W Corp.'s spatial cleanup

"Awoo-!!"

The Abnormality let out an inhuman shriek.

Every incandescent light in the carriage burst at once, and the entire space was illuminated by the blue void energy radiating from its body.

"L-Liangzi, what kind of monster is that? Those cracks all over it look terrifying!" Frightened, Paimon dove straight into the hood of Wei Zhenzu's windbreaker, leaving only her eyes exposed.

"C.L." (Crude.)

Wei Zhenzu's face was expressionless. He bit down slightly on the candy stick in his mouth, leaving a deep tooth mark.

Under the deep overlay of Ryoshu's Identity, a dangerous shade of crimson had crept into his once black-and-white eyes.

"A lump of flesh with no aesthetic sense, a thoroughly dreadful patchwork. It's nothing less than the vilest desecration of the canvas of space."

Wei Zhenzu slowly raised his right hand.

With a low, high-frequency hum of electricity, the W Corp. standard-issue tachi, glowing with blue plasma, smoothly materialized in his palm.

Plasma arcs leaped along the blade with a crackle, forcibly suppressing the distorted space around it.

"Shapes and colors blur... as if this path resists being remembered."

The next second, Wei Zhenzu transformed into a blinding bolt of blue lightning. Instead of retreating, he drew his blade and charged straight at the enormous Abnormality.

The Lost Passenger seemed to sense that pure killing intent.

Its head spun violently, and its massive limb, formed of spatial rifts, swept through the air.

The Abnormality's enormous body vanished on the spot, leaving no afterimage or trace of movement. It was pure spatial teleportation.

"To the left!" Paimon cried out.

To Wei Zhenzu's left, a huge black rift tore open in the air without warning.

The Abnormality's limb, made of sharp spatial fragments, cut viciously toward Wei Zhenzu's neck like an invisible giant guillotine, bearing the oppressive force to tear through anything.

Too fast.

An ordinary Vision holder from Teyvat, faced with a spatial strike that came without warning, would likely be decapitated on the spot before they even had time to react.

But W Corp.'s cleanup personnel existed to deal with disasters involving "space" and "dimensions."

Wei Zhenzu did not even turn his head. His forward charge abruptly stopped in defiance of inertia, and his body folded backward at an incredible angle.

Hum.

"Energy Cycle."

At the last possible instant, the blue plasma tachi rose vertically at his side.

A terrifying crash exploded through the narrow carriage.

The plasma blade and the spatial limb collided head-on, erupting in dazzling blue-violet sparks.

"Ugh...!"

Wei Zhenzu grunted. The Abnormality's suppressive force was terrifying.

Half its broken torso squeezed out of the rift, and it bore down from above, pressing its full weight onto the purple dimensional blade.

"That's it... let this shudder become pigment for art."

The crimson light in Wei Zhenzu's eyes flared.

Using the force of the collision, he rolled nimbly through the air and swung his tachi with the momentum.

A crescent of blue blade light several meters long flew from the blade, slashing viciously toward the Abnormality's base.

The Abnormality let out a strange whistle-like cry and melted into the void again, narrowly avoiding the strike.

The blade light struck the carriage's metal wall, slicing through the thick barrier as smoothly as tofu and leaving a dimensional rift over ten meters long.

For the next three minutes, man and monster fought an inconceivable, exhilarating battle of spatial offense and defense inside the dilapidated carriage.

The Abnormality repeatedly used teleportation and dimensional rifts to launch deadly ambushes from every blind spot: the ceiling, the floor, behind Wei Zhenzu...

The entire carriage seemed to have become a hornet's nest riddled with holes, with black rifts tearing open everywhere.

Wei Zhenzu, meanwhile, was like an artist of death dancing on the edge of a blade, with pure physical speed, precise anticipation, and a plasma tachi that shone ever brighter.

He shifted sideways and swung, severing a spatial tentacle that had attacked from hiding.

Clang!

He raised his knee, blocked, and used the force to spin through the air, thrusting the tip of his blade at the Abnormality from a tricky angle.

With every slash he made, the plasma light accumulating on the tachi grew brighter.

Under the W Corp. Identity's [Charge] mechanism, Wei Zhenzu grew fiercer as he fought. The high-frequency vibrations radiating from the tachi were now even causing visible liquid-like ripples in the surrounding space.

"Awoo!!!"

After being at a disadvantage throughout their successive clashes, the Abnormality was finally enraged.

Its deformed torso swelled violently, and after letting out a piercing shriek, its enormous body instantly merged completely into the surrounding dimensional rifts, like a drop of ink falling into water.

The carriage suddenly fell silent.

There was no more clashing of metal, no more roar of whistles.

Only the few remaining incandescent lights on the ceiling sizzled, along with the low hum of the tachi in Wei Zhenzu's hand.

"Where... where did it go? Did you drive it away?" Paimon poked her head out of the void and looked around nervously.

Just then, a crimson [Judgment Event] box suddenly appeared on Wei Zhenzu's retina:

[Abnormality event triggered]

Is it still hiding in another dimension?

If it's like before, it should soon burst out of a dimensional rift.

If its point of attack can be anticipated, perhaps it can be countered in the same motion and dealt a fatal blow.

[Please make observation and intuition checks]

Wei Zhenzu slowly closed his eyes.

He stopped moving altogether, deliberately slowing even his breathing.

He focused all his senses on the plasma tachi in his hand.

W Corp.'s cleanup personnel carried out missions aboard dimensional trains year-round, and their sensitivity to spatial fluctuations had long since surpassed the limits of common sense.

"Quiet." Wei Zhenzu bit lightly on the candy stick, a cold smile curving his lips.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

A faint hum sounded above Wei Zhenzu's head, forty-five degrees to the right.

Not even a wisp of air was moving there, but according to W Corp.'s spatial perception, the dimensional concentration at that spot was rising sharply.

"Got you. S.B." (Stupid bastard.)