Look. I know what you're about to ask.
"Shigeru, why are there MORE Black Serpent Knights popping out like some cursed gacha banner with a 0.00001% drop rate but a 100% chance of ruining your day?"
And the answer is—
I. Don't. Know.
No, seriously. If one more of these guys dives out of a ceiling crack like a ninja spider, I swear I'm going to write a complaint to Celestia's HR department. Do they even HAVE an HR department? Probably not. That's why we're in this mess.
Anyway, let me backtrack a little.
We're marching our way deeper through this creepy upside-down city, which by the way, is the architectural equivalent of a cursed Rubik's Cube. Who designs a city where the ceiling is the floor and the floor is depression? And as if that wasn't enough, Dainsleif's brooding is reaching critical levels. Man looks like he just watched the last episode of a sad anime on loop. 20 times. Back-to-back.
So, we're moving forward—Lumine, Dain, Paimon (floating like a budget emergency light), and me—Shigeru, resident chaos magnet. As expected, boom. More Black Serpent Knights!
"WHY DO THEY KEEP POPPING OUT OF NOWHERE?!" I yell, almost slipping off the side of the staircase-of-death-no-railings-whatsoever.
Paimon zips up, freaked. "They're like mushrooms!"
"Worse! At least mushrooms don't swing swords at you!"
We beat the next batch into submission, and by beat, I mean Lumine went anime-protagonist mode while I provided moral support and witty banter. Don't underestimate the power of sarcastic commentary. It does psychic damage.
Then, we see them.
A group of hilichurls... just sitting in the corner.
They're not attacking. Not dancing. Not doing their usual mosh pit routine. Just... sitting.
Something about it hits different.
I stop.
Look at them. Then look away.
"Let's go," I say quietly. "They're just here... waiting for... their end..."
The others glance at me. I look at Dain and force a faint smile.
"Those Black Serpent Knights we fought earlier... they were guarding them. Even after losing everything—even their sanity—they still recognized their own people, huh? Still committed to their duty..."
Dain just nods.
For once, he's not brooding. He's remembering.
We're about to move forward when another squad of Knighty McSwordhands shows up. Seriously, is there a portal we're not seeing? A clown car? A cursed vending machine?
Paimon gasps. "Wait... They're retreating?! Did... Did that one order them to fall back?!"
We all look up.
There he is.
The same Serpent Knight from earlier, just standing on an elevated spot like he's waiting for his turn in a fighting game. I squint.
"...Halfdan," I mutter.
Dain reacts. Hard.
"So it was truly him..."
Lumine glances at us both. "Who's Halfdan?"
Dain exhales, like he's remembering a time when he still had hope and shampoo. "I knew him as a young man. An elite in the Royal Guard of old... To this day, I still remember the final orders I, the Twilight Sword, gave to Halfdan on the day of disaster in Khaenri'ah, before I made haste back to the palace..."
I nod, my voice low.
"Inform all Black Serpent Knights to protect the people of Khaenri'ah at all cost."
I sigh. Look at Dain.
"But that would mean nothing in the events that followed, right? Everyone in Khaenri'ah—be it royals, commoners, gentry, or even the Royal Guards themselves—made no difference. Against the might of the gods, the only identity that mattered... was being from Khaenri'ah."
Dain gives me the side-eye. "How did you—"
I smile. Not the funny one. The sad one. The one I use when I know too much.
"Told you, bro. I've seen things. Not everything, but... enough."
The silence gets heavy. Too heavy. So I grin again.
"Now—who wants to save these dudes from their suffering?"
Lumine steps forward, grabs my hand, and smiles. "Let's go."
Paimon raises a fist. "Paimon too!"
Dain, watching Halfdan, lets a faint smile escape (probably the first one in five centuries) and takes the lead again.
"Let's move deeper."
Okay. I take back everything I've ever said about the Chasm.
Every. Damn. Thing.
This place isn't just cursed. It's upside-down, confusing, weirdly damp, echoey like a horror movie, and worst of all... there's no signal. Well I do have a phone, but still, I'm pretty sure Teyvat's customer support would tell me to go screw myself.
We're deep now. Like, really deep. Like "I-think-I-left-my-will-on-the-surface" deep.
"Uhhh... Shigeru, you good?" Paimon called from ahead.
"Nope! Not at all! I just nearly dislocated my soul doing parkour across 700-year-old ruins while the gravity's drunk!"
And then we reached the center of the ruins.
Paimon gasped. "Look! Up there! A water pool! Even the water pool is upside-down! Wow! This is a pretty amazing place!"
...
Amazing?
"Seriously, Paimon? Amazing? This upside-down bullshit is trying to kill us since the moment we stepped foot in here! I saw my life flash before my eyes five times today, and in one of them, I was dancing naked in Liyue Harbor for mora."
Paimon made a face. "Ew, Shigeru!"
Lumine giggled. Dain... actually nodded. LIKE HE AGREED. Why is he like this.
"Anyway! Let's continue!" I waved, dramatically turning away. "I don't want to stay here a second longer!"
Dain stood there, staring at the upside-down pool. Like he was trying to hear it whisper to him. We all just stood awkwardly.
I nudged him. "You good, big guy? You hear the water telling you its tragic backstory or something?"
He finally moved, nodding silently. Classic Dain.
Then we saw it—a weird device in the middle. Suspicious. Probably cursed. Definitely something that requires a puzzle I am mentally not ready for.
Dain opened his mouth to say something deep and cryptic when—
Halfdan appeared.
And then turned around and walked away.
Bro.
"You know what?" I said, clapping my hands. "Let's do something stupid and follow that guy."
"Wait, what?" Paimon said.
Lumine shrugged. "Sure."
WHY is she like this?!
"Come on," I said, walking dramatically like I had a purpose. "Let's go deeper into the obvious death trap. What could go wrong, right?"
...
Turns out, a lot.
After diving deeper, crawling through who-knows-what, sliding down some sketchy-ass slope, we reached a place that straight-up looked like Satan's Airbnb.
And that's when I said it. I looked over the cliff edge, saw what was waiting below, and blurted:
"Fuuuuuuuck... I already regret this decision."
I turned around. Lumine was ready. Paimon was ready. Dain was...
Dain grabbed the back of my coat like a disapproving dad.
"You're not going anywhere, you idiot," he said.
"Can we talk about this? Maybe over tea? Or, y'know, anywhere that's not a hellpit of cursed rock and emotional damage?"
"Move."
He. Dragged. Me.
I am being dragged by a blond dude who's probably older than my bloodline.
And that's how we continued into the abyss. Lumine leading the way with her weirdly unshaken optimism, Paimon flying around like she's not afraid of eldritch death, Dain being the emo GPS of this journey, and me—being the unwilling participant of a therapy session I didn't sign up for.
Note to self: Never say "let's do something stupid" again. Because the universe? It listens.
And it makes it worse.
...
You know, if I survive this whole upside-down hellhole, I'm buying a house and never stepping outside again. Ever. Just me, my tea, and silence. Maybe Lumine too if she promises not to uppercut me every time I open my mouth.
But anyway, here we are again. Deep in the creepy-ass Chasm. I swear it's like this place has a vendetta against my sanity.
We moved forward. Well, THEY moved forward. I was still being dragged by Dainsleif like some fashionably dressed mop.
"There are more signs of hilichurl activity here," Paimon said, looking around like an investigator on a cooking show.
"And more signs of us dying!" I added helpfully, flailing like a trout on land as Dain kept dragging me like he's on a shopping trip and I'm the last bag of onions.
Then Lumine, being all sparkly and protagonist-y, points to a floating blue thing. A seelie.
"Let's follow it," she says.
"Oh come on! Great! Follow another suspicious glowy thing in a cursed abyss where everything is trying to kill us! What could POSSIBLY go wrong, right?!"
Nobody listens to me. I'm just the comic relief slash semi-useful swordsman who talks too much.
So yeah, we follow it. Because why not.
It led us through a tunnel, and then—BOOM. Nap central. A bunch of hilichurls just lying around like it's a post-barbecue Sunday.
I squinted.
"These bastards… having a nice nap... This is the first time I envy these idiots."
I mean look at them. Peacefully dozing off, no care in the world. Meanwhile, I've tripped like five times in the last ten minutes. My foot still hurts.
Then we saw it.
A flower. In the middle of this forgotten death trap.
Paimon floated closer. "How did that flower get this far underground? Did someone bring it in memory of these hilichurls?"
Lumine just stared at it. Like... really stared. I saw that look.
And then, breaking free from Dain's Very Firm Grip of Doom, I walked up and patted her head gently.
"Inteyvat," I said, surprising even myself that I remembered the name.
Dain, ever dramatic, added, "It is the national flower of Khaenri'ah. The Inteyvat. It once bloomed all over the nation. It would only last two weeks before wilting. But if you were to pluck one and take it out of Khaenri'ah, the petals would stop growing and turn hard. Only when it finally returned to its home soil would the petals grow soft once more... and finally turn to dust."
Wow, okay, poetry slam, Dain. Calm down.
Lumine crouched down, just gazing at it… and then she paused. Like the world froze for a second. She stood up slowly and reached out.
"Aether..." she whispered.
And I swear I didn't think. I just moved. I caught her. Arms around her tight.
"Shhh... There there, it's okay. It's fine. I got you. We'll find him soon, okay?"
She nodded. Just hummed softly. And I swear—SWORE—I wasn't trying to be creepy but she smelled really nice.
So naturally, I had to ruin the moment.
"Heh. Smells nice..."
BOOM. Instant regret. Instant karma. My soul left my body and came back.
"PERVERT!!"
Uppercut. To the stratosphere. I'm pretty sure I saw Earth again for like 0.5 seconds.
I landed with a dusty THUD. Groaning.
"Worth it..."
Lumine pouted. "Hmph."
But she reached out and pulled me up anyway.
"At least you're back to normal," I grinned, rubbing my sore chin.
"You guys are really weird sometimes," Paimon muttered with her arms crossed. "Paimon's seriously worried about you."
Honestly? Same.
__________________
End of Chapter 72
Quests Completed
*Follow Dainsleif and descend further into the unknown.
*Follow the Seelie deeper into the Chasm
*Witness remnants of Khaenri'ah's past
*Comfort Lumine as she remembers Aether
*Get uppercutted into orbit for being Shigeru
Rewards
*+1 Emotional Intelligence (HOW!?!?)
*Discovered the Inteyvat
*-1 HP from Uppercut
*+5 Bond with Lumine
*Paimon's Concern Level: MAXED OUT
*New Lore Entry Unlocked: "Inteyvat" (A delicate flower tied deeply to Khaenri'ah's story. Wilted in sorrow, but soft when home. Just like a Tsundere's heart.)
Achievements
"Accidental Pervert"
-You said it smelled nice. You got launched. You earned this.