Dvalin stared at Seino Fugin. It paused, as if pondering something. It lowered its gaze. The blood from the wound on its neck made by God Cutter flowed down.
The pain of the wound made it go berserk, but something else made it even more frenzied.
No one remembered it.
It had been forgotten.
Even old friends no longer recognized it.
The poison rooted deep in its marrow eroded its sanity. Its dragon eyes rapidly filled with blood red. It raised its neck, letting out a shrill and desperate dragon wail. The divine power of the Temple of the Four Winds gathered here.
A thousand years ago, after expelling the old aristocracy, Dvalin answered Barbatos' summons. With the assistance of Holy Lyre der Himmel, it blew away the ice and snow, leveled the mountain peaks, and flattened Mondstadt's terrain, allowing the warm, humid sea breeze from the east to blow into the Mondstadt region to supply agriculture.
And today, a thousand years later, it could still use this power to destroy Mondstadt City!
"You go right, I'll go left."
Before Seino Fugin finished speaking—
With a long howl from Dvalin, a small building a full three stories high rose from the ground. The sky before him instantly darkened. The enormous weight, carrying immense momentum, the wind pressure fiercely pinned Seino in place. He had nowhere to dodge.
The breath of death was so close, cold and piercing.
This feeling was so unfamiliar yet familiar.
"Tsk."
Seino lightly clicked his tongue. God Cutter went straight up, slashing directly at that small building. As soon as it touched the surface of the building, God Cutter lightly vibrated. The lightning serpent patterns rapidly flowed. Electro and Anemo, two elements descended upon this place simultaneously.
The small building slowly cracked, splitting apart and melting on both sides along the sword light. A huge fissure tore open this building. Seino Fugin stood right in the middle of that fissure. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips. His left hand holding the sword seemed to be fractured, dragging powerlessly behind him.
His physical condition was terrible.
Drip, drip.
Lumine drew her sword, passing through the middle of that small building. Anemo quickly gathered, spontaneously generating a transparent Wind Glider. She stepped into the air, her sword's edge pointing straight at the magic dragon in the center of the tornado.
It spread its three pairs of wings, raising its body. It spun. Lumine's blade grazed past its scales.
Dvalin let out a loud howl. Its figure rose higher and higher, passing the troposphere. Mondstadt City grew smaller and smaller in its eyes. Dvalin needed to fly higher. It wanted to bring down the wind disaster at the highest peak.
Wind Glider, huh...
Invoking Anemo elements...
Perhaps he also once had such a pair of Gliders.
Seino Fugin thought to himself.
It must be stopped.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and switched to holding the sword in the other hand. Formless wind gathered behind Seino.
He swung God Cutter. The sword light traced a semicircle in the air. Spreading along with the sword light were those transparent and gorgeous wings.
[Wind Glider]
But it was hard for Seino to fly now.
His body was too exhausted to manipulate elemental power anymore. Most of his bones were also broken. Seino was originally just a mortal body. Being able to hold out until now was already him exhausting all his strength.
Perhaps the Wolf Pup from five hundred years ago could do it, but he couldn't.
Moreover, even if he could fly, he still couldn't touch Dvalin.
"Friend."
Suddenly, someone whispered by his ear,
—"I'm preventing your fall with the power of a thousand winds."
Seino didn't know who was speaking. That voice echoed deep in his ears, clear as a spring.
He suddenly felt his body become light. He tentatively took a step forward. The Wind Glider dragging a flowing light naturally spread out.
The surrounding airflow kindly responded to his plea. Gentle Anemo elements embraced his body. Seino had never experienced such a marvelous feeling before, as if he had discarded that weak and heavy body, becoming a wisp among a thousand winds.
What.
"Hah..."
Seino took another step. His speed grew faster and faster. His figure lowered, reducing his breathing rate. He passed through the ancient plaza, through the ruins. The scene before him quickly faded away. The sound of the wind was also left behind by Seino.
The wind wings spread out at the fastest speed point. Seino's view began to rise. He passed through the thick clouds, rapidly ascending, chasing straight after the magic dragon.
"Now, concentrate. See yourself grasping the wind. Harness its energy." That voice spoke by his ear again.
Seino tried doing this. He found it wasn't difficult. Those dark green winds gladly responded to his call. A thousand winds gathered at one point. The only work left was to aim.
In the Fudoshin state, the trajectories of all things were so clear.
Stormterror's mournful howls, the sound of wings gliding through the air, the sound of scales rubbing against the air. Seino discarded all the noise, discarded all the extraneous information. When his vision fully converged on one point, he finally saw Dvalin clearly.
To his surprise, the wind dragon's face wasn't that fierce. On the contrary, in those dragon eyes dyed red, crystal tears glistened.
Was it crying?
Seino didn't know.
A thousand winds soared into the sky. Trails of dark green light stood between the cloud layers. Layer after layer of dark clouds were penetrated, striking directly on Dvalin's spine. The latter let out a sound close to a wail. Its body shuddered. Huge swaths of scales fell off.
More wind pierced its body. Blood bloomed, feathers shed. It roared powerlessly, no longer able to wield the divine power of the Temple of the Four Winds. The windstorm gradually subsided.
The dragon disaster temporarily ended.
The fierce winds sweeping through all of Mondstadt City rapidly receded. Vast swaths of clouds split open. A few specks of winter morning light scattered down from the gaps between the dark clouds. The light dots fell on the broken walls and shattered tiles. As the clouds pressing on the city withdrew, the contours of the mountains appeared. Puddles filled the fields.
The residents of Mondstadt City had also obviously noticed this change. They all raised their heads, gazing at that clearing sky, also gazing at that person and dragon in the sky above.
There was resentment, and also gratitude.
The gratitude was for that young man. The hatred was for that damned Stormterror.
"Roar—"
Dvalin was indeed crying. No one could understand its cries.
The wind dragon lowered its body, flapping its wings, falling from the cloud peak. Below was the deep void of ten thousand miles.
It's over.
As Seino Fugin relaxed, fatigue surged over him like a tide. A momentary dizziness made him lose balance, falling from the cloud peak. But someone caught him in midair.
The girl's embrace was warm and soft. A few strands of golden hair fell, dangling on Seino's cheek. It tickled.
"Stay awake." The girl lowered her body, close to Seino's cheek. As if playing a prank, she whispered in his ear, "If you die, I'll loot your corpse."
—
La Signora coldly watched all this. She retracted her gaze and instructed her subordinates, "Officially visit Mondstadt as an envoy tomorrow."
"Use the dragon disaster to pressure Mondstadt City."
Dropping these words, she turned and left without looking back.
Barbatos.
You showed up this time?
What about before?
Hatred.
Deep hatred, as if condensed into a substance.
Why.
This hatred was so deep that it even unreasonably involved others, like that young man.
—Whay are you so lucky.
Tsk.
She clicked her tongue.