As soon as Lin Mo said it, Cloud Retainer's mind clicked into place.
The man before her, with six wings sprouting from his back, was indeed the Lin Mo from all those years ago!
The phrase he'd said to her most often was: Cloud Retainer, if you spoke a little less, you'd be far more endearing.
Though questions swirled in her heart now, she knew this wasn't the moment to voice them.
High above on the Jade Chamber,
the array platform Ningguang had conjured was riddled with cracks.
The circular formation, vast enough to hold hundreds,
had been blasted away by Orobashi's strike, losing a full third and leaving a massive gash.
"Cloud Retainer..."
"I hope... she's alright..."
Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper spoke in turn,
their voices thick with unmistakable worry.
Their bond with Cloud Retainer spanned millennia.
Who could have imagined she'd survive the Archon War,
only to fall millennia later, today of all days?
Anxiety had frayed their focus,
slowing the charge of the Geo machines under their command.
But no one could draw near the platform's breach to check on her—
not with the eerie glow now seeping through the shattered zone.
Wherever the ghostly light spread, the array eroded bit by bit.
Clearly, Orobashi's assault carried the Abyss's nauseating taint.
"Paimon!"
The Traveler called out sharply.
Paimon snapped to attention and floated to the edge of the missing section, peering down.
"Ah—!"
Her eyes bulged in shock.
"What is it, Paimon?"
The Traveler pressed.
"It's... it's the diplomat!
But... why does he have wings!?"
Just then, amid Paimon's gasp,
a figure with three pairs of ebony wings burst skyward, landing before the group.
"Ah—it's Brother Ganqing!" Klee squealed in delight.
In that instant,
every eye locked onto Lin Mo as he gently laid Cloud Retainer and the wounded woman on the solid ground.
"Lin... Mo..."
Ningguang's gaze flickered.
She recognized him at once—
the man from her dreams, the one who'd shared a decade in the Jade Chamber by her side.
Sure enough,
just as Lin Mo had anticipated,
the array platform flickered unstably.
Ningguang's emotions had surged, disrupting her control over the formation.
"Ningguang! Focus!"
"After the battle, I'll explain everything to you all!" Lin Mo barked.
Resolve hardened in Ningguang's eyes once more.
The platform steadied, its glow reigniting.
Lin Mo had said you all.
His gaze swept over the crowd: "I know you all have questions burning in your minds.
Yes, my name is Lin Mo.
I've lived through countless reincarnations, carrying other names along the way.
But right now, there's no time for tales.
Our priority is defending this array platform—and taking down Orobashi!"
The adepti,
the Knights,
the Qixing—
each met his glance with a solemn nod.
Trust gleamed in their eyes.
"Lin Mo! Watch out!" Eula cried.
A Fatui Electrohammer Vanguard had slipped through a portal,
emerging right behind him.
The instant his boot hit the ground,
his hammer arced high, poised to crush down on Lin Mo.
"Like a rock!"
Lin Mo's voice rumbled low.
A Geo pillar erupted from the stone,
shattering the vanguard's jaw in a brutal upward thrust.
"Ah!"
With a howl of agony,
the vanguard's body launched backward off the platform, courtesy of the sudden spike.
Lin Mo scanned left and right.
Only two portals remained active on the array.
He raised both arms, palms outthrust toward them.
"Geo-forged glory!"
Boom! Boom!
Two radiant Geo flowers bloomed at the portals' thresholds.
"It's Albedo's Geo-flower turrets!" Klee cheered.
She'd nailed it—these were Albedo's creations from his Geo Vision,
the Gloryflowers.
Trigger them with enough weight, and they'd launch anything sky-high.
In a flash, realization dawned on the group.
Was Lin Mo planning to yeet the Fatui the moment they stepped through?
Then,
from the left and right portals,
two more Electrohammer Vanguards emerged in tandem.
Exactly as they'd suspected.
"Huh!? Ah—!?"
"Wh-what's happening!?"
They barely cleared the threshold before the Gloryflowers hurled them into the air.
"Now!" Lin Mo commanded.
"Ganyu!
Amber!"
"Got it!"
Amber hoisted her Windblume Ode.
Ganyu said nothing, but her Frostflake Arrow was already nocked,
tracking the airborne fools with lethal precision.
Twang! Whoosh!
Two arrows sliced the air.
"Aaah—! You cowards!"
"No fair!"
The vanguards plummeted, arrows' momentum flinging them off the platform into the churning sea below.
Their figures vanished,
but their furious curses lingered in the wind.
"You can... do it like that?"
Eula stared, wide-eyed with disbelief.
With those Gloryflowers blocking the gates,
who feared an endless Fatui swarm now?
"Wow, Guest Elder Lin Mo!"
Hu Tao piped up from his waist, where she clung like a mischievous sprite. "When did you snag a Geo Vision? Last night when I tucked you in, you didn't have it!"
The group's attention snapped to her outburst,
zeroing in on the two Visions dangling at his hip.
One Anemo.
One Geo.
"Holding two Visions at once..."
Eula's eyes widened further.
She wasn't alone in her shock.
In living memory,
no one had ever wielded dual Visions since they first appeared.
"Everyone, this really isn't the time," Lin Mo said with a wry chuckle,
jerking his thumb backward.
Only then did they notice—
three more terrifying orbs of Hydro energy swelling atop Orobashi's heads.
"Brace yourselves! Orobashi's strikes pack a wallop—use the Terminators to counter and the shields to hold!" Lin Mo warned.
"Leave it to us!"
"I'll take the left—you the right!"
The two adepti divided the load without hesitation.
"But... there's a third one,"
Klee blinked up, puzzled. "We've got no more Terminators left. What do we do?"
"Klee, leave it to Dad," Lin Mo replied with a gentle smile.
"Dad!?"
"Dad!?"
The array platform stuttered, lights dimming.
Every soul there—even Ningguang—
reeled from the word.
"Ahem... Adepti, keep those Terminators steady.
Ningguang, lock down the array's flow.
Ganyu, Amber—watch the portals for Fatui." Lin Mo issued orders in rapid succession.
They knew time was short,
so questions could wait.
But two weren't so easily deterred.
With the Fatui threat paused, Eula had a breather.
And Hu Tao? She'd barely lifted a finger from the start.
Though they sensed the impropriety,
both women fixed Lin Mo with stares that could pierce steel.
He felt their glares like needles in his back.
But no helping it—having bared his hundred lifetimes,
might as well lay it all out now and spare the repeat explanations later.
For the moment, though,
Lin Mo ignored their wounded looks,
eyes locked on the distant Orobashi as it reared for another assault.
ROOOAR—!
The bellow echoed like a raging storm or a colossal whale's cry.
Whoosh! Splash!
Whoosh!
Three azure Hydro pillars lanced through the murky sky,
barreling toward the platform!
Rumble—!
...
Rumble—!
The two Terminators fired in unison, left and right,
their brilliant shockwaves slamming into two of the incoming jets.
Crash!
As Lin Mo had foreseen,
the machines could neutralize a single head's blast each.
But the final azure pillar hurtled unchecked toward the array.
Lin Mo unfurled his wings and surged toward the rear.
"Geo spear!"
Whoosh!
A Geo spear materialized from thin air,
hurtling to intercept the beam.
This was Lin Mo's mimicry of Morax's signature move—the Geo spear.
Orobashi had been sealed by it long ago.
Only...
Morax's spear had felled gods and forged Liyue Harbor.
Lin Mo's?
It was barely the girth of a Seven Statue, a pint-sized thing.
"So underwhelming..."
"These Visions pack less punch than my own power."
Lin Mo sighed, not holding high hopes for the clash.
The spear raced forth, on the verge of impact.
He'd figured raw stone might blunt the Hydro rush at least a bit.
But no—
his conjured spear shattered on contact, pulverized to dust in the azure torrent.
And the pillar barreled on, undiminished, straight at him.
Clashing a Vision's might against a god's fury?
A fool's errand, it seemed.
"Damn it... guess I need my real strength after all."
Lin Mo cursed under his breath,
hand clamping the hilt of the Windblume sword at his left hip.
This was his first true clash with a god in this life.
Time to gauge the gulf between them!
As the pillar closed in,
Lin Mo drew with a shout:
"Cloud Concealment — Swallow's Cry!"
The blade slashed free.
A vivid windblade, laced with prismatic hues, sheared toward the Hydro surge.
This was Kazuha's one-stroke mastery, repurposed—
from erecting wind barriers to carving wind edges!
Even sans Vision, Lin Mo could stand and fight.
Slash!
The lead pillar split clean in two at the windblade's edge.
"It's working!"
Lin Mo's spirits lifted.
But just as he thought a god's wrath was all bark...
The blade faltered, unable to withstand the azure erosion.
With its last gasp, it dissipated entirely.
"Shit!"
Lin Mo's gut twisted.
That slash had been nine-tenths of his all—
and still, it fell short against the divine onslaught.
In the next breath, clarity struck.
It wasn't his weakness.
It was Orobashi's Abyss-warped might.
A blow that had nearly slain Cloud Retainer?
No wonder he couldn't shrug it off.
The azure pillar reformed, thundering closer.
The Terminators were their ace against the beast.
Lin Mo couldn't let this hit the platform.
He resolved to tank it.
To weather the deluge, wounded or not,
and summon another windblade in its wake.
The onlookers watched his lone silhouette, hearts in their throats.
But as Lin Mo sheathed his blade for the counter-draw—
A pink blur darted through the crowd, leaping beyond the array's edge.
"Ah! Little fox, come back!" Klee wailed in panic.
"Huh? What!?" Lin Mo whipped around in alarm.
In his peripheral vision,
the pink kit he'd rescued from the mountains
bounded past him on violet thunder-steps,
at speeds that defied reason.
In the heartbeat it streaked by,
he caught a whisper:
"Sasa Lily, don't push yourself like you did back then."
In that frozen instant—
CRACK—BOOM!
Thunder roared across the heavens.
The pink foxling's form ignited, drawing every bolt from the storm.
Under the cascade of lightning,
the tiny body before Lin Mo swelled and twisted.
And then—
the azure pillar struck, right on cue.
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T/N:
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