Aether's fingers lightly caressed the light-sword in his hand. "Your target is only Barbatos. Seize him and evacuate immediately."
The Abyssal Mages exchanged uneasy glances.
Although Your Highness's power was beyond doubt,
that King was simply too unfathomable.
They didn't even need to fight; just looking at him made it clear—
this guy was absolutely terrifyingly strong!!
Abyss Lector: Fathomless Flames hesitated before speaking:
"Your Highness, according to information from our informants in Inazuma,"
"King didn't even make a single move when he defeated Beelzebul."
"His true strength remains unknown. Isn't the risk of confronting him head-on a bit too great?"
"Perhaps we should retrieve 'Osial' first and make a strategic retreat."
"Indeed."
Another Abyss Herald whispered, "Your Highness, your safety concerns the future of Khaenri'ah."
"Maybe we can wait until King returns to Fontaine before finding an opportunity to seize Barbatos?"
Aether remained silent, his gaze dark.
King... this sudden Fifth Descender—where exactly was the limit of his power? Would he intervene? Everything was unknown.
But Aether knew that if he missed today, once Barbatos returned to Mondstadt and recovered his strength through the faith of his countless subjects, trying to seize that crucial [Time] clearance would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
And the plan would be forced into an indefinite delay.
The souls of Khaenri'ah couldn't wait... and his sister's future couldn't wait either!!
He slowly turned around, his small frame carrying a heavy, mountain-like pressure.
The longsword in his hand, "Protecting Lumine," which flowed with golden light, emitted a low hum.
"My mind is made up..."
Aether finally spoke, his voice so calm it lacked even a hint of emotion. "While Barbatos is weak, act quickly."
"Leave King to me."
Before his voice had even faded, he slashed the longsword in his hand violently toward the Akasha!
Screeech—!
A spatial rift with edges flowing with purple-black energy and a dark, deep interior opened up like the hideous maw of a giant beast!
On the other side of the spatial rift, the scenery of Liyue Harbor was faintly visible.
Aether directly locked onto the top floor of the Jade Chamber, targeting that blue figure holding Paimon!
He took a step forward, his body turning into a streak of dark-gold light as he charged into the spatial rift without hesitation, aiming straight for King!
"Your Highness!!!"
The Abyssal Mages behind him watched his resolute back and couldn't help but shout excitedly, their voices a mix of fanaticism and worry:
"Will you win, Your Highness?!"
Aether did not look back.
He only left behind a calm but categorical—
"I will win."
In the next moment, his figure had vanished into the rift and appeared in the sky above Liyue Harbor... Outside Liyue Harbor, Venti floated over the sea, the pale gold ripples of time around him slowly receding.
He let out a soft breath, exhaustion showing on his face.
"The consumption this time was a bit high. If only I had some Dandelion Wine to refresh myself..."
Venti muttered under his breath, rubbing his temples as he felt his head spinning.
This clearance was, after all, an external power he had borrowed.
Activating it continuously had nearly drained him dry.
Just as Venti relaxed slightly, preparing to observe the battle between Dain and Osial—
Vroom vroom vroom!!!
Above Liyue Harbor, several spatial rifts tore open without warning!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
"For the glory of the Abyss—!"
"Seize Barbatos—!!"
Several figures clad in ornate robes with obscure, deep auras stepped out from the rifts!
Leading them were three Abyssal Mages!
The Abyss Lector: Fathomless Flames was surrounded by unquenchable purple-black flames, flipping through a grimoire where every page flowed with blasphemous script;
The Abyss Herald: Wicked Torrents had viscous black water surging beneath his feet, with twisted faces faintly visible within the water, wailing;
And the final one, the "Abyss Lector: Violet Lightning," had thunder flashing beneath his black robes, condensing a purple-black ball of lightning in his hand that constantly collapsed and expanded!
Behind them, even more Abyss Heralds and Abyss Mages swarmed out like locusts.
Accompanied by a nauseating squelching sound,
countless monsters twisted and corroded by the power of the Abyss crawled out of the rifts!
Mitachurls, Abyss Mages, Rifthounds, and even tens of thousands of massive "Ruin Grader: Abyss Custom" units embedded with dark crystals!
The scale of this army far exceeded any previous Abyss invasion!
Their goal was extremely clear: they charged directly at Barbatos, who had just consumed a large amount of divine power and was in a weakened state!
"Protect Lord Barbatos!!!"
Moon Carver was the first to react, letting out a roar as his adepti energy erupted, turning into a streak of light to charge toward Venti's direction!
Cloud Retainer flapped her wings, summoning a wild wind. "Vile creatures! Don't even think about it!"
Xiao said nothing, but a physical killing intent erupted from his eyes beneath the yaksa mask, the primordial jade winged-spear tearing through the air!
Granny Ping also did not hesitate, her walking stick thumping the ground as her elderly body erupted with a majestic adepti power that rivaled the younger adepti!
The reactions of the adepti could not be said to be slow, nor their fighting spirit anything but resolute!
However,
at the very moment the adepti were about to charge out!
A sharp sword pressure crashed down from the heavens!
Boom!!!
Wherever the sword pressure passed, space emitted an overburdened wail, being plowed into streaks of pitch-black fissures!
Xiao, being the fastest and the first to be hit, blocked most of the sword pressure alone.
The primordial jade winged-spear in his hand let out a piercing wail, its body covered in fine cracks. He was slammed violently into the ground, creating a deep pit. His yaksa mask cracked with a "snap," and blood dripped from the bottom edge of the mask.
Following closely behind, Moon Carver's protective adepti light shattered like paper.
He let out a muffled groan, his entire body flying back as if hit head-on by a giant elephant, crashing into the streets below at a speed even faster than he had charged out, sending dust soaring into the sky!
The feathers on Cloud Retainer's wings exploded, blood splattering as she fell from the sky with a wail!
Granny Ping's walking stick snapped inch by inch. She stumbled back, blood overflowing from the corner of her mouth, her eyes filled with horror.
With just a single strike of sword pressure!
The adepti of Liyue were all heavily injured, with not a single one able to withstand it!
"Cough... Pfft!"
Moon Carver struggled to rise from the ruins, coughing up a large mouthful of blood mixed with visceral fragments. He looked up at the sky, his eyes showing an unbelievable terror:
"This... what kind of power is this?!"
A figure slowly descended from high in the sky, treading on invisible stairs step by step.
His short golden hair fluttered slightly in the turbulent energy flow, his youthful face expressionless.
In his hand, he held a longsword flowing with warm golden light. The sword's body was ancient, yet it emitted a sharpness that would make gods and demons tremble.
It was none other than Aether!
"Big... Big Brother?!"
Lumine's cry rang out, trembling.
Her amber eyes widened to their limit, her pupils shrinking as she stared fixedly at the figure descending from the sky, her mind a complete blank.
Why was her brother here?
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