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Jean stood by her desk with Lisa sitting on the Grand Master's chair, the pair looking over various reports that have come in from the Reconnaissance Company of the Knights of Favonius. The Abyss Order had recently been spotted at the shores south of the Dragonspine mountain, along with a considerable number of Hilichurls. Fearing that they were building up forces to launch another attack on Mondstadt, she instructed Kaeya, Cavalry Captain of the knights, to take a squad with him and assist the Reconnaissance Company.
The size of the enemy forces didn't pose much of a threat given Kaeya's reinforcement to the 4th Company, but the location of the enemy created a tricky situation. The area beyond Dragonspine was already Liyue territory, and as such, the Knights of Favonius had to exercise caution so as not to cause a diplomatic crisis with Liyue, who were already in the midst of their own crisis after Rex Lapis was assassinated during the Rite of Descension.
"I'm sure Liyue's Tianquan would understand the situation, Jean." said Lisa, who was clearly trying to convince the Acting Grand Master to authorize the attack on the Abyss Order's hideout. "If anything, we'd be doing them a favor by dealing with the Abyss Order's presence in their territory."
"The problem is, we would have no way to prove the Abyss Order was even there once everything's said and done." replied Jean. "The situation in Liyue is dire enough that the Millelith have all been called back to Liyue Harbor. I simply don't want to risk causing any undue trouble between our nations."
Lisa raised her hands, conceding Jean's point. "If you say so, then I won't argue further."
Despite all this, however, the Knights of Favonius had more pressing issues at hand, something that Jean couldn't leave alone. Two days ago, a member of the knights patrolling the area around the Thousand Winds Temple had mysteriously gone missing. The next day, they sent out another knight to investigate the matter, only for that knight to go missing as well. Sensing a threat within the Thousand Winds Temple, Jean sought out to deal with the matter herself and rescue the missing knights, leaving Lisa to cover for her duties in her absence.
"Jean, are you sure you don't need any help?" asked Lisa as she watched Jean prepare to depart. "We don't know anything about what's out there, so it could be very dangerous."
Jean shook her head in response. "I know, but I can't involve any more of the knights on it. I have to go see it for myself." she said. "Besides, we still have to keep an eye on the Abyss Order's movements and the next report from the 4th Company can come in at any moment."
Lisa sighed, knowing that a determined Jean was hard to sway. "Okay, just be careful out there."
"I will." said Jean as she strapped the sheath of her sword onto her waist, making sure it was securely fastened. "Lisa, I'm be counting on you to take care of things here."
Lisa had a frown as she watched Jean leave the Grand Master's office. She felt uneasy about the whole situation, thinking that something else might be out there that neither herself nor Jean could have imagined. Fearing for the safety of her friend, she started thinking of ways to get Jean some assistance despite the latter's insistence.
The Honorary Knight had left for Liyue some time ago so they were out of the equation. Kaeya had left to assist the 4th Company, where Captain Eula was, so they were not an option. Outrider Amber had also departed for Dragonspine at the request of Captain Eula, so the young knight was also not an option. Hertha and the 6th Company were also out of the equation as their duties required them to remain within the city.
After giving herself time to carefully think the matter over, Lisa was left with one person in mind who was able to make it to help Jean in time. Having decided that the best course of action was to go directly to that person to ask for their help, the librarian left the Knights of Favonius headquarters and made her way downtown.
"He might not like me showing up for business, but if it's Jean we're talking about then he might still be persuaded." Lisa thought to herself as she went.
It had already been nighttime when Jean had left the city, and as she got closer to the Thousand Winds Temple, she couldn't help but notice her surroundings had become eerily quiet. She hadn't encountered a single group of Hilichurls along the way when they'd usually be found camping along the trail that led to the temple. As she headed up the stone steps along the path just beyond the ancient Sundial, she felt the wind pick up slightly, and immediately sensed danger.
She quickly placed a hand on the grip of her sword, preparing to draw and strike at a moment's notice as she slowly continued onward. Once she neared the top of the steps, she heard the faint sound of a crossbow snapping an arrow away, and before she could react, she a flash of purple lightning flew by her side, landing on the ground a few feet in front of her. Jean quickly drew her sword as she realized she was being shot at by archers, and rapidly retreated towards the trees ahead to find cover, using her Anemo powers to accelerate herself.
Her retreat was in good haste, as more flashes of purple and red flew by, striking the ground where she stood earlier. It was clear that she had walked into an ambush, and she began focusing on finding out where her attackers were. She patiently hid behind the trees, looking around her to see if there was anything she could use to distract them and give away their position. Judging by the elementally charged arrows, she assumed she was dealing with Hilichurl Shooters.
Spotting a few stones by her feet, Jean grabbed them and summoned Anemo power around her hand as she threw them hard against the trees on the other side of the trail. The impact rattled the tree enough for leaves to start falling off, and like she had hoped, her attackers took aim at the tree and fired. Her eyes followed the path travelled by the arrows and she saw four Hilichurl shooters perched atop the stone pillars she had passed by.
Knowing that she had no chance to engage them directly from her position, she looked around to find a way to get to high enough ground where she could pull the shooters towards her with her Gale Blade. Spotting a small hill from where she was, she stealthily moved away from the tree she was hiding behind. Once far enough away, she picked up a few more rocks by her feet and made another distraction to cover her climb up the hill.
Once she got close enough, she began accumulating Anemo energy around her sword, and the wind gradually started blowing in her direction, growing stronger as her Gale Blade charged up. The shooter was then pulled away from the top of the stone pillar, waving its limbs helplessly as it floated in the air in front of Jean, and as she spotted one of the others shooters taking aim at her, she unleashed her Gale Blade, launching the Hilichurl she had a hold of towards the other shooter. The Hilichurls collided, sending them tumbling down the stone pillar and onto the ground hard, their bodies disintegrating soon after.
With two of her assailants down, Jean proceeded to charge towards the remaining two. Concentrating Anemo power on her feet, she ran up the stone pillar and slashed at the shooter perched up top before it could even take aim and fire. As it fell off the pillar, Jean pulled it back with her Gale Blade and launched it towards the remaining shooter on the opposite pillar, suffering the same fate as the earlier shooters. Jean took a deep breath as she successfully countered the ambush. She then jumped off the pillar and opened her Wing Glider to gently make her way back down.
"I have a bad feeling about this...Hilichurls aren't known to possess enough intelligence to coordinate something like an ambush." Jean muttered to herself as continued to make her way further towards the Thousand Winds Temple. "Could the Abyss be involved again somehow?"
As the temple appeared in sight, Jean saw that there was some sort of light coming from within. Thinking that another ambush may be in place, she decided to go off the trail and approach the temple from the side, using the huge, broken stone walls as cover. As she got closer, she saw that the light came from several lit bonfires, and that a large group of Hilichurls were gathered, along with three inactive Ruin Guards that were hunched down against the staggered steps of the old arena.
Behind the Hilichurls by the fallen pillar in the middle of the arena were two cages that caught her eye, as she saw the two missing knights held captive inside them. The enemy force consisted of two Mitachurls, two Hydro Samachurls and three Electro shooters. Jean decided that a direct approach would only endanger the lives of the defenseless knights, and began to look around to see if there were any spots to launch a sneak attack from.
"The Samachurls should be easy as long as they don't spot me while the shooters are ineffective at close range, but I have to be quick before the Mitachurls come charging." she thought to herself.
Jean judged that an attack from the air would be her best approach, as it allowed her to strike directly at her target while remaining undetected under the cover of darkness. Seeing that the top of the broken wall would be high enough to launch an attack from, she slowly climbed her way up. Once she was perched at the top, she used her Anemo power to jump off the platform, opening her Wing Glider to position herself better. She aimed for the two Samachurls, and once directly above them, she folded her wings and charged down at them.
"Haa!" Jean's battle cry resounded as she plunged her sword into one of the Samachurls, instantly killing it. She then made quick work of the other Samachurl and proceeded to dash towards the Electro shooters. With her Gale Blade, she pulled in all three shooters and launched them high into the air, letting their fall back to the ground take care of them with a loud thud before disintegrating. As planned, the Mitachurls have yet to regain their bearings by time she took out the rest of the Hilichurls.
Once the Mitachurls started roaring at her as they picked up their axes, Jean predicted that they would run and charge at her, and positioned herself away from the cages that held the captive knights. Channeling Anemo energy through her sword, she waited for the Mitachurls to charge. When they did, Jean skillfully dodged both and proceeded to counterattack, delivering a string of strong, decisive slashes against one until it fell to the ground and disintegrated. With one Mitachurl down, the other dug up a Pyro Slime from the ground and slammed it against the blade of its axe.
Aware that one misstep could be fatal against a Mitachurl's charged axe, Jean focuses on the direction from which her giant foe would begin its swing. To her surprise, the Mitachurl instead leaped into the air, looking to cleave her with a strong airborne strike. Jean quickly jumped back from where she stood, narrowly dodging the Mitachurl's axe. Because the impact had dug the axe into the ground, Jean saw her chance to attack and jumped on the back of the axe before the Mitachurl could pull it back out, running along the handle and delivering a swift slash across the Mitachurl's head, ending the battle then and there.
Once she confirmed that all threats were dealt with, Jean quickly ran up to the captive knights.
"Guy, Harry, are you two alright?" she said as she looked over their condition; the pair were bruised and battered, but still very much alive with no life threatening injuries.
"Master Jean? You've come to save us!" said Guy, elated to see the Acting Grand Master.
"I'm sorry, Master Jean." said Harry. "I was able to find Guy, but I was ambushed by the Hilichurls before I could do anything."
"We can talk about that later. First, we need to get you two to safety. Stand back." replied Jean as she destroyed the locks on their cages with concentrated blasts of Anemo energy from the tip of her sword. Once unlocked, Jean helped the knights out of the cages, and began channeling her Dandelion Breeze to heal their wounds. A burst of elemental energy enveloped them as the scratches and bruises on the knights began to disappear.
"How are you feeling?" she then asked.
"Much better." replied Harry.
"Same here, thank you Master Jean." said Guy, who then started looking around. "There! Our swords!" the two knights then ran over to the side of the camp to where the Hilichurls kept their swords after they were caged.
"We have to get back to Mondstadt right away. Something's definitely not right with these Hilichurls." said Jean as the group started making their way out of the Thousands Winds Temple. As they got to the edge of the arena, they were suddenly stopped by a wall of ice appearing in front of them, followed by maniacal laughter echoing from behind, coming from a pair of Abyss Mages: Cryo and Hydro.
"As expected, the Hilichurls were not enough to stop the Dandelion Knight." said the Cryo mage. "But it's still amazing to see how easy it is for the Grand Master to fall into our trap!"
"Now let's see you handle this!" the Hydro mage cried out as the inactive Ruin Guards starting coming to. Once the machines were on their feet, they began launching missiles towards Jean and the knights, which the Dandelion Knight countered by channeling Anemo power to generate strong winds that threw the missiles off-target, making them land several feet away from them instead. The explosions then created a huge cloud of dust that blinded both sides.
"Go! Get out of here! The dust will cover your retreat!" Jean commanded the two knights as she looked over her shoulder.
"But Master Jean! We can't just leave you here!" Harry protested as he drew his sword to stand alongside Jean, only for her to block his path with her sword.
"No! I'm the one they want, just hurry and get back to Mondstadt!" Jean shouted back. "Find Lisa, she'll know what to do!"
"Y-yes, ma'am! Please be careful, Master Jean!" said Guy, who was still hesitating before he and Harry turned back and sprinted out of the Thousand Winds Temple. They knew they'd only get in the way of the Acting Grand Master and so obeyed her command to escape. Their priority was to now get the word back to the Knights of Favonius and return with reinforcements.
"Why are the Abyss Order going through so much to get to me? Is it to get even for thwarting their plans for Dvalin? In any case, I can't let them get any closer to Mondstadt. I have to take them down here." Jean thought to herself as she gripped her sword tighter.
With the dust cloud as cover, Jean was able to plan her next move. A single Ruin Guard was not much of a threat, but several of them would inevitably create blind spots for her. With her lack of any ranged offensive options, she had to find a way to get close and whittle their numbers down quickly, considering that any interference from the Abyss Mages can complicate matters further. The Ruin Guards' footsteps grew louder as they got closer but as the dust started to clear, their glowing eyes became clearer, marking her target.
As the first Ruin Guard walked through the clearing dust cloud, Jean leapt into the air towards the automaton, placing a precise Anemo-powered thrust towards the glowing eye. The eye exploded in a flash, causing it to stagger back, Jean then jumped off the Ruin Guard but twisted her body mid-air to deal another elementally charged slash towards it, dealing a terminal blow as the automaton proceeded to explode as it fell on its back.
"That's one down. I just need to focus on taking down the other two before the mages get involved."
With one of her main targets down, Jean went on to inflict several Anemo-imbued slashes on the legs of another Ruin Guard, chipping away the metallic armor while dodging the arms of the other as it swung at her. The automaton with the damaged leg then propped itself up on its arms, preparing another missile volley. Seeing a chance to use her enemies' weapons against them, Jean began to dash towards the damaged Ruin Guard. The Hydro Abyss Mage attempted to stop her in her tracks by sending water bubbles to trap her, but Jean simply slashed at them, bursting each bubble in her path, before delivering one powerful slash at the Ruin Guard's damaged leg.
The attack severed the automaton's leg, causing it to fall on its back and breaking the other leg under its weight. As it fell, the Ruin Guard still managed to launch its missiles, but having lost its lock on Jean, the missiles went on a wild trajectory, with most of them hitting other missiles and exploding mid-air while others managed to hit the remaining Ruin Guard, disabling its missile ports. With the Ruin Guard flat on the ground, Jean jumped on it and stabbed its eye, rendering it out of commission.
"Two down. I can do this."
With two of their Ruin Guards shut down in no time, the Abyss Mages finally sprung into action as they unleashed their elemental attack in unison. The Cryo mage hurled shard of ice at Jean while the Hydro Abyss Mage created pools of water to let the former strengthen its barrage. With very limited cover in the open arena, Jean had no choice but to weave her way towards the mages while dodging their attacks. However, the combined attack turned out to be more overwhelming as she got closer, and a few shards managed to strike the Dandelion Knight's arms and legs several times. Jean cried out in pain as she felt the warmth of her blood trickling down the wounds.
"Damn it, looks like they're starting to get serious. I better be more careful."
Her plan of a direct attack on the mages was now impossible unless she could get through the magic barrage. Abandoning her charge, she jumped away from the mages and covered her retreat with several waves of Anemo slashes, damaging their shields. She then used her Anemo powers to heal her wounds, but as she healed, she realized that the third Ruin Guard was now out of sight.
"What!? Where did it go? Did it suddenly disappear...unless..."
She gasped when she looked up and saw the automaton making a diving attack. Having been caught off-balance, she was barely able to get out of the way as it hit the ground, but the shockwave from the impact managed to send her flying several feet from the automaton.
Despite hurting all over from hitting the ground hard, Jean tried to quickly get back on her feet but realized too late that she had actually landed in a pool of water, and that the Abyss Mages had now teleported right above her. Before she could get away, the water beneath her suddenly began to freeze, trapping her legs in place. A water bubble began to form around her and lifted her high off the ground. Jean shot a deadly glare at the Abyss Mages as they started laughing at her trapped state.
"We knew you simply couldn't resist coming her yourself after your men had gone missing." gloated the Hydro mage. "We will end Mondstadt's Dandelion Knight and show the world that nothing can stand up to the might of the Abyss."
"With you out of our way, Mondstadt will have no choice but to surrender themselves to us." the Cryo mage added.
"You can do your worst, but the Knights of Favonius is far stronger than you can ever imagine!" a defiant Jean responded.
Because she was completely trapped in the Hydro mage's bubble, she was unable to use her elemental powers, but she still had a chance to burst the water bubble with her blade. Her sword floated just below her, and she desperately extended her arm to reach for it. Eventually grabbing hold of the hilt, she quickly pointed her sword at the bubble's surface, bursting it and sending her falling back down to the ground.
The Cryo mage, having anticipated her escape, conjured up ice spikes on the ground to impale Jean, but the Dandelion Knight was able to react fast enough to deliver an elementally charged slash at the spike, making the block of ice explode and avoiding a deadly fall. The Abyss Mages then teleported away from Jean as she got to her feet, but not to avoid her retaliation, but to avoid the Ruin Guard that was now in the middle of its spin attack. With not enough time to escape, Jean held her sword up and formed an Anemo barrier, but the automaton's attack simply broke through her defenses. The spinning arms struck Jean and she was sent flying into the air, her cries of pain echoing as she hit the broken wall, then falling back on the ground with a hard thud.
"I can't...let it end...like this..."
The attack had left Jean barely conscious, and even as she willed herself to get up, her body was proving reluctant to respond. She tasted blood in her mouth but she wasn't ready to give up just yet. While she barely had enough strength to move her body, her mind was still sound, and she focused entirely on channeling Anemo power through herself to regain her energy.
"Wind...hear me."
However, whatever power she had left wasn't enough, as while it kept her from falling unconscious, it proved insufficient to call upon her Dandelion Breeze.
"We have to admit, you have proven far more resilient than we have ever expected." said the Hydro Abyss Mage as it teleported above her.
"But now, the inevitable has come. Mondstadt's greatest warrior shall now fall before the Abyss!" the Cryo Abyss Mage cried out as it conjured up several shards of ice and hurled them towards Jean all at once.
Staring down death in her defenseless state, Jean could only close her eyes and resign herself to her fate. Instead of the ice shards that would end her life, however, she instead felt a bizarrely comfortable warmth, like the sun had suddenly hovered above her. She was then snapped back to reality when she started hearing the pained shrieks of the Abyss Mages. Confused as to what just happened, Jean slowly opened her eyes to the sight of a bright phoenix rampaging through her foes with its fiery wings.
"Aaaah! What is this!?" cried out the Abyss Mages, who then appeared to recognize their attacker. "You! Impossible! How are you here!?"
Jean watched as the phoenix swept the Abyss Mages away from her, their shields melting against the flames and disintegrated them in the air, their dying cries echoing through the temple. The Ruin Guard prepared to attack but found itself swiftly enveloped in a whirlwind of flames, with the sounds of a blade slashing through the automaton's armor resonating from within. Once the whirlwind faded, all that was left was the sight of the defeated Ruin Guard exploding as it fell to the ground.
With her foes defeated, Jean allowed herself to be enveloped in the comfortable warmth of the phoenix's flames, Her strength eventually gave way, and the last thing she heard was the voice of someone calling out her name as she slipped into unconsciousness.