Nearby, Aether understood.
His eyes widened.
His breath caught in his throat.
Aether: "...No way..."
His gaze fixed on Shenhe, taking in the various red marks along his body, the change in his posture, and then he looked down at the ground to see...
The red cords.
Those invisible talismans that normally kept his emotions in check.
But now they were gone.
Or rather—
They had broken.
Aether gritted his teeth.
Aether: "The red ropes…"
He took a step forward as if he could foresee what might happen.
But he stopped because he understood what it meant.
Aether: "Shenhe... lost control..."
His gaze became grave.
Heavy.
Aether: "This is her true state..."
And before them
Shenhe still didn't move, she didn't move and didn't speak, but her mere presence was enough.
- To crush.
- To suffocate.
- To terrify.
Then:
Shenhe: "..... "
A slight movement.
Her fingers tightened.
Her eyes, with their red glow, slowly lifted.
And rested on Eula.
She now regarded her as a target, a single target.
And in that moment, as the two women looked at each other
And without a word.
The battle had just taken a completely different turn.
Meanwhile, on Mount Aocan:
Calm reigned around the small, crystal-clear lake, its surface reflecting the white cliffs and the trees with their autumn leaves.
Sitting by the water's edge, Xianyun quietly enjoyed her meal.
In her human form, she possessed an almost ethereal elegance. Her long black hair, slightly tinged with jade green at the tips, was carefully styled in a sophisticated updo, held in place by golden ornaments reminiscent of her Adept origins.
A pair of glasses with red lenses rested delicately on her nose, accentuating her piercing and calculating gaze.
Her eyes, calm yet profound, seemed capable of analyzing the world in its smallest details. She wore a refined outfit blending black, white, and touches of turquoise, with intricate patterns evoking clouds and winds, floating lightly around her as if animated by a life of their own.
Author's note: "It was a real pain to find a site with a complete description of Xianyun's outfit on Google."
Xianyun: "It's pretty good."
The grilled fish she was eating still gave off a light smoke, its aroma mingling with the pure mountain air.
Despite her exceptional intelligence, she wasn't always austere, she appreciated simple moments like those she spent with her students.
As she raised her fork to bring another piece to her lips...
Whoosh.
Her movements stopped abruptly.
Xianyun: "..."
A crushing pressure suddenly filled the air.
A confused mix of fear, anger, joy, and excitement... but above all, a feeling she knew all too well.
Death.
Her eyes darkened slightly.
She had felt this before… in her student, but not with such intensity.
She slowly released her fork and turned her head east, toward the Guili Plains.
Xianyun: "The red ropes."
Her gaze hardened.
She hadn't felt this sensation since the day she met a little girl with black hair in a cave.
Xianyun: "SHENHE."
FFFFffffiiiiiiiii
In an instant, her body vanished into a bluish light.
Her human form gave way to that of a majestic crane with pale, elegant feathers.
Without hesitation, she took flight, cleaving the sky toward the Guili Plains.
Meanwhile, on the Guili Plains:
Silence fell abruptly after Eula's last remark, but it was anything but soothing.
The atmosphere was heavy, unstable, as if the world itself were holding its breath in the face of the emotional chaos unfolding before them.
Aether remained frozen.
His eyes never left Shenhe for a single second.
She… wasn't really herself anymore.
Every emotion seemed to erupt unfiltered, without logic, without transition.
Her body trembled slightly, unable to contain this inner torrent.
One moment, she laughed like a carefree child… the next, her tears flowed freely… then came the anger, brutal, almost murderous… and finally—
Aether looked away slightly.
Aether: "This is worse than I thought…"
He gritted his teeth.
He had already seen Shenhe struggle against herself, against that dark side that sought to consume her.
But this… was different.
The red ropes did more than just restrain her violence.
They held his mind together.
Without them, his emotions were no longer connected.
They exploded, independently, like shattered fragments of his soul.
Shenhe slowly raised his eyes to him.
His expression changed again.
His gaze was blank, but he quickly understood that he had to do something. He realized it was too late to separate the two women, but he now had to find a way to do so.
Then
A smile.
It was certainly a nervous smile because the situation had escalated to a level he couldn't have imagined.
Aether: "I need to calm her down... fast."
His expression became more serious.
Aether: "Run?"
"Impossible."
Aether: "Fight her?"
"Too risky... in this state, she could go too far... or hurt herself."
He took a slow breath.
Aether: "Think..."
His memories flashed through his mind, the day he and Shenhe first met.
He remembered the explanations and warnings Cloud Retainer had given him about how the red cords worked.
That was the key.
But… they weren't there.
His gaze flickered briefly down to the fragments scattered on the ground.
Aether: "Then I need another way…"
He looked up at her, trying to find a solution.
Aether: "Talk to her?"
"Reason her?"
"In this state… was Shenhe even capable of hearing anything?"
His gaze hardened slightly.
Aether: "If I can't suppress the curse…"
Tap
He took a step forward.
Slowly.
Cautiously.
Aether: "Then I have to reach her… directly."
His hands tightened slightly, not to attack… but to prepare.
Aether: "Shenhe… hold on."
"I'll find a way."
As Aether and Eula watched Shenhe suddenly laugh, he stopped laughing and fixed his gaze on Eula.
Shenhe: "He he he he."
"Now I've got you."
His red eyes and dark sclera stared at Eula, then:
FOUSH
She advanced with a speed that Aether and Eula couldn't keep up with.
SWOOWH
She passed right in front of Aether without him even realizing it, though the only thing he felt was a light breeze passing by.
And when he finally noticed, he immediately turned his head toward Eula.
Aether: "So fast."
Aether understood that the situation had become too dangerous and that this was no longer just a little squabble between two women in love.
But it was a real fight to the death between two gifted warriors.
As Shenhe reached Eula, the latter resumed her fighting stance and adjusted her sword between her palms.
Eula: "She is dangerous."
FOUSH
Click
She immediately raised her two-handed sword to attack Shenhe, sending up a wave of dust and earth from the ground.
Eula: "I have to keep my distance."
As the cloud of dust and earth began to dissipate in the wind, a white light burst forth and hurtled towards her. If someone had been standing right next to her, they would have seen the light reflected in her eyes.
FOUSH
Eula: "?!"
"Whoa."
She immediately arched her back, leaning backward to dodge the attack, and placed her hand on the ground to catch herself and avoid falling completely.
As her gaze turned skyward, she immediately understood what had hurtled toward her:
It was Shenhe's Spirit Talisman.
Eula sighed and said:
Eula: "Damn it."
She immediately regained her balance and grabbed her sword, pulling herself to her feet to attack Shenhe, who was right in front of her, likely hidden in the dust cloud.
Eula: "Don't you get bored playing the same trick?"
Her sword shattered against the dust cloud.
BAM
Eula: "…"
Aether: "…"
Silence fell across the plain until a voice broke the silence.
It was a cold, loud voice.
Shenhe: "What a light attack!"
Her voice was terrifying.
Her voice was cold.
Her voice was something indescribable.
The cloud of earth dissipated, revealing Shenhe's spear planted in the ground, with Shenhe balancing upon it.
Shenhe: "So disappointed."
Shenhe stood on his spear, his hand red from the marks that had jammed his sword.
Eula: "What...?"
Eula tried to withdraw her blade, but Shenhe blocked it with too much force; she was far too strong for a normal person.
Shenhe: "You said that, 'You can't beat me without a weapon.'"
"Right."
His gaze, composed of black outlines and blood-red pupils, turned towards Eula and shook her hand.
Aether, who had been watching the fight, unable to intervene, knew that the two women were his friends, and if he accidentally attacked one of them, he risked getting hurt, whether it was Shenhe or Eula.
Crack
Suddenly, the world around the three of them began to slow down.
Aether: "She's not going to..."
Eula: "She's not going to..."
Crack
Eula's sword cracked, then:
CLASH
Her sword shattered, and the piece of metal scattered into the air. airs
Shenhe: "Now, I can kill you without a weapon."
The wind seemed to have stopped blowing.
Every movement became heavy… slow… almost unreal.
The fragments of Eula's sword still floated in the air, shimmering in the light, as if time refused to move forward.
Facing her—
Shenhe.
Her body had just left her spear, falling with an almost supernatural lightness. Her feet touched the ground without a sound.
Then.
FOUSH.
She disappeared.
No.
She was already there.
In front of Eula.
Too close.
Far too close.
Aether's eyes widened, unable to follow the movement.
Aether: "She closed the distance instantly…"
Eula didn't even have time to regain her composure.
Her hands were still clenched in the air, there. where his sword had been.
Shenhe leaned slightly toward her.
His long white hair cascaded over his shoulders, some strands almost brushing Eula's face.
His breath
Calm.
Icy.
But charged with something deeply disturbing.
His red eyes stared into hers, unblinking.
Without any stable emotion.
Just… this terrifying instability, ready to erupt at any moment, and he fixed his gaze on Eula, whispering:
Shenhe: "How about you?"
His voice was just a whisper.
A whisper that seemed to resonate directly within Eula's mind.
Her hand rose slowly.
Her fingers, marked with red, trembled slightly… a mixture of excitement and suppressed violence.
Then
She moved closer.
Again.
Until their faces were only inches apart.
Close enough for Eula to feel her breath.
Close enough to see every detail in her scarlet pupils.
And in that frozen moment—
Shenhe's face drew inexorably closer to hers, a sadistic smile like that of a monster, like a predator already savoring the moment she would break her prey.
The world seemed to crumble around her.
Shenhe's face drew closer still, slowly, inexorably… while her hand, enveloped in icy Cryo energy, hurtled straight toward Eula's stomach.
CCCRRRrrrreeeee
Time shattered.
Each second stretched into an eternity.
Eula: "So"
Eula closed her eyes.
Eula: "Am I going to die...?"
Her breath trembled slightly.
For the first time in a long time... she wasn't angry, not proud, not arrogant.
Just... human.
Just when she thought it was all over, her gaze, before closing completely, drifted one last time toward Aether.
He was running.
Toward her.
Or rather, toward them.
Desperately.
His outstretched hand, his panicked expression—
He was trying to stop them, or rather, to save them.
Eula felt something tighten in her chest.
Eula: "It's... my fault..."
Thoughts flooded in, violent.
Eula: "I'm the one who left Mondstadt..."
"I'm the one who came looking for him..."
"I'm the one who confessed my feelings to him..."
"I'm the one who started this fight..."
"I'm the one who broke the red rope..."
"I'm the one... who destroyed Shenhe."
Her eyes remained closed.
Then
Eula: "So that's what it was..."
"It's not that I thought Shenhe was a bad person, it wasn't because of my pride or my anger..."
"...I was just..."
"...Jealous."
Her body slowly relaxed as she understood the reason that had led to this situation.
Then she seemed to accept it at last.
Eula: "You could say I deserved it..."
"Sorry... Aether..."
Then.
CCCCRRRrrrrreeeeee
A strange noise.
Like something breaking or snapping shut.
Then
Nothing.
...
Silence.
Total silence.
But
Something was wrong. Eula frowned slightly.
She could still feel... her body.
A strange sensation ran through her limbs.
A soft, almost soothing coolness enveloped her skin.
And she felt a warmth in her hand.
Eula: "So… I'm dead…"
It was… strange, but she wasn't in pain.
Not afraid.
Just a floating sensation.
As if she were resting on something soft.
Eula: "A bed…?"
Her mind drifted.
She imagined another scenario, a world where none of this had happened, a world where she hadn't let her emotions take over.
Where she had simply spoken.
Where she hadn't fought Shenhe.
Where
Perhaps
She could have stayed by Aether's side… without destroying everything.
Eula murmured weakly:
Eula: "It feels really strange to die…"
A familiar voice suddenly rang out.
Paimon: "What are you talking about?! You're not dead!"
Eula: "…????"
Her eyes opened Suddenly, the light blinded her for a moment.
Then
The world regained its shape.
Eula: "Huh!"
She was lying on a bed.
A real bed.
It wasn't an illusion.
It wasn't a dream.
The room around her was calm, bathed in soft light filtering through finely carved wooden windows.
The architecture was typical of Liyue:
- Elegant beams
- Subtle gold patterns
- And shelves filled with jars containing medicinal herbs.
A faint scent of dried plants hung in the air.
Beside the bed, a small table held medical instruments, bandages, and a few vials filled with translucent liquids, like remedies or some other strange substance.
And a coconut that must have belonged to a little girl with a Purple hat.
Eula was...
...without Bubu Pharmacy.
Eula: "What...?"
Paimon was floating right above her, visibly relieved.
Paimon: "AETHER!"
"XIANYUN!"
"LOOK, SHE'S AWAKE!"
Eula slowly turned her head.
And she saw him, Aether.
Sitting right next to her.
He was so close.
His hand... held hers as if he didn't want to let go.
His fingers were warm.
Comforting.
Eula felt a slight warmth rise in her cheeks.
On the other side of the room stood an elegant woman with long black hair and red glasses: Xianyun.
She was calm and observant.
Almost... imposing.
Aether opened her eyes, sensing the movement.
And her expression changed immediately.
Aether: "Eula!"
Her voice was filled with relief.
Xianyun lightly crossed her arms.
Xianyun: "So... she's awake."
Eula blinked.
Again.
She hadn't understood a few seconds ago; she was dying.
And now she was here.
Eula: "What happened...?"
Xianyun replied calmly, almost detachedly:
Xianyun: "You fought my student."
"And you lost."
Eula: "Huh...?"
She tried to sit up—
But a pain shot through her body.
Paimon immediately stirred.
Paimon: "Hey!"
"Stay lying down!"
"You're still hurt!"
Eula gently fell back onto the bed, frowning slightly.
Her gaze flickered from Aether... to Xianyun... then back to Paimon.
Eula: "Can you... tell me exactly what happened...?"
A silence fell.
Then
Aether gently squeezed her hand.
Her gaze was serious now.
Calm.
But filled with something profound.
Aether: "Don't worry..."
Chapter 19: Last-second rescue
The End