Darkness swallowed the color in his vision, and a sense of weightlessness surged over him.
Blade felt himself plunging straight down into an endless abyss.
But before he could react, the infinite fall vanished. In a bizarre instant, he found himself in Exalting Sanctum.
And he was standing exactly where he had been before disappearing.
He looked around.
Stelle clutching her head and screaming for help, the blonde girl kicking Stelle's backside, Jingliu radiating a chilling aura that kept others at bay.
And… not far in front of him, someone he remembered clearly.
'Silver Wolf's friend.. Levi.'
'When did he shown up?'
'No idea. No memory. Didn't see him.'
'Still...'
Blade turned to look at the girl laughing as she kicked Stelle. How had she managed to appear behind him instantly while fighting Jingliu?
"Hahaha, I love watching the show!"
Clinging to Stelle's back, locking her in a chokehold, Lumine's grin looked borderline unhinged.
"Ahhh!"
Catching a glimpse of Lumine's expression from the corner of her eye, Stelle admitted she was genuinely scared.
This was scarier than any illusion show.
With trembling hands, she reached toward Levi in the distance. "H-help… help… help me…"
Her voice sounded strange from being choked.
Levi said nothing. He withdrew his gaze and stretched his arms.
With a faint smile, he looked at Jingliu, who still hadn't figured out what exactly was going on.
[Ding! Commission Complete!]
———
Teyvat.
Paimon looked at the slowly setting sun in the distance, then turned back toward the backpack lying on the grass.
"Why isn't Lumine back yet?"
It was about to get dark.
"Forget her, let's eat first!"
At the mention of food, Paimon's eyes lit up. She licked her lips and reached into her pocket…
Levi felt his pocket grow heavier. Clearly, Lumine's promised payment had arrived.
He stopped stretching and slowly beckoned at Jingliu with a finger.
"Now the boss is entering phase two. Are you ready, Miss Doll?"
Jingliu stared intently at Levi.
Compared to Blade and Stelle, who were farther away, she had been fighting him at close range the entire time. She had seen everything that had just happened with perfect clarity.
Including how Levi had switched back from Lumine's form in an instant.
All of it was clear in Jingliu's eyes.
She turned to glance at Lumine, who was still fooling around with Stelle. Judging from her presence, she wasn't the one who had fought her.
Combined with what she had just witnessed, the answer was obvious.
The one who had been fighting her all along was the man in front of her.
"Big bro, save me!"
"Ah... what are you looking at! Never seen a cute girl fight before?!"
Meeting Blade's gaze, Lumine snapped back without hesitation.
"…"
These two looked even more troublesome than Silver Wolf.
And there was still someone else watching from the side.
"Come on! Face me head-on!"
Completely unaware of how his words sounded, Levi raised his brows and kept provoking Jingliu with his eyes.
But after that earlier battle, Jingliu had already vented enough.
She had no intention of continuing to fight Levi.
Besides...
"That deathly aura has appeared again…"
Jingliu murmured to herself. She raised her hand as a strip of black gauze drifted down from the sky, landing precisely in her palm.
She covered her eyes again and faced Levi.
Her mind was still full of doubt.
If the one who had fought her earlier was also him…
Then why hadn't she sensed any deathly aura from him at the time?
What she felt then had been purely the presence of a strong opponent.
Not like now... the suffocating aura of death radiating from Levi, sharp enough to make her skin sting.
If this were before, she would have gladly fought an opponent like this.
Maybe she would have died in the process.
But now she had other goals.
Before this body completely died, before the existence known as Jingliu vanished entirely...
She had to make the one responsible for all of this pay.
Her body tensed. One hand pressed to her forehead, she dispersed the Tanhua Sword in her grip.
Seeing her like this, Levi was just about to step in on behalf of the Cloud Knights and subdue both her and Blade...
"Levi?"
A voice he knew all too well sounded from behind him.
'Damn it! With this many people here, you picked me out instantly?!'
Without a second thought, Levi dropped to his knees with a thud, clutching his chest as blood slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth.
"Is he… killing himself?"
That strike looked so forceful it seemed like his heart might have been crushed.
Glancing at Jingliu, who had been momentarily stunned by his actions, Levi's thoughts raced.
Whoosh!
His figure vanished instantly, reappearing right in front of Jingliu... more precisely, in her arms.
She felt her arm being pulled.
Her right hand was guided to clamp around Levi's neck.
Just as she was trying to figure out what he was doing, Levi spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I'm yours now."
"Hostage."
"…"
She didn't understand. Couldn't understand. Had no way to understand what he was doing.
"Take me out of here. Somewhere you think is safe. Dump me in the sea... I'll float back on my own tomorrow morning."
Even more incomprehensible.
What kind of normal person makes a request like that?
Was this some kind of mara-struck madness too?
And a particularly brain-damaged one at that.
"Levi?!"
Fu Xuan pushed her way out of the crowd. The moment she confirmed it was really him, her expression turned serious.
Just as Levi thought she would say, "Let go of Levi," to Jingliu...
Fu Xuan instead looked straight at him and said, extremely seriously, "Where did you go today? Even Qingque couldn't reach you. Do you have any idea how serious the consequences of your absence are?!"
"…" Hearing that, Levi fell silent. "I think saving me should be the priority right now."
Fu Xuan admitted that saving Levi was important.
But...
She stepped forward, her aura doubling in intensity as her eyes locked onto Levi, whose throat was still in Jingliu's grip.
"What I said is! Equally! Important!"
"Are you kidding me?! How is that more important than my life?!"
Fu Xuan nodded lightly.
Watching the two argue, Jingliu silently turned to Blade. Though she said nothing and her eyes were covered...
Blade could clearly understand what she meant to ask.
"Are people on the Luofu all like this now?"
Blade didn't know how to answer. He had only recently arrived on the Luofu himself. This was the first time he had seen something like this.
Whether in the past or now... this was a first.
Just as Jingliu was considering how to withdraw, Levi's voice suddenly sounded by her ear.
"Careful."
It was so soft it could easily be missed.
Glancing at Levi, who was still arguing with Fu Xuan over whether life or work was more important, she didn't hesitate.
She swung her arm and threw Levi toward Fu Xuan.
With her other hand, she gathered frost in her palm. The Tanhua Sword, which had disappeared only minutes ago, materialized once more.
"Ten Thousand Swords Unleashed!"
What followed was the sound of countless blades slicing through the air.
Jingliu snapped her head toward the source...
BOOM!
Smoke and dust engulfed her figure.
Fu Xuan stepped forward and caught the injured, weakened Levi, lifting her gaze toward the scene ahead.
A soft snort escaped her lips.
"Hmph! Did you really think I was just having a discussion?"
"… "