Aether's gaze indifferently swept across the heavily injured Adepti below, finally landing on Lumine.
His eyes flickered intensely for a moment, but were immediately covered by an even deeper coldness.
Under Lumine's disbelieving gaze, Aether slowly raised the longsword in his hand.
The tip of the sword pointed towards her from afar.
"Brother... you..."
Lumine's voice was dry and choked with tears, "What exactly are you trying to do?!"
Aether didn't answer.
He simply flicked his wrist and swung fiercely in Lumine's direction.
A golden blade light, condensed to the extreme and capable of severing karma and fate, tore through space and arrived in an instant!
This strike carried no killing intent.
It appeared sharp, but in the moment Aether struck, his heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, the pain so agonizing he could barely breathe.
Lumine... I'm sorry.
The path your brother has chosen is too dangerous.
Overthrowing the Heavenly Principles, toppling the throne, dragging the high and mighty Gods into the abyss... this is a mad gamble against the entire world.
Whether it will succeed is still unknown.
Even if it succeeds, the process will surely be accompanied by endless blood, sacrifice, and defilement.
All of this is too dangerous; I cannot even guarantee the success rate myself.
How could I bear to let you be tainted by this as well?
How could I bear to have you carry the souls and curses of all Khaenri'ah like I do, walking in eternal darkness and solitude?
Aether would never involve Lumine in such danger!!
Letting Lumine stand on the side of "light," with the Seven Gods and Teyvat, is the best protection for her.
If he wins and the Abyss envelops the world, then as the sister of the Prince of the Abyss, Lumine would naturally enjoy supreme authority and honor; he would bring the best of the world to her to make up for all her grievances and tears.
If he loses and his path ends in death, then as the Traveler and a guest of the Seven Nations, Lumine can still continue her journey of freedom, seeing the landscapes of Teyvat, making new friends, and living in peace and happiness.
As long as Lumine is safe.
Whether it's a misunderstanding or hatred.
This heavy sin is enough for him to carry alone.
His heart felt as if it were being repeatedly scorched by the Karmic Fires of the abyss, pained to the point of numbness.
But Aether's figure remained upright and cold.
The blade light reached her!
Lumine even forgot to dodge, just staring blankly at that familiar figure, her eyes blurred with tears.
"Lumine! Watch out!!"
Clorinde and Lynette cried out in alarm.
Just as that golden blade light was about to touch Lumine—
King raised his hand and gave a light wave toward the incoming blade light.
An invisible and intangible yet immensely heavy "force" surged out with his wave!
"Bang—"
The golden blade light, powerful enough to heavily injure and defeat a top-tier God, vanished silently like thin snow under a scorching sun the moment it touched this "force."
There was no explosion, no impact; it just disappeared.
And this was only the beginning.
The "force" King unleashed showed no signs of dissipating after easily annihilating Aether's blade light.
King deliberately controlled it, ensuring this Palm Wind wasn't aimed at Aether.
It simply drifted leisurely toward the higher, more distant horizon.
The sky fell silent for a moment.
Above Liyue Harbor, the thick leaden clouds that had gathered due to the divine war were "cleared" the moment they touched the Palm Wind, revealing a deep, heart-palpitatingly pure dark blue sky behind them!
But it wasn't over yet.
The Palm Wind continued upward, brushing against the "Eggshell" that wrapped around the entire world, set by the Primordial God Phanes himself—
"Eggshell."
"Crack... crack-crack..."
A series of tiny, almost inaudible cracking sounds rang out, yet they seemed to echo directly within the souls of all Teyvatians!
The eternal "sky" above, the "Eggshell" that protected the Teyvatians from the "bloody reality" of the outside world, had almost been shattered just now!
High in the heavens, starlight flickered in disorder, and threads of laws briefly manifested before snapping!
The "Eggshell" protecting Teyvat shook violently, letting out a groan as if it were overwhelmed!
Although it eventually stabilized, the momentary tremor, like the end of the world, was deeply etched into the hearts of every being who sensed it.
Every living being on the Teyvat continent, no matter where they were or whether they possessed elemental power, felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of fear at this moment!
Liyue Harbor was deathly silent.
"What... what kind of power is that?"
Zhongli, who had just been awakened by Venti using his Time clearance and was struggling to stand, looked up abruptly.
A look of near-dazed shock appeared in his eyes.
As the longest-lived ancient God in Teyvat, he knew better than anyone the strength of that "Eggshell."
It was an absolute barrier that even all the Gods combined, Burning everything they had, could not shake!
But now... just from the "Palm Wind" of King's casual wave?!
Raiden Ei also froze in place, her purple pupils shrinking to pinpricks, her hand gripping musou isshin trembling uncontrollably.
She had just faced the Abyssal corrosion of that defiled God and knew its terror intimately.
But now, compared to King's palm strike... the defiled God's tentacle attacks were like child's play.
The Abyssal Mages who had been aggressively trying to capture Barbatos froze in mid-air.
The grimoire in the hand of the Abyss Lector: Fathomless Flames fell with a "thud," but he didn't even notice, just staring blankly at the "clean" sky, the flames beneath his black robe flickering in disorder.
The heavy water beneath the Abyss Herald: Wicked Torrents stopped churning.
The lightning ball in the hand of the Abyss Lector: Violet Lightning vanished silently.
Even on the sea below, the frantically flailing tentacles of Corrupted Ocel, who was in a fierce battle with Dain, came to a halt.
In the eyes of the Inverted Statue on its head, the purple-black light flickered unsteadily; even this war machine, which had almost no sanity, was instinctively terrified!
And Aether, who was at the forefront—
"!!!"
His sword-holding hand trembled violently, and those golden eyes, usually so calm, were now dilated to the limit as he stared fixedly at King.
Strong.
So strong.
So strong it's beyond comprehension!
Aether's heart pounded heavily in his chest, each beat bringing a wave of dizziness.
He had thought that after five hundred years of accumulation, inheriting the legacy of Khaenri'ah, and the tempering of the Abyss... even if he wasn't as strong as the four oldest Archons, the Six Sinners, or King...
He would surely stand at the peak of Teyvat alongside them.
He had anticipated King's strength, after all, he could easily defeat Raiden Ei.
But he assumed it was only at the level of the "Four Shades of the Heavenly Principles."
The kind of level he could hold off for a while if he risked his life.
But the scene before him completely overturned his understanding!
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