At this moment, the oni girl was being swarmed by a pack of autonomous ruin machines, forced back step by step.
She could have escaped.
But for some reason…
Her agile figure kept darting between the ten machines, refusing to back down.
With her only remaining left arm, she swung her long blade with everything she had.
Clang! Clang! Clang—!
Her blade struck again and again against the Ruin Grader's body.
But the massive machine didn't budge.
All she managed was to carve a deep mark into its armor—nothing more.
"Rrraaah!!"
Chiyo roared like a wounded beast, slashing furiously at the machines surrounding her.
And then—
"Heavenly Judgment!"
A low, commanding shout split the sky.
Above the island of Tsurumi, darkness suddenly spread like a curtain.
A colossal meteor of dark-gold light tore through the black sky, illuminating the entire region.
Its trajectory was straight toward the battlefield where Chiyo fought alone.
Just as the meteor was about to strike—
A streak of golden light flashed across the battlefield.
In that instant before impact, the light swept Chiyo away from danger.
BOOOOM!!!
The meteor hit.
The land shook.
Dust and shockwaves swept outward like a storm.
When the dust finally settled…
A mountain-sized meteor lay embedded in the ground, and the ruin machines on the battlefield had been crushed into nothing but scrap.
The sight left the blood-soaked Chiyo frozen in shock.
Lin Mo looked down at the tiny, blood-streaked body in his arms and couldn't help feeling his heart tighten.
"Chiyo… are you hurt?"
"Rrgh—!!"
A feral growl tore from her throat.
Something felt wrong.
The girl he was holding—Chiyo, the oni who once fought beside Raiden Shogun—
Suddenly twisted in his arms, snapping toward his shoulder with a vicious bite.
Startled, Lin Mo immediately raised his Favonius sword to block.
Clink!
The blade shattered between her teeth.
With nothing left to stop her, Chiyo lunged again, jaws wide open, ready to tear into him.
"Lady Chiyo! Calm yourself!"
A cold voice snapped across the battlefield.
It was Yae Miko—already returned to her human form without anyone noticing.
She grabbed the 1.6-meter-tall oni girl by the scruff like a misbehaving beast and slammed her to the ground.
Before Chiyo could rise, Yae Miko stepped on her back, pinning her firmly.
She stared down at the girl thrashing beneath her heel—no reason in her eyes, only madness and agony.
In a low, solemn voice, she said:
"Lady Sakurahime…
The creature before you isn't Chiyo anymore."
"When she refused to run earlier… when she kept fighting those ruin constructs…
It was the corruption inside her driving her—
Turning her into nothing more than a weapon of the Abyss."
"Raaaah! RAAAAH!!"
Chiyo's enraged cries seemed to prove her right.
She was no longer Chiyo.
She was a corrupted monster, tainted by centuries of abyssal filth.
Lin Mo finally saw her clearly—
A delicate girl's body… with not a single patch of unscarred skin.
Her flesh was covered in layers of dried, blackened blood.
Her clothes had probably been destroyed in some battle long ago.
All she wore now was a hardened shell of thick, black scabs—
A grotesque armor formed by endless wounds.
"So many layers…
Chiyo… just how much pain have you lived through…?"
His heart felt as if pierced by a thousand needles.
Your wounds hurt you—
But they hurt me even more.
Fighting back the ache, he slowly stepped toward her.
"Miko, don't do this." He forced a bitter smile. "She's Chiyo. Don't step on her while she's powerless… it's too cruel."
"No. She isn't Lady Chiyo anymore!"
Yae Miko's voice was firm, almost harsh.
"If she bites you, you'll be corrupted too!"
"Don't worry. She won't hurt me." Lin Mo continued forward.
"Stop!"
Yae raised a hand, blocking him.
Her expression was resolute but trembling with worry.
She hurt for Chiyo too—
But she still had her reason.
She couldn't risk watching Lin Mo get corrupted.
"Look, Miko."
Lin Mo smiled gently.
A faint dark-gold radiance shimmered over his skin.
"That's… Morax's power…"
Yae Miko instantly recognized it.
Combined with the meteor he summoned earlier—
She understood.
Morax had given him not just the Gnosis…
But his very essence as an ancient archon.
"Be good, Miko. Don't step on her.
It must hurt."
His voice softened.
Yae Miko's stubborn resolve slowly weakened, replaced by unease… but she stepped back.
"Then… Lord Baihe… please be careful."
The moment her foot lifted—
"RRAAAHH!!"
Chiyo sprang up like a beast unleashed, lunging straight at Yae Miko with murderous intent.
But Lin Mo was already there.
He opened his arms—
And caught her.
Her small, battered body slammed into him, and he wrapped her gently in an embrace.
"Chiyo… calm down."
"Rrraaaah!!"
She didn't hear him.
Jaw unhinged, she lunged at his throat—
"Watch out!"
Yae Miko cried out—
But Chiyo's teeth clamped onto Lin Mo's neck with a crunch.
The oni's razor-sharp fangs could bite through steel.
But no matter how hard she bit,
She couldn't pierce his skin.
Still, she refused to release him.
Clinging to him like a maddened beast, she kept biting with everything she had.
"Chiyo, be good… don't move."
Lin Mo cradled her gently.
One hand stroked her filthy, matted hair.
The other rested on her thin, trembling back.
"I'll heal you. Just stay still."
A soft glow—pure, warm immortal energy from Liyue's adepti—flowed into her body.
Under its light, her wounds stopped bleeding.
The corrupted flesh eased bit by bit.
Gradually, the pressure of her bite weakened.
"Does it still hurt, Chiyo?"
She didn't answer.
Her face remained twisted with rage and agony, jaws still locked on his neck.
But then—
A single warm drop slid down Lin Mo's collarbone.
Yae Miko froze, eyes widening.
"That's… a tear…" she whispered.
"Lady Chiyo… she's crying…"
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T/N:
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