Lumine and her companions arrived at the highest vantage point in Mondstadt—the Plaza of the Anemo God.
Staring up at the colossal statue towering before her, Lumine couldn’t help a breath of genuine awe.
“This is the statue of the Anemo Archon, Lord Barbatos.
Magnificent, isn’t it?” Amber smiled proudly.
“Truly breathtaking,” Paimon chimed in agreement.
“So, the promised gift is…
a Wind Glider!” Amber brought the conversation back around.
“A Wind Glider?” Paimon echoed.
“You mean that thing you had strapped to your back when you flew in?” Lumine asked.
“That’s right!
Outriders rely on these to move swiftly through the skies, and Mondstadt’s citizens love using them too,” Amber explained.
“I specifically brought you up here so you could experience its benefits firsthand.”
“That sounds like a very enthusiastic sales pitch!
It must be pretty great,” Paimon said, waving her hands.
“Because the wind is the very soul of Mondstadt!
Besides, this is also a token of gratitude for saving my life.”
“Alright, no more dawdling—let’s test out the glider’s performance right now!” Amber urged excitedly.
Stepping forward, Amber quickly fitted a pair of sleek wings onto Lumine’s back.
“This is…” The moment the wings settled into place, Lumine felt her entire body instantly grow light and buoyant.
“The Wind Glider is a blessing from the Anemo Archon.
You can fold it away when you don’t need it, and when you do, the wind itself will manifest the wings for you,” Amber explained.
“Though the operation is simple, you must follow my instructions closely,” Amber added with a hint of concern.
“Got it,” Lumine nodded, stepping up to the high ledge.
“Is it really safe to fly from a spot like this?”
Lumine glanced down at the bustling streets far below, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face.
“Don’t worry!
I’m Mondstadt’s Gliding Champion—I guarantee nothing will go wrong,” Amber patted her chest with absolute confidence.
“Alright,” Lumine nodded faintly.
At that moment, Eve leaped onto Lumine’s wrist, instantly transforming into a bracelet while revealing a pair of large, innocent eyes.
“Time to fly?” Lumine smiled down at her.
“Fly away with confidence!
I’ll protect you!” The bracelet-form Eve conjured two stubby little meat-bun bumps to act as arms, pumping them to cheer Lumine on.
“Hehe, Eve, you’re so cute!” Seeing that little gesture, Lumine felt her heart melt.
Under Amber’s guidance, Lumine quickly grasped the mechanics of the Wind Glider, mastering its controls in no time at all.
***
Meanwhile, inside the Knights of Favonius Headquarters.
Jean Gunnhildr sat behind her office desk, a heavy stack of documents in hand as she wore a deeply solemn expression.
Standing across from her, Kaeya Alberich held a report of his own.
“Acting Grand Master, this is the complete record of Amber’s mission.
Please review it.”
Kaeya slid the document across the desk.
“Mmhmm.” Jean set aside the papers she had been looking over and took Kaeya’s report, scanning the text with practiced speed.
“A large Hilichurl camp?
And…
a Traveler accompanied by a talking slime?
This is getting interesting.” Once she finished reading, Jean’s expression finally shifted.
“Come, let us go welcome this outland traveler!” Jean rose from her chair, dropping the report back onto the desk.
She strode toward the door with steady, resolute steps.
“Understood, Acting Grand Master,” Kaeya followed right behind her.
At that moment, another mature, elegant voice drifted over.
“Jean, I think it would be much better for you to receive her right here.”
“But, Lisa…” Jean started to argue.
“I know, I know.
But Jean, you must remember that right now, you represent the entire Knights of Favonius—and by extension, all of Mondstadt,” Lisa Minci said with quiet gravity.
Jean paused, mulling the advice over for a moment.
“Very well.
Kaeya, would you mind fetching our traveler guest for us?” Jean turned to instruct him.
“Right on it,” Kaeya replied with a smirk.
***
“Look at that, you’ve mastered the Wind Glider already,” Amber praised, beaming at Lumine.
“Yeah, yeah!
Lumine, you’re amazing!” Paimon added from the side.
“Oh, stop it.
It’s all thanks to Amber’s great teaching,” Lumine said modestly.
Just as the group was wrapped in cheerful laughter, Eve’s instincts suddenly went on high alert.
She sensed *that* aura.
“Oh no, it’s coming…” Eve’s expression hardened.
In an instant, the sky underwent a violent transformation.
The brilliant blue was swallowed by a murky, bruised gray, the temperature plummeted drastically, and a ferocious wind began to howl through the streets, turning the pleasant afternoon into a scene of utter desolation.
“What…
what is happening…?” Lumine felt an immediate sense of wrongness.
“Oh no!
It’s Stormterror!!” Amber shrieked in sudden horror.
A colossal silhouette swept rapidly acoustics across the sky above Mondstadt.
The sheer scale of that shadow was large enough to blot out the sun itself.
*RROOAR—!*
Dvalin let out a piercing, ferocious dragon roar high above.
“Ah—run!”
“Stormterror is here!
Run for your lives!”
“The wrath of the wind has come…”
Panic erupted instantaneously across the city as Mondstadt’s residents scattered in every direction.
A heartbeat later, three massive tornadoes tore through the city streets with destructive fury.
“Damn it, we need to move!” Amber grabbed Lumine’s wrist, attempting to drag her away toward safety.
But they hadn’t even taken two steps before the colossal vortex of wind closed in upon them.
Lumine lost her footing, instantly swept up into the churning core of the tornado.
“Lumine…!” Seeing this, Paimon shrieked and flew desperately toward her.
“Don’t panic!
Focus and deploy your glider!” Eve’s voice had lost its usual softness, ringing out with sharp, decisive authority.
“Right!
Paimon, hold onto me tight!” Lumine nodded resolutely.
Without needing to be told twice, Paimon clamped her arms tightly around Lumine’s hair.
Lumine forced herself to focus entirely on reading the air currents.
The moment she caught a split-second break in the turbulent wind stream, she didn’t hesitate for a second—she snapped her Wind Glider open.
Feeling herself stabilize in mid-air, Lumine barely had time to exhale a breath of relief when Stormterror lunged straight toward her from behind.
“Watch out!” Eve’s expression twisted instantly.
At this rate, Lumine wouldn’t be able to dodge in time.
“Forest’s Shelter!”
In a flash of emerald light, a vibrant green barrier erupted around Lumine, securely encasing both her and Paimon within its protective dome.
“This is…”
Feeling the sudden stabilization of her trajectory, Lumine looked down at her wrist.
Eve was extending her tiny hands outward with all her might, straining to maintain the barrier.
“Eve…”
“I can’t hold this for long—hurry up and dodge Stormterror’s attack!” Eve barked urgently.
Trying to sustain a shield of this caliber with her meager remaining divine power was pushing her to her absolute limits.
After all, Dvalin’s baseline strength was already terrifyingly close to that of a true god.
Let alone now that he had been corrupted.
As the old saying went: purification weakens you by three-tenths, but corruption multiplies your power tenfold.
In short, Dvalin was far stronger now than he had ever been in the past.
Of course, had this been Eve at the absolute peak of her power, forget Dvalin—even Venti would have had to let Eve pluck a couple of feathers right out of his wings.
Prompted by Eve’s warning, Lumine finally caught sight of the dragon bearing down on her from behind.
She twisted her body, trying desperately to maneuver out of the path of the onslaught.
But how could it be that easy?
Stormterror’s speed was simply too terrifying; Lumine had no window to evade.
Despite putting every ounce of her strength into the dodge, the sheer pressure of Dvalin’s wing clipped her sideways.
Fortunately, thanks to Eve’s barrier, they sustained no physical injury.
Even so, Lumine and her companions spun wildly through the air like a discarded toy, tumbling dozens of times before they finally managed to steady themselves and redeploy the glider.
*ROAR—!*
Dvalin banked sharply in a wide arc, letting out another furious bellow.
His massive wings whipped up a ferocious gale as he charged relentlessly at Lumine once more.
Inside the barrier, Eve was still gritting her teeth, pouring every drop of her effort into keeping the shield intact against the storm’s assault.
“Hang in there, Eve—thank you,” Lumine gasped for breath.
“Careful…
I have no idea when this shield is going to—”
Before Eve could even finish her sentence, a spiderweb of hairline fractures splintered across the emerald barrier.
“Oh, crap…” Sweat beaded on Eve’s forehead.
Everyone held their breath, too terrified to make a sound.
In the next split second, those tiny fissures instantly shattered outward like a cracked windowpane.
“We’re doomed!” Eve let out a defeated sigh.
“Aaah!” Paimon screamed at the top of her lungs.
With a sharp *BANG*, the green barrier dissolved into glittering dust.
And the group plummeted headfirst out of the sky at terminal velocity.