The heavy oak doors of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters groaned as they swung open, admitting Leo and Amber into the cool, stone-walled interior.
The air smelled of old parchment, wax, and the faint, ozone-sweet scent of Lisa's lingering Electro Powers.
"Wait here, I'll see if she's available!" Amber chirped, dashing toward the large office on the left.
Leo stood in the grand hallway, feeling painfully conspicuous in his modern jacket. He leaned against a pillar, trying to look nonchalant while his HUD flickered in the corner of his eye.
[SYSTEM STATUS]
Current Rider: None (De-transformed)
Stored Forms: Zero-One (Rising Hopper), Kabuto (Rider Form)
Utility Items: Ongekibou Rekka (Drumsticks)
RP Balance: 50
Fifty points, Leo thought bitterly. I can't even afford a 'Common' tier roll. I'm one Hilichurl ambush away from being a very fast-moving corpse.
The office door opened, and Amber beckoned him in.
Inside, the room was bathed in the golden light of the afternoon sun.
Behind a massive desk piled high with reports sat Jean Gunnhildr, the Acting Grand Master. Standing by the window, idly flipping through a tome, was the librarian, Lisa.
"So," Lisa purred, her green eyes tracking Leo with a predatory sort of curiosity.
"This is the 'Mechanical Alchemist' who turned an Eye of the Storm into a light show? You don't look like a Fontaine engineer, darling."
Jean stood up, her expression professional yet weary.
"Amber's report is... incredible, Leo. She claims you moved faster than the eye could follow. Without a Vision."
"It's a hobby," Leo said, his voice cracking slightly.
"I'm a traveler. My equipment is... a family heirloom. Very high-tech. Very fragile."
"A heirloom that shatters the laws of physics?" Jean crossed her arms.
"The Knights are grateful, but Mondstadt is under a state of emergency. Stormterror is—"
A deafening, soul-shaking roar ripped through the sky.
The windows of the headquarters shattered inward.
A sudden, violent updraft sent papers flying like snow. Outside, the sky turned a bruised, sickly purple.
"He's here!" Amber screamed, shielding her face.
Leo rushed to the shattered window. Above the city, the massive, six-winged form of Dvalin, the Stormterror, circled the cathedral. With every beat of his wings, localized tornadoes tore through the streets, lifting carts and merchant stalls into the air.
[EMERGENCY QUEST: SURVIVE THE DRAGON'S GALE]
[WARNING: ANEMO SATURATION AT CRITICAL LEVELS!]
[ZECTER COOLDOWN: 15 MINUTES]
[ZERO-ONE DRIVER: RECHARGING...]
"I can't transform," Leo hissed, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the windowsill. "System, I have 50 RP and two wooden sticks. Tell me these things do something against a dragon!"
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Item: Ongekibou Rekka (Replica)
Passive: Purification Resonance.
When struck rhythmically, these drumsticks emit high-frequency vibrations that can disrupt corrupted elemental energy.
The city was in chaos.
A massive tornado was forming right in the middle of the fountain plaza, threatening to pull the surrounding buildings into its maw.
"Jean! Lisa! The dragon isn't just attacking—he's anchoring a storm core in the plaza!" Leo yelled over the howling wind.
"If we don't disrupt the frequency, the whole city gets leveled!"
"And what do you propose we do, traveler?" Lisa asked, her violet cape billowing as she summoned her catalyst.
Leo looked at the Ongekibou Rekka. They were glowing a faint, embers-red.
"I'm going to play a solo," Leo said, his face hardening.
"I need you to cover me. If I get hit by a stray blast of Anemo, I'm paste."
Leo vaulted out the shattered window, sliding down the tiled roof and landing hard on the cobblestones.
He sprinted toward the center of the plaza where the wind was strongest. Dvalin soared overhead, letting out a cry of pure, corrupted agony that sent a shockwave through Leo's ribs.
He stood before the swirling eye of the storm. He didn't have armor. He didn't have a shield. He just had two sticks of cedar wood and a rhythm in his head.
Thump-thump-clap!
He slammed the sticks together, then struck the stone floor.
A ripple of crimson fire-light pulsed out.
Thump-thump-clap!
The wind hissed as the sonic vibrations met the Anemo energy.
The tornado flickered, its rotation slowing for a fraction of a second.
"It's working!" Amber cheered from the battlements, firing flaming arrows into the winds to help highlight the distortion.
From the shadows of the alleyway, Kaeya watched the boy drumming against a hurricane. He let out a low whistle.
"A man who walks the path of heaven... and plays the drums for dragons. Mondstadt truly is the city of eccentrics."