Chapter 44 A Detestable Sense of Déjà Vu

"The west wind bears wine's fragrance away,"

"The mountain wind brings glad tidings new."

"The breeze from afar tugs at my heart,"

"It sings of my longing for you."

Many memories awoke.

[Favonius Bladework: 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%...]

The world in Seino Fugin's eyes changed. Dizziness swept over him like waves, then quickly dissipated. He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. Those vast fragments of life kept replaying in his mind.

He was still himself. He was still Seino Fugin, only recalling some things from before.

"Human Principles System."

He called out the system's name. "Is this alright?"

Seino knew his current state was precarious.

The memory fragments were said to have no side effects, but in fact they were only temporarily suppressed.

The erosion of memories had always been rooted deep in his soul. If these memories were not erased, he would eventually dissipate in the "erose".

[Because of that failed death, since coming to Mondstadt, past memories have been troubling you. You can never walk out of it. I'm letting you fully remember, just to let you fully die, to completely bury the past.]

[Whether it's the dragon's matter, Dvalin's matter, or other things, your return to Mondstadt this time is to end this destiny.]

Severely harmed.

"Hah..." Seino slowly exhaled another breath.

The Favonius Bladework was fully inherited.

Dvalin let out a mournful howl. Its wings glided over the clouds, spiraling upward. The azure scales glittered with a metallic luster in the gloomy storm, stirring the sea-like haze.

Seino Fugin took God Cutter from his waist. The sword tip pointed diagonally to the ground. He raised his eyes, gazing straight at the gloom before him.

Jean felt something different about Seino. Was it his bearing?

Or something he originally possessed.

If the initial impression this youth gave was a lazy and carefree afternoon breeze, now the impression was a winter west wind about to topple a building.

The boy lowered his stance. His slender fingers pressed on the scabbard. His center of gravity lowered, his back foot braced, his shoulders relaxed—this was the posture of drawing a sword.

In front of where his sword pointed was the rampaging terror dragon.

"You..." Jean wanted to say something. "I'll cover for you to take shelter now. Don't push yourself..."

She only said half of it before stopping.

Only to see the wind rise and clouds surge. Seino unsheathed his sword. He stepped on the roof tiles of the high tower, advancing. The wind passed through his body. His speed grew faster and faster. His fluttering coattails were compressed into a blur by the rapid speed, as if he had merged into the wind.

"I'll hold it back. The Knights go protect the people."

Seino said this.

This sentence was both unfamiliar and familiar. It seemed he had said the same thing hundreds of years ago.

Dvalin had obviously noticed Seino's approach.

It swung its tail.

The boulders and rubble stirred up by the magic dragon came head-on. Seino lowered his center of gravity to the lowest, passing through the debris. He spun, unsheathing his sword.

The speed of those stones was very fast.

The wind pressure accelerated them to an unimaginable speed. The boulders shattered in the air. The huge volumes turned into countless fragments. The sky was full of shards, like a rainstorm made of sharp stones.

If an ordinary person was even grazed by a bit, they would definitely have their bones broken and fall on the spot.

Damn it.

How could he be so reckless!

Jean's pupils dilated slightly. Such a dense stone rain, even a senior knight couldn't take it.

She had thought when this boy said he would join the Knights and stay here, at most he wanted to assist the soldiers in evacuating the people. Who would have thought he would charge straight at the magic dragon.

But Seino's subsequent performance exceeded her expectations.

Seino closed his eyes.

The world was a clear void.

Only trajectories remained, the trajectories of those stones' flight.

Only points and lines.

The Fudoshin and Favonius Bladework combined, sparking new inspiration.

One was the highest mental state of Inazuma swordsmanship, the other was the highest sword technique of the Knights of Favonius.

He imagined the stones as raindrops. The sky full of stones was a sky full of rainstorm. In the past, he had also sliced through a rainstorm in Mondstadt City. He danced with his sword in the rain. The nimble sword passed through each falling raindrop.

He waited, waited for the last moment, waited for those raindrops to fall on his body.

Then, unsheathed his sword.

"That's the Favonius... Bladework?" Jean murmured.

The Favonius Bladework created by Wolf Pup Rostam was performed with a one-handed longsword.

There were only three key points: One, slice. Two, slash. Three, pierce.

Seino made a horizontal slice. The shards he touched were cut in half, grazing past his cheeks. His speed didn't slow down in the slightest. His body avoided the oncoming debris. God Cutter sparked a trail of fire on the roof tiles. He leapt from the highest point of the roof beam, slashing upward. In Seino's vision, another raindrop shattered.

Drip.

This was the sound of raindrops shattering beside him.

He grew faster and faster. The afterimages of God Cutter were already indiscernible. The sword light blurred into wind. Countless raindrops were cut open by the wind, shattered, splashing by his feet. He passed through the raging windstorm. Nothing could obstruct his steps anymore.

Jean had never seen such Favonius Bladework.

Nor had she ever reached such a realm.

She was a diligent swordswoman. For twenty years, she had studied swordsmanship day and night. Until just before the dragon disaster happened, she was still honing the Favonius Bladework. But she had hit a bottleneck, a bottleneck she couldn't break through no matter what. Jean knew that above this bottleneck was another world.

And all this was reproduced in the hands of a boy only sixteen years old.

She must do something, Jean thought to herself.

She turned around.

She was a mortal. She was not a genius. But mortals also had things they could do.

There were still many people not yet evacuated, many civilians still buried in the ruins. She really wanted to go with Seino Fugin, but she was the Vice Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius. Compared to the battlefield of geniuses and magic dragons, she could play a greater role elsewhere.

She had to cherish the time this noble boy bought.

She didn't know what to say.

When Jean turned around, her heart ached as if spasming. That was the knightly spirit spitting on her.

Huff... Roar!

The terror dragon was already in a rage. It raised its neck, letting out a howl close to a roar.

In front of it, in the raging dragon tornado around it, those layers of wind screens were split open. The mist rapidly expanded. Seino Fugin passed through the mist, slashing at its neck.

God Cutter landed on the terror dragon's scales. Metal and scales collided, sparking brilliant fire. That wound went all the way down, straight from the neck to the front chest. The wound was very deep.

But this was the limit.

Seino Fugin couldn't possibly defeat an Archon-level being.

His body was still weak. Even if he picked up his former skills, he still couldn't do more.

The only thing Seino could do was buy more time for the evacuating crowd.

Dvalin swung its tail, hitting his chest. Seino used his sword to block. Upon contact, he felt all the blood in his body reverse flow. His limbs were about to scatter. He crashed to the ground powerlessly.

He struggled to crawl up from the rubble. The magic dragon dove down again, coming to kill him.

—"Fugin."

Right at this moment, another windstorm composed of sword wind struck the terror dragon's defenseless body. Stormterror felt pain, lost balance, and veered off course, grazing past Seino Fugin.

Seino turned his head.

Only to see that girl, that girl who quietly ate fish by the bonfire and said she would share half with him—Lumine panted heavily. Her chest heaved up and down from the intense running. In her open palm, wind elements slowly gathered.

Seeing Seino look over, Lumine tilted her head, winked her right eye playfully, and smiled proudly.

"Drowned Corpse!" Paimon put her hands on her hips. "Don't showing off alone!"

—

"...The magic dragon is tied up."

La Signora clicked her tongue.

"Favonius Bladework."

Why was he here.

She gazed at the young knight confronting the terror dragon. She still remembered, that boy was clearly killed by her, clearly should be like this... But how was he still alive?

That set of swordsmanship... She saw it again, the Favonius Bladework.

Familiar yet unfamiliar.

La Signora had seen it countless times before, in every dusk and afternoon.

It was all terror dragons, all young knights, all Mondstadt.

For some reason, she had an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

The terror dragon Durin went out of control and invaded Mondstadt City. The young knight fought to the death alone... That day also had such a heavy sky.

The only difference was the ending.

Rosalyne didn't make it in time. Rostam died alone. But the blonde girl stood beside the boy, fighting the enemy together with him.

For some reason, she felt irritated, irritated by this inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

They were clearly different people.

Gazing at that blonde girl's breathless smile, with a look of "finally made it in time", she instinctively loathed it.