I won't tell you anything!

When Kaeya emerged from behind the ruined wall, Gabrielina immediately spotted the black sword gleaming faintly in his hand. It was her creation.

He charged straight into the monsters. With a thrust of his sword, compressed cold pierced straight through the Hilichurl in the center of the area, along with the deep-blue stone behind it.

An elemental reaction... freeze!

Just as the girl had expected, diamond-shaped ice crystals began circling Kaeya the moment the rain fell.

"Don't catch a cold!"

The ice crystals shot outward, instantly piercing the two remaining Hilichurls. The instant they froze, Kaeya's blade struck, cleaving them into pieces.

Before long, the rain gradually faded, and Gabrielina leisurely flew over.

The girl looked at the gate that had opened on its own, then at Kaeya, who wore an air of complete nonchalance.

"Stop trying to slack off. If we run into any ranged enemies, leave them to me. Everything on the ground is your responsibility."

"Fine, fine..."

"Keep slacking off, and I'll report you to Acting Grand Master Jean!"

The two swiftly cleared the remaining levels of the maze. They encountered more attacks, clearly planned ambushes at that, but still crushed them with overwhelming force.

Deep inside the temple, in a basement no instrument could detect, there was...

"What's this?" The girl tilted her head in confusion.

"This should be what lets Stormterror draw power from these temples. Our job is to destroy it."

Before he had even finished speaking, Gabrielina let fly a Black Nail, shattering the stone before them that had been continuously releasing vast amounts of Anemo energy.

The angel clapped her hands in satisfaction. "All~ done~"

"No, not yet... In fact..."

Kaeya's expression abruptly turned serious. Several meters away from him and Gabrielina, three strange-looking little figures appeared out of thin air, skull-like masks covering their faces.

Sensing the different elemental auras wrapped around the three creatures, Kaeya grimaced.

"I knew it... With their intelligence, how could Hilichurls have thought up a planned ambush? You really were behind this."

"Abyss Mages."

[Side quest issued: Kill 20 Abyss Mages (0/20), encompassing at least three elemental types.

Tip: Monsters summoned by Abyss Mages & Abyss Heralds *can* count toward other kill totals.]

Then... should I keep the enemy around to make myself indispensable? Uh, is that how that expression works...?

While the girl frowned, the creatures opposite them began laughing strangely, their voices grotesquely grating. They practically made her fingers itch! She could hardly wait to punch them and rip those furry hoods clean off.

"...Winged one... you... servant... curse..."

"...Ancient... messenger of the heavens...! Abyss!"

Kaeya discreetly glanced at Gabrielina out of the corner of his eye, but the girl merely shrugged innocently.

Can't understand a thing. What are they babbling about?

One of the pale-blue creatures abruptly swung its staff, chanting some ancient, obscure incantation. A second later, a Hydro shield enveloped it.

The other two also summoned shields of fire and ice.

"Gabrielina, take care of the Cryo one! I'll handle the other two-"

"Since when were you so brave?"

"I always have been???" Kaeya shook his head. "I'm just not good at dealing with Cryo. If you're willing to help, it'd be best if you dealt with all of them."

"Okay, okay, but let's just take one each."

"What..."

Before Kaeya could finish asking, a streak of fire charged straight down the path the angel had cleared for it.

A young man who seemed to be ablaze descended from above. His greatsword shattered the Cryo Mage's shield in a burst of melting ice, and his hand clamped around its furry head, slamming it viciously into the stone wall-

"Diluc!?"

Before Kaeya could recover, the Hydro Abyss Mage launched its attack as well.

Whether the angel's creation was too sharp or the unexpected encounter had left Kaeya in no mood to hold back, the Abyss Mage never even got the chance to freeze into an ice sculpture. It was simply sliced in two, shield and all.

Kaeya stared blankly at the sword in his hand, as though only now realizing how sharp it was.

Only when a dull thud came from behind them did the two turn toward the angel-

The spotless girl stood bathed in gentle light. At her feet lay the Pyro Mage's headless remains.

Gabrielina smiled at Diluc. "Since you kept one alive, I just finished this one off~"

Diluc narrowed his eyes slightly.

Was the sweet girl at the table last night really the same person as this girl who blew heads off at the drop of a hat?

...Fine, she probably couldn't really be called a sweet girl.

Looking at the half-dead Abyss Mage in his grasp, Diluc wore an expression of disgust. Flames erupted from the hand gripping its head.

As though alive, the flames precisely enveloped the furry head, and the Abyss Mage immediately let out a piercing scream.

"H-hot! I won't tell you anything! Aaaaaaah!!"

The Abyss Mage thrashed its limbs wildly, trying to escape, but unfortunately, it accomplished nothing. Instead, the merciless grip tightened, and a faint burnt stench began drifting through the air.

"That stubborn?" Kaeya scratched his head in confusion.

"Hmm... why not try another method?" The girl leaned closer to Diluc. "Roast it slowly over low heat. It won't be able to take it!"

"Oh? That's a good idea..."

"No! Are you demons!? Stop... ngh... aaaaaah! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

After a round of heated interrogation, they did not actually obtain any particularly noteworthy information.

Essentially, the mages had received orders to come here. They had helped Stormterror set up these power nexuses, and had also been ordered to ambush and kill members of the Knights of Favonius here.

Ah... if I hadn't been here...

Gabrielina looked at Kaeya from behind. He was childishly poking the Abyss Mage, which lay on the ground playing dead, with the tip of his sword.

Oh, if I hadn't come, Lumine would apparently have been here anyway. Seems there's really no need to worry about him.

"Urgh... kill me..."

Diluc pulled out the greatsword planted nearby and was about to deliver the finishing blow when Kaeya reached out to stop him.

"Hey, isn't that a bit wasteful?" A calculating gleam flashed in his lone eye. "If we take it back to headquarters, we might be able to interrogate a little more information out of it."

"You Knights of Favonius drag your feet too much. Your inefficiency is exactly why I can't stand you," Diluc retorted coldly, shoving Kaeya aside.

The blazing blade slashed downward, instantly cutting the Abyss Mage in two. Its corpse gradually turned to drifting ash.

While Kaeya made a show of sighing, Diluc felt around the wall and actually opened a passage leading outside.

Although the dark clouds had yet to fully disperse, the violent elemental energy in the air was visibly calming now that the stone had been shattered.

"They should have finished cleaning up too. Let's head back and meet up." Kaeya leaned lazily against the doorframe, then turned back as though suddenly remembering something. "Diluc, do you want to... huh!?"

Boom-!!

Scorching flames exploded without warning, crushing the end of Kaeya's sentence beneath the blast.

The flames that had already died out flared to life again. The man tilted his head up to stare at the angel hovering in midair, his eyes brimming with an almost overflowing eagerness to fight.