The sky above Windrise had turned dark. The usual gentle breeze was nowhere to be found. It was replaced by an electric tension that filled the air with a sense of dread. The wind no longer carried comfort, but unease and desperation.
Across the plains, thousands of Abyssal creatures surged like a tide. Wave after wave of Rifthounds, Breacher Primus, Tenebrous Mimiflora, Tenebrous Mimesis, and even corrupted Hilichurls clashed with the defenders. The ground shook with every impact of every elemental reactions flashing across the battlefield.
But still, the Knights of Favonius stood firm, shoulder to shoulder with adventurers, and volunteers who had all chosen to fight. Not a single one faltered. For every new line of monsters, the defenders had only one thought: If they fell here, these monsters would destroy everything, their home, their people, their loved ones.
So they stood. No matter how exhausted, no matter how outnumbered. This was their land. And they would not let it fall.
Injured and battered, many could barely stay on their feet. Some leaned on shattered spears, others clutched cracked swords but no one turned away. Their weapons shook from fatigue. Their breaths were shallow, but their will held stronger than ever.
Some even didn't have Visions or overwhelming strength. All they had was one another, the people beside them and the city behind them.
Gritting their teeth, eyes burning with will, they stepped forward once more.
For Mondstadt. For their home.
-------
"You alright there, kid?" a retired hunter called out, noticing the young squire barely fifteen struggling to steady his breath as he loosed an arrow that struck down a charging Hilichurl Berserker.
"Kuh…! Thank you, sir!" the boy panted, clutching his spear tighter. Around him, the rest of his platoon had been blown back by the same berserker leaving him alone.
"Haha! You're doing fine, kid, especially for your first campaign!" the old hunter laughed, patting him firmly on the back. "No time to sulk! If you've still got the guts to fight, then come with me!"
"Heh… Then let's go, sir!"
With renewed spirit, the squire nodded and charged forward, side by side with the grizzled veteran.
----
Abyssal creatures poured over the hills, the howls of Rifthounds blending with the chaos of battle. A Thunderhelm Lawachurl crashed into the center of the Knights' formation, forcing them to break ranks to evade the impact. That single opening gave way to a surge of Hilichurls, Rifthounds, and Tenebrous Mimiflora.
But before they could push further, Sir Gerwin, an old knight with graying hair and sharp eyes stepped forward. Relying on his extensive experience, he cut down three beasts in a blur of motion. Behind him, a group of younger knights and adventurers held their ground. Their breaths were heavy, bodies bruised, but their resolve didn't waver.
"Sir Gerwin, behind you!" one of the younger knights shouted.
"I see it, boy!" Gerwin snapped, spinning just in time to cleave through a lunging Rifthound with a grunt.
"Old man's still got it!" another laughed, his voice shaking with a mix of awe and adrenaline.
"Less talk, more focus!" Gerwin barked, raising his shield as a blast of cryo spikes erupted from a Cryo Samachurl. The ice slammed into him, forcing him to one knee. Frost crept up his armor, biting into his side.
"Sir Gerwin!!"
"I'm fine! Don't break ranks!" he growled, his voice strained but sharp. "Keep the formation! Don't let them pass this line!"
His comrades instinctively wanted to rush to his side but the Abyss gave no time for hesitation. Gritting their teeth, they stepped forward, forming a shield wall around their fallen senior.
"You heard him! No ground lost!"
"Stand firm! For Mondstadt!"
--------
Near the base of the Oak tree, a large makeshift tent bustled with urgency. It served as the frontline infirmary, where the injured were rushed in by every minute. Some were bloodied, burned, and barely clinging to consciousness.
Sister Micha, a nun from the Church of Favonius, moved quickly but carefully. Her hands trembled slightly as she inspected the wound of a young adventurer, no older than seventeen. The injury was infected with Abyssal corruption, the skin around it tinged with a sickly black-purple color.
She bit her lip. "Another one with corruption…" she muttered, then raised her voice, "I need more hydro-purification potion, now!"
A fellow healer handed it over without a word. Micha poured the glowing liquid over the wound, gritting her teeth as the boy screamed. The blackness hissed, retreating with visible resistance.
"It's working… hold on," she said, more to herself than to the patient. Once the corruption cleared, she stitched the wound with practiced precision.
From the neighboring bed, a wounded ranger groaned, "Sister... how's it looking out there?"
Micha glanced toward the tent flap, hearing distant cries from those who are fighting and thunderous impacts from several elemental reactions. "They're still holding. The Knights and Adventurers haven't fallen back."
"Good…" the ranger whispered, eyes closing in exhaustion. "Then we still have a chance."
"Of course! Mondstadt won't fall from this.," Micha replied, already moving to the next patient.
--------
At the front, the Knights of Favonius led the charge. Arundolyn's twin blades clashed against the claws of a Thundercraven Rifthound. After a fierce exchange of blows, he managed to pierce it through with his left sword, ending the beast as it let out a wailing roar and dissolved back into the rift.
Before Arundolyn could catch his breath, several more Rifthounds lunged at him only to be intercepted by a squad of knights led by Rostam.
"That was careless of you, Ars," Rostam called out, slashing down one of the beasts with practiced ease.
"Tsk. Seems like you're holding up alright," Arundolyn muttered, catching his breath as he eyed the damage to Rostam's armor and the tears in his cape.
"Much better than you, I'd say," Rostam replied, tapping his sword against his shoulder while eyeing the cracks in Arundolyn's armor and the cuts across his body.
"Hmph! This? Nothing! I can keep this up for hours," Arundolyn scoffed with a defiant grin.
"Oh yeah? Then how about a throwback just like old times. First to rack up the most Abyss kills wins." Rostam turned his gaze toward the incoming wave of enemies, eyes glinting.
"You sure you wanna challenge me? I'm pretty sure I was leading last time," Arundolyn smirked.
"Keep dreaming pal," Rostam shot back with a grin of his own.
With that, the two surged forward together, charging into the chaos side by side.
-------
Out on the open plains, several Breacher Primus charged their cores and launched projectiles, striking down multiple knights and adventurers. Just as another barrage was about to hit, a dome of Geo-element constructs erupted from the ground, shielding the front line in time.
"AHAHAHA! That's all you got, you overgrown pebbles?! Ow!" Hideon shouted, blood trailing down his cheek. Despite the bruises, he still managed a laugh right before Melissa smacked him hard on the back of the head.
"What the hell are you doing, you damn playboy?!" she snapped.
"Hey! That shield just saved your pretty face!" he retorted, grinning.
Melissa rolled her eyes and hurled a Hydro-infused dagger straight at one of the Primus. A second later, a barrage of Pyro arrows landed beside it, triggering a vaporize reaction that erupted into an explosion of steam wiping out the entire group of Breacher Primus.
"You two are still as close as ever, huh?" said the knight who had just thrown the bomb, glancing at the bickering duo.
"Amy! Why are you always partnering me with this brute/ape?!" Both Melissa and Hideon shouted in unison before looking at each again. "What did you just call me?!"
"Hah, see? Still perfectly in sync," Amy grinned.
"Tsk! If you've got time to tease us, how about you take care of that Geo Samachurl instead," Melissa said, pointing at the dancing Samachurl on top of its Geo platform.
"Yeah, yeah. Leave it to me," Amy sighed, rolling her eyes before infusing her arrow with Pyro element and firing it toward the enemy Melissa had pointed out.
---------
At one side a group of adventurers unleashed their own brand of chaos. Unlike the structured Knights, they thrived on unpredictability. Explosive charges were hidden under tufts of grass, wires rigged on the ground hidden by the grass, infused with elemental energy, and scouts darted between trees, tossing smoke bombs and baiting Abyss creations into the traps.
One squad crouched at the back of a large stone.
"The Mitachurl heading left! We cut it off now or it will break through!" barked Helga, the squad leader.
"Roger! Laying wires!" her teammate responded, throwing down a glowing device.
"Trap setted up! Five seconds!" another scout called out, sliding into place.
A hulking Axe Mitachurl charged through the smoke only to trip the line and get launched backward by the trap's elemental explosion.
The squad burst into cheers.
"Boom! Right into the root trap just like the plan!" Helga smirked.
Nearby, a grizzled veteran known only as 'Gramps' was seen riding the back of Stonehide Lawachurl like a wild bull, wildly laughing. "YEEHAW! Get me a bottle of wine after this, I'm wrangling monsters now!"
"Old man, you're gonna die at this rate!" someone shouted.
"If I do, I'm taking this big idiot with me!" he roared, steering the creature straight into a pit hole filled with water. Gramps jumped as the lawachurl fell into it, landing with a roll, groaning but grinning as he watched it drown.
"Still alive. Someone get me that drink!"
For the adventurers, the terrain of Windrise wasn't just a backdrop it was their strongest ally. Gusts of Anemo were funneled through the grassy plains, turning breezes into disorienting blasts that threw off enemy formations. Massive vines, enhanced by Dendro energy, stretched across trees and rocks, acting as both platforms and springboards for ambush strikes.
"Hey, use that Dendro vines to flank the Tenebrous Mimesis before it transforms!" someone shouted.
"Got it!" a quick-footed scout replied, vaulting from a vine to gain high ground. She leapt down, blades drawn, striking cleanly into the Mimesis.
A few meters away, two adventurers stood by a massive vine, saw in hand.
"Now?" the younger one asked.
"Wait for it… wait… NOW!"
The thick dendro vine, already cut and coiled with tension, was released. It crashed down with brutal force, flattening a charging Thunderhelm Lawachurl in a shower of bark and dust.
Cheers rang out.
"Perfect shot!"
"Who needs siege weapons when nature's doing half the work?"
Windrise had become a living battlefield and the adventurers were its maestros.
-----
Above the skies of Mondstadt, far from the chaos raging below, two dragons clashed in a storm of wings and elemental fury.
"Go back to the abyss you crawled out from!" Dvalin roared, releasing a surge of Anemo that blasted Durin backward.
Durin responded with a guttural roar, his massive body dripping with poisonous miasma, eyes clouded in abyssal madness.
"Tsk. Can't even speak anymore, huh?" Dvalin narrowed his gaze as the crazed dragon lunged at him again.
If those humans hadn't saved me in time… I would've ended up just like him, Dvalin thought grimly.
"I may not like Barbatos's unserious ways and his drunken antics, but if cooperating with him means I can thank those humans for saving me..... then so be it."
Durin exhaled a toxic breath, a mixture of poison and abyssal energy. Dvalin met it with his own Anemo breath, the two elemental blasts colliding midair in a violent explosion.
Staring at the corrupted dragon now lost to madness, Dvalin whispered with quiet resolve, "As your kin… I'll free you from this pain."
With a powerful beat of his wings, Dvalin surged forward, determined to end Durin's suffering even if it meant striking him down.
-----
Despite everyone's combined efforts, the Abyss surged once again.
A narrow pass began to crumble. Knights scrambled to reinforce it. A scout squad used smoke bombs to blind the enemy, slashing through monsters with nothing but daggers and desperation.
People fell. Some screamed. Some weren't able to do anything before falling. But none turned their backs.
Then music.
It rang across the battlefield, gentle and clear. At the foot of the Great Oak, Venti stood with his lyre in hand and his usual relaxed smile, unshaken by the chaos around him.
"Mondstadt's freedom," he called out, "does not mean we will sit idle while corruption tries to invade our home."
Venti's braids light up as a powerful gust of Anemo surged across Windrise, pulling the Abyssal forces back like leaves in a storm. The winds weren't just wind they carried resolve, and with them, hope.
Across the battlefield, every Mondstadter felt something in their chest. Until from somewhere no one could remeber say who shouted out:
"For Mondstadt!"
And then came the chorus.
Cheers rang out. Swords raised higher. Shields steadied. Because in that moment, they knew their god stood with them.
The people held the line.
Not through divine miracles, but through unshakable belief.
This was Mondstadt. And no darkness would take it from them.
------
From a distance, the Iniquitous Baptist stood surrounded by several Abyss Lectors and Abyss Heralds. In front of them, Black Serpent Knights formed a solid defensive line ready to strike down anyone who dared cross.
"Why do you pitiful humans insist on defying the inevitable?" the Baptist said, his voice low and echoing. "Entropy cannot be stopped. So why? Why do you continue with these meaningless struggles?"
The sound of footsteps broke the silence several figures were approaching the Abyss camp. Instantly, the Heralds and Lectors moved to intercept, weapons drawn. The Black Serpent Knights tensed, forming up to block the newcomers.
"Care to enlighten us, visitors from beyond the stars?" the Baptist asked, voice laced with disdain.
"You're right about that," Noah said calmly, standing at the front with Kiana, Elysia, Lumine, and Miss A behind him. "Perhaps, in the face of inevitable entropy, what we're doing is meaningless."
The Baptist tilted his head, studying Noah in silence, waiting for him to continue.
"But here's the thing," Noah continued, a faint grin forming as he locked eyes with the Baptist. "The moment you questioned it, our reason, our struggle, you gave it meaning."
The Baptist's glowing eyes narrowed, flickering slightly as they focused on Noah..
"Because the moment you started to care, started to wonder why we keep standing against you, why we defy the inevitable, that's when it all mattered," Noah continued, stopping just a few meters away. He raised his right hand, lightsaber-lux igniting with a sharp hum as he pointed it toward the Baptist. "So go ahead then. Show us this fight means nothing. Show us that our will to protect those we care about doesn't ripple beyond the battlefield. Because at that very moment, you who deny us, gave the color and meaning on this meaningless defiance."
The Abyss stared them down, but a twitch, barely visible, betrayed their irritation at Noah's defiant tone and answer.
Kiana rolled her eyes. Elysia snorted and snapped a picture, already naming it: "Captain Smartassing the Abyss." Lumine blinked, but a small smirk tugged at her lips. As for Miss A, she wore the biggest, most mischievous grin on her face.
The Baptist, somehow managing a deadpan expression, raised his hand... then dropped it.
The signal was clear.
The Black Serpent Knights surged forward. The Abyss Heralds and Lectors followed.
As the Abyss charged with fury, the stars answered in kind.
And so, battle began between forces from outside of this world.