How could an Elemental Monument crack from a single arrow?
This thing has stood for centuries. Even a Pyro-infused shot shouldn't have damaged it like that…
Everyone froze, eyes fixed on the hairline fractures crawling across the wobbling pillar. Silence pressed in.
Only Kairo arched a brow, as if the answer had arrived the instant he saw the cracks.
—Clara's Path skill, I Want to Help, Too.
During the earlier fights he'd already "touched" the weapons of Fischl, Amber, and Lumine, letting their attacks hit much harder. One signature quirk of that buff was the faint, lingering Destruction-aligned erosion it left behind. Monsters wilted under it; a construct maintained by elemental circuitry would fare even worse.
So Amber's arrow hadn't just activated the mechanism—it had chewed into the monument's structure from the inside out.
In other words… the device was shot.
"I get it," Lumine said, golden eyes widening as the pieces clicked. She looked to Kairo. "Your power… affected the mechanism too, didn't it?"
Kairo's shrug came with a small smile. "Smart."
Nailed it. Lumine had already felt his power amplify people and spells—but to interfere with machinery as well? It was eerie, and impressively strong.
"Uh… could someone say that in Paimon?" Paimon asked, baffled.
Amber scratched her cheek, wincing. "So it was Kairo's boost that made my arrow too spicy. Not just more damage—it can even break devices?"
Kairo nodded once.
Amber sighed at the monument, then waved it off. "Well… it is a ruin. Even if we hadn't nudged it, nobody's coming to maintain this place." She pointed at the roaring updraft. Her grin returned. "We cross first, worry later!"
She sprang, wings blooming, and rode the column of wind. Lumine and Paimon launched after her. Kairo stepped straight into the gale and let it lift him on an invisible palm.
They touched down on the opposite ledge moments later.
A restless Anemo surge pulsed from deeper in. The half-sealed hall ahead kept much of its ancient strength, though moss webbed its corners and age gnawed the stone. Air coiled and gathered toward a single center like thread to a spindle.
—Right there, in the middle, floated a green orb.
Pale verdant light beat in a slow rhythm, a "shell" breathing in and out. Thin filaments of wind bled from its surface, stirring grit to a quiet hover.
"The Stormterror Crystal…" Lumine lifted her blade; the Anemo on it answered in a soft hum.
"Found it," Amber said, drawing her bow. "We break it, we break the feed."
"Aha." Fischl's eyes kindled; her cloak fluttered as she raised her bow. "The usurping core of shadow is laid bare! By my thunder shall your blasphemy be judged!"
Oz banked overhead, resigned and dutiful. "Miss suggests: if we all strike together, it will be easier."
"Exactly." Amber breathed in, let Pyro coil along the shaft, and loosed. "Let's end this in one volley."
Her arrow streaked true—and a heartbeat later Fischl's Electro bolt braided around it.
Whump—crack!
Fractures spidered from the impact points, skittering across the crystal's shell.
"Ka—-chik!"
For an instant, the wild Anemo in the chamber stalled, as if a throat had closed around the storm.
Then it erupted.
Wind roared out in a tantrum; dust rose in sheets. Lumine threw up an arm; Paimon clung to Kairo's collar like a leaf in a gale.
It passed quickly. With the crystal collapsed, the storm lost its root. Currents drew back, whirlpools loosened and broke, and the last of the wind fell into a clean, ordinary stillness. Dust settled, whisper by whisper.
"Done," Amber exhaled, smiling. "That's one weight off Jean's shoulders."
"So… that's it?" Paimon blinked. "No giant death-trap? Paimon was braced for a giant death-trap."
"It was almost suspiciously smooth," Lumine said, sheathing her sword. "But a win's a win."
"Hmph!" Fischl folded her arms before the shattered core, purple eyes glittering in the low light. "Know then that our swiftness is owed to the peerless valor of mine faithful vassal, Kairo! His wisdom is the noonday sun that shames the night; his star is etched upon the utmost firmament—salvation to this land!"
Oz landed and translated with gentle brevity: "She means: without Kairo, this would have been far messier."
Lumine and Amber shared a look and nodded together.
"True," Lumine said. "Those flash-blinded Hilichurls, the weapon boosts, the pace—we'd have spent much longer alone."
"Strongest teammate," Amber said simply.
Kairo's mouth twitched. Compliments were nice; being launched into the heavens by Fischl's prose… less so.
"Right!" Amber clapped once. "Time to back up Kaeya and Lisa."
"Two more temples," Lumine agreed. "Let's move."
"Right now," Amber said, and hopped into the portal. It flared blue and swallowed her. Lumine, Paimon, and Fischl slipped after.
Kairo lingered.
He called an object into his palm: the Footsteps of Fate—a pocket star in a filigree cradle, shell clear as frozen air, golden needle floating in its core above a lazy swirl of nebula light. Even through the glassy skin, he felt power moving, like tide behind ice.
Touching it told him everything he needed: it could advance a Path you've set foot on, or strengthen a Path skill you already wield.
He frowned slightly.
He hadn't stepped onto any Path, not formally. And yet he'd already borrowed pieces of several, wearing them like rented coats. What did that make him?
Which to bolster?
Clara — I Want to Help, Too: adds Destruction erosion, making blows bite deeper and break harder.
Sampo — You're the Brightest!: wide-area flashblind for clean, low-risk clears.
Seele — Ripple: +25% speed to any living being—movement and combat both rewrite at the root.
Boost Clara, and damage—and structural kill—would spike, maybe with longer, wider erosion.
Boost Sampo, and openers become sweep-buttons.
Boost Seele, and the party's tempo turns absolute.
His thumb rode the smooth curve of the shell—then lifted away.
Path skills are tools. A Path is direction.
Better tools help; a true Pathchanges the map.
The Footsteps returned to his pocket. He'd save it for the day he set foot on a Path proper. Until then, his current kit was enough—and the system kept handing him… opportunities.
Decision made, he stepped into the portal.
Blue light folded shut. The chamber held its breath, the fractured crystal winking its last.
—
Outside, the wind had calmed. Shadows stretched long across the broken steps.
Lumine, Paimon, Fischl, and Amber were already waiting. Oddly—
Kairo hadn't emerged.
"What's taking him so long?" Paimon crossed her arms and peered at the portal. "We went in together. Don't tell Paimon he got lost."
The wind shifted—like a quiet exhale from somewhere else.
A ripple chased itself across the portal's surface. Not the usual teleport shimmer; something more like…
…attention, brushing the star he'd pocketed.
Who just turned their gaze toward "Fate"?
To be continued…
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