The spear tip suddenly changed direction, like a golden bolt of lightning, stabbing straight toward Tartaglia's abdomen!
Pfft— The golden spear shaft was stained with blood again. Tartaglia let out a muffled groan, his body trembling violently.
He clutched his bleeding abdomen and knelt on one knee, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth to stain his chin red. Yet he stared fixedly at "Zhongli," his eyes filled with fury.
Lying on the ground, Yunqin's blurry vision caught sight of Tartaglia being pierced. Her heart felt as if it had been stabbed again, the pain even worse than her own severe injuries.
Why... why did the person she loved have to be hurt too?
She couldn't fit into Liyue, and now even those close to her were being dragged into this?
Was this the magnanimity of the Rex Lapis she had always believed in?
Was this the true face of... Zhongli, whom she had always relied on?
The memories of laughing with Zhongli in Liyue Harbor and listening to his stories shattered before her eyes, turning into countless sharp fragments that repeatedly tore at her soul. The pain made even her breathing tremble.
"So it really isn't you..." Tartaglia clutched his wound, then suddenly let out a low laugh. His laughter was thick with mockery, yet it also held a hint of relief.
Thank goodness, he thought. The real Mr. Zhongli would never do this.
"You imitate him well, but compared to a true Archon, you're still too weak."
"Zhongli's" expression darkened instantly, and a strange red light flashed in his golden eyes. The Geo element around him grew violent.
He slowly approached Tartaglia, raising the Vortex Vanquisher high, its tip aimed at Tartaglia's head. His tone was filled with killing intent: "Since you've figured it out, you have even more reason to die."
Tartaglia gritted his teeth, his fingertips already touching his Delusion.
Even if it meant unleashing the full power of his Delusion, even if it meant paying a terrible price, he would drag this imposter down with him—at the very least, he had to protect Yunqin!
Just as the spear tip was about to fall, a pressure far stronger than "Zhongli's" suddenly erupted from behind!
The pressure was so immense that the very ground of the wilderness trembled slightly, and even the dust in the air froze.
"Zhongli's" movements abruptly stiffened, the hand gripping the Vortex Vanquisher trembling slightly.
He whipped his head around, his face showing shock and panic—this power, this was the aura of a god!
Lying on the ground, Yunqin suddenly began to tremble violently. The surging Hydro Element around her seemed to be stained with ink.
It shifted from its usual clear, light blue to a deep, dark blue, and the air itself grew stagnant under its oppressive presence.
Her hair floated as if without wind, the tips gradually glowing with a silver-blue sheen—the form of "Hydro Qin" she had briefly awakened to before.
Her once-gentle eyes were completely covered in scarlet, radiating a heart-stopping coldness and a sense of destruction.
The wound piercing her chest was suddenly enveloped in a black mist. Flesh and blood churned wildly within, healing until only a scar, almost too faint to see, remained.
After healing the wound, the black mist didn't dissipate. Instead, it spread like a living creature along her wrists and ankles, staining the Hydro Element around her a murky black-blue.
Even the water droplets dripping from her fingertips carried the chilling cold of the Abyss, instantly causing the withered grass they landed on to blacken and die.
"Zhongli" hadn't yet recovered from the terror of the divine pressure when he saw Yunqin slowly lift her head.
Her gaze held no warmth whatsoever. She merely swept a cold glance over him, and an illusory "Bright Moon" suddenly materialized behind her.
The edges of the illusion were wreathed in fine wisps of dark energy. Countless threads extended from it, coiling around "Zhongli's" limbs like venomous snakes.
"No! Impossible! You were clearly..." "Zhongli" shrieked in terror, his voice filled with incredulous panic.
He desperately channeled the Geo element within his body, but the threads only tightened their grip, digging deep into his skin and greedily draining his power.
Yunqin raised her hand, her expression blank. The black-blue Hydro Element in her palm rapidly condensed, forming a bow that shimmered with a cold light.
She walked toward the bound "Zhongli" step by step, her stride as steady as a predator approaching its fated prey, without a hint of hesitation—just as he had shown none when he pierced her. She thrust the bow viciously into "Zhongli's" chest.
Spy-Reminder, its a Violin bow
"Gah—" A bloodcurdling scream erupted from "Zhongli's" mouth. Countless streams of Abyssal aura spewed from his wound, crawling up the bow like tentacles toward Yunqin's arm and merging into her body.
Her scarlet eyes grew even more vibrant, and the dark energy around her intensified, staining even the nearby withered grass an inky black that disintegrated into dust at the slightest breeze.
"Zhongli's" body gradually lost its strength, the light in his eyes fading bit by bit until he collapsed to the ground like a deflated ball.
Yunqin slowly withdrew the bow, the elements in her palm gradually receding.
She turned to face Tartaglia, who was not far away—still kneeling on one knee, clutching the wound in his abdomen, his eyes wide as he stared at her in a daze.
Her movements suddenly stopped, a faint glimmer of clarity flashing in her scarlet eyes, like a tiny spark igniting in the darkness.
Then, a ball of soft, pale blue Hydro Element—completely different from the energy surrounding her—drifted from her fingertips and gently landed on Tartaglia's wound.
The Hydro Element carried a familiar warmth, like a gentle hand caressing the wound, gradually repairing the damaged skin as the pain slowly faded from Tartaglia's body.
Just as Tartaglia was about to call out to her, a thread suddenly extended from Yunqin's fingertip, slowly stretching toward him.
The thread was identical to the ones that had bound "Zhongli" earlier.
"Yunqin?" Tartaglia's heart sank, but he didn't retreat a single step.
He even shuffled forward, looking worriedly at the struggling scarlet in her eyes. "Are you okay?"
The moment the thread was about to touch Tartaglia's collar, Yunqin suddenly clutched her chest, her face turning deathly pale as she began to tremble violently.
"Ugh..." She let out a muffled groan, cold sweat beading on her forehead, the scarlet in her eyes fading slightly.
The thread, as if losing its strength, rapidly retracted into the "Bright Moon" phantom behind her, causing the phantom itself to dim.
At that moment, the sky abruptly changed color. The once-bright sunlight was instantly swallowed by thick, dark clouds, fierce winds swept up the withered grass and black mist, and faint thunder rumbled in the distance.
Yunqin glanced up in the direction of Liyue Harbor.
Without another look at Tartaglia or a single word, her body blurred into an afterimage and vanished swiftly toward Liyue Harbor.
Left behind were Tartaglia, his wound not yet fully healed, and the dead "Zhongli" on the ground.
Tartaglia pushed himself up from the ground, the wound in his abdomen still throbbing with pain, but he paid it no mind, simply staring in the direction Yunqin had disappeared, his brow tightly furrowed.
"Yunqin..." he murmured, about to give chase when he heard the sound of urgent footsteps approaching from the distance, accompanied by a familiar voice.
"Tartaglia?" Lumine's call grew closer.
She ran over quickly, Paimon trailing behind her, waving her small hands anxiously in the air.
Seeing the "Zhongli" on the ground and Tartaglia's blood-stained clothes, Lumine's expression changed instantly. "What happened here? What's going on with this Zhongli? And where's Yunqin?"
"We heard a squad of Millelith took Yunqin out into the wilderness, but all the Millelith say there were no orders to deploy." Paimon's voice cracked with anxiety as she circled Tartaglia twice. "Where is Yunqin? Is she okay?"
Tartaglia looked at the two of them, then glanced toward Liyue Harbor. The words formed on his lips, but in the end, he let out a long sigh.