the Knights of Favonius. And right now, I've got bigger problems than mysterious sky-falling strangers."
"Bigger problems?" Lumine asked.
"The sky turning red wasn't exactly reassuring," Amber said, finally putting her arrow away. "But that's not the worst part. Ever since then, the hilichurls have been going crazy. More aggressive, better organized. There's camps popping up everywhere."
She gestured deeper into the forest. "There's a whole outpost just ahead that's been attacking travelers. I was about to deal with it myself, but..." She looked at the three of them. "Actually, you might be able to help. Safety in numbers and all that."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: COMBAT SCENARIO DETECTED. PRIME AURA FARMING OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFIED. PREPARING ENHANCEMENT PROTOCOLS.]
"Help how?" Paimon asked suspiciously.
"Nothing too dangerous. Just a standard hilichurl camp clearing. Maybe a dozen of them tops." Amber shrugged. "I do this kind of thing all the time."
"We could assist," Lumine said, hand moving instinctively to her sword.
"Great! With four of us, this should be—"
"I'll take care of this," Haru interrupted.
Everyone stared at him.
"Excuse me?" Amber blinked.
"The hilichurls. I'll handle them."
"All of them?" Paimon's voice pitched higher. "By yourself? Have you ever even fought a hilichurl before?"
Haru paused. In the game? Thousands of times. In real life? Well, this would be a first.
"How hard can it be?" he said.
"Famous last words," Amber muttered.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: DRAMATIC DECLARATION REGISTERED. CONFIDENCE LEVELS RISING. AURA FARMING MODE: ACTIVATED.]
Something clicked inside Haru's mind. The uncertainty, the confusion about being in this strange world—it all faded away. In its place came a cool, steady confidence.
He could do this.
He would do this.
And he would look amazing doing it.
"Wait," Lumine stepped forward. "Maybe we should work together—"
"No need," Haru said, already walking toward the hilichurl camp.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: SOLO PERFORMANCE DETECTED. POWER AMPLIFICATION BEGINNING. CURRENT STATUS: CONFIDENT. AURA LEVEL: RISING.]
As Haru walked, something fundamental shifted in his posture. His steps became measured. Purposeful. His shoulders straightened as if invisible weight had been lifted from them.
Behind him, his three companions exchanged worried glances.
"Should we stop him?" Amber whispered.
"With what?" Lumine replied. "He's already halfway there."
"This is gonna be bad," Paimon moaned. "Paimon can feel it. The mysterious coffin guy is about to get eaten by hilichurls and we're gonna have to explain to someone why we let it happen."
The hilichurl outpost came into view through the trees. Crude wooden spikes formed a rough barrier around several tents and fire pits. Hilichurls wandered around inside, some sharpening weapons, others dancing around fires.
Haru counted at least fifteen of them.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: ENEMY COUNT EXCEEDS INITIAL ESTIMATE. DIFFICULTY RATING: MODERATE. AURA FARMING POTENTIAL: EXCELLENT.]
The hilichurls hadn't noticed him yet. He had the element of surprise.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: RECOMMENDED STRATEGY: DRAMATIC SINGLE-PERSON ASSAULT. WALK SLOWLY FORWARD. MAINTAIN CONFIDENT POSTURE. LET THEM COME TO YOU.]
Haru took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing.
A hilichurl spotted him immediately. It pointed and let out a guttural shout. The others turned toward the lone figure walking calmly toward their camp.
They grabbed their weapons.
Haru didn't slow down.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: DRAMATIC TENSION BUILDING. POWER LEVELS INCREASING. CONFIDENCE BUFF: ACTIVE.]
The first hilichurl charged with a rusty club raised high, its war cry echoing through the forest like a primal scream. Its red eyes burned with savage fury, muscles rippling beneath scarred hide as it thundered forward with deadly intent.
Then the second joined the charge, a massive brute wielding a wooden shield that could crush bones. Its footsteps shook the earth.
Then a third, crossbow raised, bolt already nocked and aimed at Haru's heart.
Then all of them—fifteen hilichurls rushing forward in a wave of violence, their roars creating a symphony of bloodlust that made the very air tremble. Weapons glinted in the filtered sunlight. Crude but deadly. Sharp enough to kill.
Haru stopped walking.
Time crystallized around him like frozen amber. Every heartbeat stretched into eternity. Every breath became deliberate, controlled. The world narrowed to this single moment—this nexus of fate where legends were born or heroes died.
His red eyes began to glow, not with mere light, but with the promise of apocalypse. Power flowed through his veins like liquid fire, building, crescendoing, demanding release.
The lead hilichurl was three steps away. Two steps. One step.
The creature's club began its downward arc toward Haru's skull, the weapon cutting through air with a whistle of impending doom.
"Pathetic," Haru whispered.
The word didn't just echo—it rewrote reality. It carved itself into the fabric of existence, becoming absolute truth. The very atoms in the air seemed to bend around the declaration, acknowledging its inevitability.
Power erupted.
Not a gentle wave, but a cataclysm given form. An invisible force that rewrote the laws of physics in a perfect sphere around Haru. The shockwave didn't just hit the hilichurls—it unmade their momentum, reversed their aggression, turned their charge into helpless flight.
Fifteen bodies launched skyward in perfect synchronization, their weapons spinning away like discarded toys. They hung suspended against the blue sky like a twisted constellation of defeat, arms and legs flailing uselessly against the inevitable.
The forest held its breath.
Then came the ice.
Not simple spikes, but crystalline perfection. Dozens of azure spears materialized from nowhere and everywhere, each one a masterwork of lethal artistry. They appeared around each suspended hilichurl with mathematical precision, creating geometric patterns of death that would have made angels weep for their beauty.
The spikes didn't pierce—they judged. They found every vital point, every weakness, every fear, and in a single synchronized moment of divine retribution, they struck.
Light exploded across the clearing as fifteen hilichurls burst into particles of pure energy. Not death, but transformation. Dissolution. A return to the elemental forces that had given them form.
When the light faded, only Haru remained.
He stood in the center of devastation like a god surveying creation. His ashy blonde hair moved in a wind that existed solely for dramatic effect. His coat billowed with impossible elegance. Power radiated from him in visible waves, making the air shimmer like heat mirages.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: TRANSCENDENT VICTORY ACHIEVED! COOL POINTS +1,250! PERFECT EXECUTION +500! REALITY-BENDING DISPLAY +750! POETIC JUSTICE +300! GODLIKE PERFORMANCE BONUS: +1,000! TOTAL: MYTHIC TIER UNLOCKED!]
[INCREDIBLE! MAGNIFICENT! LEGENDARY! YOU'VE ACHIEVED SOMETHING BEYOND MORTAL COMPREHENSION! THE VERY UNIVERSE ACKNOWLEDGES YOUR SUPREMACY! YOU ARE—]
Haru smiled. A small, satisfied curve of lips that suggested infinite mysteries and power beyond measure. He had done it. He had become the legend.
Time to make his exit.
He took a single, perfectly calculated step forward to complete the most dramatic scene in the history of Teyvat.
His foot caught on a twig roughly the size of a chopstick.
He went down like a sack of potatoes hitting concrete. Face-first. Arms flailing. Legs tangling. The kind of fall that defied physics in the worst possible way.
THUD.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: ...I can't even. I literally cannot even. Do you have any idea what you just did? DO YOU?! We had achieved MYTHIC TIER! MYTHIC! And you... you... OH FOR THE LOVE OF—]
[COOL POINT PENALTY: -800. DIGNITY: DESTROYED. LEGENDARY STATUS: REVOKED. MYTHIC TIER: LOCKED FOREVER. CONSOLATION PRIZE: Here's some basic ice magic. Use it to freeze your embarrassment.]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: ...SERIOUSLY?]
[COOL POINT PENALTY: -300. DRAMATIC MOMENTUM: COMPLETELY RUINED. CONFIDENCE BUFF: EXPIRED. EMERGENCY CONSOLATION PRIZE: BASIC CRYO MASTERY UNLOCKED.]
"Help," Haru said in the most pathetic voice imaginable, his face pressed firmly into a pile of leaves that somehow smelled like disappointment.
Dead silence stretched across the forest.
Then it began.
A tiny snort from Paimon.
Then a giggle.
Then full-blown hysterical laughter that echoed through the entire forest like a demented songbird having a breakdown.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY—AHAHAHAHA!" Paimon was spinning in circles, laughing so hard she was crying. "HE JUST—THE MOST EPIC THING PAIMON'S EVER SEEN AND HE—AHAHAHAHAHA!"
She pointed at Haru with a shaking finger. "HE LOOKED SO COOL! LIKE SOME KIND OF GOD! AND THEN—" She mimed tripping. "BONK! STRAIGHT INTO THE DIRT!"
"Paimon," Lumine tried to scold, but her voice was shaking with suppressed laughter. "Don't—don't laugh at—" She looked at Haru's legs sticking up in the air and lost it. "Pfft—AHAHAHAHA!"
Even Amber, trained knight and professional, started snickering. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but that was like watching a shooting star crash into a mud puddle."
"Can we please help me up before analyzing my dignity deficit?" Haru's muffled voice came from the ground.
"Oh! Right! Sorry!" Lumine composed herself and extended a hand, though she was still grinning.
Haru accepted the help, standing up and brushing leaves, dirt, and what appeared to be a small beetle out of his hair. His face was completely red, and there was a twig sticking out of his ear.
"You've got a little..." Amber gestured at the twig.
Haru pulled it out with as much dignity as one could muster while removing forest debris from one's ear canal. "Thank you."
Paimon was still giggling uncontrollably. "Oh my archons, that was amazing! Paimon's never seen anything like it! You went all mysterious and powerful and 'PATHETIC' and then WHOOSH!" She made explosion gestures. "And then... and then..." She collapsed into giggles again. "The little twig! It was so tiny!"
"Yes, I'm aware of the twig situation," Haru said flatly.
"How do you even trip on something that small?" Amber asked, genuinely curious. "I mean, you just obliterated fifteen hilichurls with what looked like forbidden god magic, but a stick defeats you?"
"Apparently, my powers don't include basic walking competency."
"That's the best weakness ever!" Paimon declared. "Most powerful people have like, 'oh no, my one weakness is silver' or 'I'm vulnerable during a full moon.' But you! Your weakness is tiny sticks!"
"And probably pebbles," Lumine added helpfully.
"Don't forget curbs," Amber chimed in.
"I hate all of you," Haru said, but there was no real heat in it.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Current Status: Completely Humiliated. Recommended Action: Dig hole, climb in, never emerge. Alternative: Pretend this never happened and hope everyone develops selective amnesia.]
"So," Amber said, wiping tears from her eyes, "mysterious sky-falling guy who can delete hilichurls from existence but is defeated by basic ground obstacles—what's your story?"
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: ATTEMPTING TO REBUILD CONFIDENCE LEVELS... ERROR. SUBJECT IS CURRENTLY TOO EMBARRASSED FOR AURA FARMING. STANDBY MODE ACTIVATED.]
Paimon floated over, still giggling. "Okay, okay, Paimon's sorry for laughing. But you have to admit, that was pretty funny."
"Hilarious," Haru said dryly.
"The important thing is you're safe," Lumine added. "And the hilichurls are gone. Mission accomplished, right?"
"Right," Amber agreed, though she was still staring at Haru like he was a puzzle she couldn't solve. "Well, I guess we should head back to Mondstadt. I need to report this to the Knights."
As they started walking, Amber fell into step beside Haru. "So, mysterious sky-falling guy who can apparently delete hilichurls from existence—what's your story?"
"I'm still figuring that out myself."
"Fair enough. But just so you know, the Knights are going to want to talk to you."
"About what?"
"About the fact that you just demonstrated combat abilities that most Vision holders would envy, but you're not carrying a Vision."
Haru glanced down at himself. She was right. No glowing elemental focus anywhere on his person.
"Maybe it's hidden?" Paimon suggested helpfully.
"Visions don't really work that way," Amber replied.
"Then how did he do all that ice magic?"
"That's what the Knights are going to want to know."
High in the trees, well out of sight of the traveling party, a figure in a dark hooded cloak watched them pass below.
An Abyss Mage.
Its three eyes glowed with malevolent intelligence as it observed the group, paying particular attention to the blonde traveler and her floating companion.
But when its gaze fell on the third member of their party—the tall one with ashy hair and red eyes—it paused.
Something was familiar about that one.
The mage pulled out a communication crystal, its faceted surface pulsing with dark energy.
"Your Highness," it whispered into the crystal. "I have an update on the Traveler's movements. But there's something else. Someone new has joined their party."
The crystal pulsed once in acknowledgment.
"He appears to be powerful. Very powerful. And there's something about his appearance that seems... significant."
Another pulse.
"I will continue monitoring and report any developments. But Your Highness should be aware—this new variable may complicate our plans."
The crystal went dark.
The Abyss Mage watched the party disappear down the forest path toward Mondstadt, then melted back into the shadows.
Far below, completely unaware of their observer, Haru sneezed.
"Bless you," Lumine said.
"Thanks. Someone must be talking about me."
"Paimon's always talking about you. You just did the coolest thing ever! Well, except for the falling part."
"Can we please stop talking about the falling part?"
"Never!" Paimon declared cheerfully.
Haru sighed and continued walking toward whatever awaited him in the City of Freedom.
Behind them, the destroyed hilichurl camp slowly began to fade back into ordinary forest, as if the dramatic battle had never happened at all.