"Hmm?" Dainsleif's brow furrowed slightly, a flicker of confusion crossing his eyes.
He had clearly sensed the ripple in the aura. There was no mistake.
But as he sniffed the air again, the cave was filled only with the thick, Abyssal miasma. That unique aura from before had completely vanished.
He came to a halt, his gaze sweeping across every inch of darkness around the statue, leaving no gap between the wrapped chains unchecked.
The rock walls remained a damp, dark green, and the sound of dripping water echoed rhythmically. Aside from the malice radiating from the statue, there were no other anomalies to be found.
Could the Abyssal aura have been so dense that it caused him to hallucinate?
"Dainsleif, what's wrong?" Lumine noticed his pause and stopped, turning back to look at him. "Did you find something?"
Dainsleif withdrew his gaze, the Elemental Power at his fingertips quietly dissipating.
He watched Lumine and Venti support Lydia as they walked away, then glanced once more at the motionless Inverted Statue. Finally, he shook his head.
"It's nothing." His voice remained cold and hard, yet it held less wariness and a hint of imperceptible doubt. "I might have been mistaken. Let's catch up with them. This place is no good to linger in."
With that, he turned and quickly caught up with the group, though he walked slower than before, glancing back into the depths from time to time.
The group stumbled to the upper level of the ruins, unable to hold on any longer.
Lumine gasped for air, her chest heaving violently.
Paimon collapsed on Lumine's shoulder, lacking even the strength to complain.
Lydia leaned against Venti, her body still trembling uncontrollably, the fear in her eyes like a lingering mist.
Venti gently patted her back, Anemo swirling around her like warm, fluffy gauze, his low, soothing words carrying the softness of the wind: "It's okay, it's all over now. We're out."
His tone was filled with an irrepressible ache.
Dainsleif stood to the side, looking at the panting group, then at Lydia, who was still shaking, and Venti, who was patiently comforting her. His brow furrowed into a deep crease in the shadows.
Finally, he sighed deeply.
"Though I am not certain if this is related to the Inverted Statue in the ruins, I feel I should still tell you." Dainsleif's gaze slowly fell on Lumine, carrying a rare, imperceptible gravity. "Traveler."
Lumine started, straightening her posture.
"What is it?" Paimon instantly perked up, lifting her head from Lumine's shoulder and blinking her round eyes curiously.
Dainsleif took a deep breath and slowly began to speak.
He recounted the Abyss Order's movements across Teyvat, detailing their actions exactly as they had happened.
His words were concise yet packed with immense information, each one striking the group's hearts like a heavy hammer.
Finally, he paused, his Adam's apple bobbing, before dropping the revelation that would shatter Lumine's entire understanding of her world: "And your brother, Aether, is the Prince of the Abyss Order."
"The Prince of the Abyss?" Lumine felt as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. She froze in place, repeating the words in disbelief, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
Her pupils constricted sharply, and countless fragmented images flashed through her mind: Lydia's desperate smile as she turned into ice flowers, Yunqin's cold body fallen at the hands of an Abyss Knight, the corpses of villagers devoured by monsters in the outskirts of Mondstadt, the fallen Millelith in Liyue Harbor...
Her hatred for the Abyss had already seeped into her very bones, coiling around her heart like vines.
And now, Dainsleif was telling her that the brother she had crossed mountains and seas to find, the one she longed for day and night, was actually a core figure of the Abyss?
"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!" Lumine suddenly rushed in front of Dainsleif, her hands clenched into tight fists.
"You're lying to me! How could my brother be from the Abyss?" Her eyes were filled with despair and denial, instantly reddening. Her voice trembled with tears but remained stubborn. "He's just like me, a Traveler who accidentally entered Teyvat! We promised to go home together!"
Just then, with a sharp rip, a pitch-black space rift abruptly tore open beside them.
A dense Abyssal aura washed over them, carrying a sickly sweet rot that made Lydia instinctively shrink into Venti's arms.
An Abyss Herald emerged from the rift, the eyes beneath his helmet gleaming with malice as a sinister smile twisted his face.
Staring at the devastated Lumine, his voice grated like nails on stone: "His Highness the Prince is indeed the Abyss's..."
Before he could finish, a hand with clearly defined knuckles suddenly reached out from the rift, fingers clamped tightly over his mouth.
Then, the hand threw the Abyss Herald back into the pitch-black rift like a piece of trash.
Immediately after, a familiar figure slowly emerged from the rift. It was Aether, the brother Lumine had missed day and night.
His face wore a trace of fatigue he couldn't quite hide. The moment he saw Lumine, he sighed deeply, a complex emotion flickering in his eyes.
Seeing Aether step out from the Abyss Rift and feeling the impossible-to-ignore Abyssal aura on him, Lumine had no choice but to believe Dainsleif's words, no matter how unwilling she was.
She stumbled forward dazedly, her steps unsteady. The tears in her eyes finally spilled over, and her voice broke into a ragged sob, "Brother..."
"Sister." Aether reached out to her, a gentle smile touching his face, just as he had countless times before, wanting to draw near, wanting to wipe away her tears.
But the next second, Lumine abruptly took a step back and drew the Prototype Rancour from her Elemental Space.
The moment the longsword appeared, Geo element condensed on the blade, shimmering with a cold, hard light.
Her sword tip pointed straight at Aether's chest, and she struck without a moment's hesitation!
The sword's light was fierce, carrying the anger, despair, and sense of betrayal she had suppressed for so long. Every strike held a desperate resolve.
"!"
Aether was completely stunned by Lumine's sudden attack. His mind went blank, and his dodge was half a beat too slow.
He barely managed to sidestep the sword's tip, the blade slicing a long gash in his clothes and exposing the clean lining beneath.
"Lumine, what are you doing?" His voice was full of shock and hurt, the look in his eyes as if pierced by a thousand needles.
"It's not what you think! Although we call ourselves the Abyss Order, we aren't truly of the Abyss!" He explained frantically, his words tumbling out as he scrambled to dodge her attacks. "The monsters who prey on living beings are not with us!"
"Not of the Abyss? Then why call yourselves the Abyss Order?" Lumine's fury only grew upon hearing his words.
Her attacks became even more fierce, the sword's light imbued with the weight of the Geo element, each strike aimed at a vital spot.
Her voice grew colder and sharper: "That Herald from just now... I've dealt with him before! He is of the Abyss!"
"Do you still dare to lie to me? Have you already forgotten our promise? Forgotten that we were to go home together?!"
For the first time, Aether felt what it was to "be left with nothing left to live for."